1930's Farmhouse Rebuild - phase ll

ramjo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Location
Marion,NC
Since I don't have a vehicle worthy of a build thread , I'll attempt to do somewhat of a "rebuild" thread on me and my wifes home. I've have been working on it for the past year so this will be catching up to where we are at now. As slow as I am at most things, this will probably take as long as the renovation did!! I managed to take a few pictures along the way, but didn't document the whole process.


Time for a little side story on what little I know about the "Hunt Farm". The house was built early- mid 1930's by A.F. Hunt. Not sure of what the initial acreage was when he built the house but it was a sizable tract of land. In fact, my great grandpa bought the first 100 acres Mr. Hunt sold off of his tract. Mr. Hunt worked as a superintendent for the Marion Mfg. plant, so I think he stayed mainly in a house near the plant until he retired in 1940. His wife and kids lived in bedroom downstairs, while they rented out the 4 upper rooms to teachers at the local school (as told to me by relative from Greensboro who randomly stopped by while I was working on the house).

They also had a small house on property that they rented out. My dads family actually rented it for a fews years, and it was the house he lived in till he was 2-3 years old. My grandma used to tell the story of my grandpa having to break into the bedroom window because Mrs. Hunt had passed away in the bedroom with the door locked. I'm pretty sure the screen was still off the same window, sitting in the barn when we bought the place, and that happened a loooonnnnngggg time ago.

Fast forward to about 4-5 years ago. Mr. Hunts son, Frank, who was about 95, had lived in the house by himself for who knows how long. Legend tells of his vast wealth and untold riches.......really. It was definitely not spent on keeping up his parents house. I hear stories all the time of how he would get kids to help him pick up hay all day, then give them a quarter and a stick of gum!! Or people would give him a price to fix things on his house but he was too cheap to pay to get it fixed. Anyway, he passed away about 5 years ago and his relatives decided to sell the estate. It was now down to just 50 acres and the house, but at a $500,000 price tag. I would have loved to have all 50 acres!!! But that wasn't going to happen. It sat on the market for quite some time. Eventually they started splitting up the land, and it dropped down to about 16 acres and the house, still around $199,000. Lots of interest in the house, but just too much of a project for most people, and the banks were not going to loan any money on it in its condition. I had told a realtor friend a few months earlier that my house wasn't officially for sale but if she wanted to show it if she thought someone might be interested then let me know. (I don't think my wife was to thrilled about that.) So I get a call from my friend, she has a couple interested in my house. Great!? My wife is like "are you crazy!?! what are we going to do?" About the same time, literally, they drop the price on the Hunt farm down significantly. We go take a look at the house. Pretty solid looking but termite damage in floor joist and just years of neglect are evident. Since the price drop, the house was getting tons of attention. A few out of state folks were getting contractors to give estimates for fixing it up, so we figured we better make an offer now if it was going to happen for us. We make a couple offers, no good. In the mean time, the couple interested in our house agrees on a price and we sign contract on it.....Alright!!! Wife thinks I'm crazy. o_O We finally decide to offer asking price on the farm and they accept!! So we sold our house and bought a house pretty much in the same week.

So my great grandpa buys the first 100 acres they sell and we buy the last 16 acres.....pretty cool in my book!
 
Yea, I knew that was coming. :D Most of the pictures on on my computer and it took most of my little man's nap time to write that small novel above. It's been awhile since I've strung together any more than a few words so it takes me some time.
But here's a picture from about 5 years ago off the realtors page just so you won't lose any sleep tonight ;).

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Good luck! Our home was built in the 1932 still solid for its age. You really have to love an older home because it takes love, sweat and $$$. if you were willing to sell the roof over your head I know you will be fine.
 
Yea, mine was built in '41 and I've got a list of problems of my own that I'll be slowly tackling by myself over the next few years.
 
Looking forward to more of this thread!

I've got one that was built in 2011 and it's still a constant source of projects :D
 
Yea, mine was built in '41 and I've got a list of problems of my own that I'll be slowly tackling by myself over the next few years.

Good luck on yours! I did the majority of the work on mine by myself. My friends dad came over a few days a week and helped me demo and provided me an extra set of hands.

I was fortunate enough to have a patient wife and parents who let us stay with them until I could get the first floor liveable. Although, we bought it in November of 2014 and she thought I could have it done by February 2015. I told her she was crazy!

The Show "Barn Builders", is fixing to start a new season. I haven't watched the past stories, but it looks interesting!

I like that show. I have a few "barns" but all are in rough shape. I have sourced some wood off of them for this project though. I would love a nice post and beam barn/shop if I ever get the house finished!

I knew most of my hurdles going in @rockcity . I had planned on a full gut and redo from the start. That said, there were still days I wanted to tear it down and start new.

For some reason Verizon coverage is not that great here (even though I can see a tower a 1/4 mile away) so internet hotspot doesn't work well with the computer. I think the old man cursed the ground for technology :rolleyes:, so posting pictures is going to be as frustrating as tearing into an old house....bear with me.
 
I'll be keeping an eye on this.
 
Few pics of house and the jungle that surrounded it.

Original specs:
2 story brick , listed at 2540 sq. ft (I think it was less than that)
5 bedroom, 2 bath
3 fireplaces, 2 chimneys, flue in kitchen
hardwoods throughout
Oil furnace and window a.c.
4 cats




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Patch of pines just to right of house

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Jungle of vines and scrubby brush up the driveway and a decent view :)
 
Man that is a beautiful place!
 
Finally able to mooch a little reliable internet so here are a few before pics that we took. Sorry about the other ones, i posted them off my phone so I thought they were bigger :D









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Hard to see the all the romex wire running from the panel box on the small porch to outides on the brick and through the window casings......Big aluminum wire coming of the roof was attached to lightning rods.


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The room off the back was not original..probably added in the 1940's though...on a Friday or after somebody's rough weekend...more pictures of that gem later :rolleyes:



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Screened in porch and panel box. I don't think it was originally screened. This door leads into the kitchen....

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Butlers door on the left, ghost shadow of the refrigerator, fold out ironing board, 1964 Frigidaire stove (traded to neighbor so I could borrow his 24' walkboard and 32' ladder), and water heater beside the stove.


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Big sink and walk in pantry through the small door on right.

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Pantry....with termite..I mean 'tater bin.

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Through the butlers door into the dining room. Water damage above the mantel. This is the room that I knew had that termite damage in the floor and main beam.


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Living room across the hall from dining room.

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Original downstairs bedroom with door to the right of picture leading into added on room.

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Closet and door leading to small screened-in porch off of the addition.

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Last one for the day. Should have taken a pic of the inside of commode.....:poop:.....not really but it was as black as the floor.
Hard to tell from the pic but the lower part of the wall was "subway tile" that had been trowel into some type of plaster. Actually looked pretty good.
This picture was taken through the 1 of the 2 doors in this small room.


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The house my grandfather grew up in was built a lot earlier than the 1930s, but the exterior is really similar and the kitchen and butler's pantry are eerily similar. There was an older wood house about 8' behind the brick one. :lol:
 
Hideous bathroom but that's to be expected. The rest is gorgeous as is.
 
very cool..
 
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