Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Tearing Down the Haunted House

It's haunted. I know it. You can't be 162 years old and not have a few skeletons in your closets. Which is why I don't go in there after dark, or when its' cloudy outside, or the wind is blowing from the north.

If it blows from the south west though I have no problems. Go figure.

I'm talking about the original frame house on our property which we'll be tearing down this spring. The old girl was in bad shape when we bought this property four years ago, which is why the decision to build a new home out of a recycled grain bin, was a no brainer.

Here's the old girl herself, built in 1856 and home to several families over the decades.



She's covered with cheap vinyl on the outside and had two porches added on in her later years. The roofs over the porches was of poor quality so now both of them are leaking and the floors in them are giving way. Getting in and out of this place gets a bit dicey at times. 



 But, she has served her purpose through her storage capabilities. Keith has used the house's kitchen as his workshop . We didn't trust the wiring in there, so new wiring was run from our electrical post/box back in 2015. That way Keith could use the power tools he needed for building the Grain Bin House.


We also used the old kitchen to store our freezers where we keep all the meat we raise here for our own good eating. After the barn is built these will move into our new barn in a separate storage room. 



 The main portions of the house, the kitchen, living room and downstairs bedroom plus three bedrooms upstairs have remained dry. Thank good ness because we used those rooms to store furniture we still need to sell and/or give away, plus building materials for the rest of the farm, and canning supplies. These items too, will have a new home in the barn when it's done.



The upstairs of the house is cramped and dark. A recently added hall closet-"recently" being in the last 30 years or so-revealed many usable 2x4's Keith will recycle into the barn build.




Because every haunted house needs an EXIT sign don't you think?



Hardware from the mid 19th century.



 Wallpaper in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Good to know we have patriotic spirits about us.

This is what happens when you move from a 3000 SF farm house into an itty bitty Looney Bin


We will pile up debris outside the house as we go this summer, and then rent a large dumpster to haul it all away. I am hopeful we will find some old newspapers, other treasures when we start pulling apart the walls.

The area where this house now stands will be an open park like zone between our grain bin home and the barn, perfect for flower gardens, outdoor seating etc...It will be frustrating to make more messes here on The Poor Farm, but in the end, we'll have a pretty little homestead.

I figure if I keep saying that over and over it might come true. 


14 comments:

  1. Wouldn't part of it make another good 'barn'? Love the baby's highchair with the cycling bunnies. We bought one a few years back for our grandkids, but not as nice as yours.

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  2. Not without putting in large sums of money to secure the roof. It's hanging in there but with the rot going on in the porches its' only a matter of time till the main roof goes. PLUS, lots of good wood inside to help us save on materials to finish the new barn build. The highchair was in my husbands family for years but not deemed safe for kids these days. I may find a way to repurpose it yet!

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  3. How wonderful to have your very own haunted house, that wallpaper sets the scene for a movie very well 😊

    Could you have a yard sald to sell off your bits and pieces or are you too far off the beaten track?

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    1. We are a ways from any main roads for a yard sale but after we go through our stuff (again) I'll be making a trip to the charity shops. I'll also sell some things on Craigs list.

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  4. That's a large job ahead for you both. Instead of hauling stuff away though, can you advertise demolition materials for sale? My brother did this before they tore down their old house, to build a new one. They advertised on ebay, and there were many keen buyers of kitchen cabinets, benches, windows, sinks, an array of fittings, pavers, bricks, etc. After all was said and done, they walked away with over $10,000.

    If not ebay, then maybe craig's list? There's a large second-hand supply market, out there. People don't want to (or can't) pay full price for new items. Even if you have to reduce your prices, to meet the market going rate in your area - people are spending money to haul your stuff away, instead of you doing it. ;)

    Even though it's a large undertaking, it will be tailor made, to fit your specific needs. Saving money on building supplies for the rest of your barn build, and other small projects, I'm sure - will all help the bottom line too. :)

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    1. The hard part will be this, convincing Keith to get rid of those potential future project materials! In his defense he's saved a lot of items over the years that we indeed have put to use. In my defense I've sold or given away a lot of items that we've never had a use for. :)

      But, we did get rid of a large pile of scrap metal last year with a "free-You haul" ad in Facebook. I never thought of doing it with the old house!

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  5. we town a building on our property two years ago that was haunted by raccoons. It was a two story with a caved in roof, caved in floors, full of mold and crap from when it was a second hand store (nothing cool, broken doll heads and lots of mold). Felt so good to get rid of it. Looks like you have a ton of salvageable hardware etc to sell in yours. There is a place in town here that sells "shabby chic" where old interior doors go for about $40 (to who I have no idea)
    What's the cool horse painting?

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    1. Broken doll heads. Don't you just hate that? Actually I hate moldy crap even more. What did YOU do with all the debris?

      The horse painting was done for me one Mother's Day by our son Kyle. I think he was about 12. Soon it will be reframed and put up in the grain bin. I like keeping it in the old house-for-now-brings a bit of cheer to the dismal place.

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    2. Love the painting!
      Ours was a 2.5 story building made out of concrete block. I refused to let anyone we knew near it (rabies, mold, caved in floors etc) so we hired a local guy for a very reasonable rate (I think under $1500) he leveled it, set the debris on fire, was able to use most of the rubble to fill in the basement, hauled away the rest and graded it when he was done. Plus we were able to keep the attached steel structure. It was a huge bargain.
      All of the copper etc had been looted years ago.

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    3. WOW! That is a great deal. After we 'loot" everything out of it, I might consider that.

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  6. Hello, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam responses? If so how do you protect against it, any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately it's driving me crazy so any help is very much appreciated. sustainable agriculture

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    1. I was getting tons about 6 months ago but reset my blogger settings to require one of those "I am not a robot" boxes. It's been working well lately.

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  7. Well, I see why you went with the grain bin house and why this one is to be torn down. You have a huge job ahead of you!

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    1. It seems all our jobs are huge doesn't it? Huge new buildings, huge gardens, huge number of tasks to complete each day. But still, so much better than working for other people as I did for so many decades. This life is nuts, and so very very good.

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