Links to the past

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Russ Anthony

So at the risk of sounding redundant, demolition continues on the second floor. For the next short while, our life will consist of: smash, toss, cleanup, repeat.

Looking better already

But I have to say, demolition is fun. There’s something therapeutic about putting a crowbar through a wall.

Hulk smash!

Still, there’s a part of me that is somewhat apologetic about destroying a previous generation’s hard work. I’m not overly nostalgic, mind you, but now that the “tarnish” is slowly being removed, the craftsmanship of the homebuilder is rising to the surface. Behind those seven layers of wallpaper and who-knows-how-many coats of paint, the original lath and plaster is still present, albeit deteriorating. And as we tear through each layer, I imagine the builder – cutting and fastening the lumber framing, installing the thousands of lath boards and applying the coats of plaster – all by hand, no less.

To be honest, I think we saved this house from the brink of destruction. After a couple years of sitting vacant, a house can quickly fall into disrepair. Our old stone foundation will be replaced this spring – which will likely be our single-most expensive repair in this whole process. With the sagging foundation, the old plaster walls and ceilings are cracking and loosening. That, along with some water intrusion from the roof, makes localized plaster repair impractical. While it would be nice to save the old finishes, a complete gut now affords us opportunity to address some insulation issues and upgrade the wiring. And that’s the direction we’re taking.

Starting with the spare bedroom and bathroom, we detach the trim, strip away the old plaster and remove the underlying lath. No rocket-science here – just grip and rip.

We’ve completed the interior partition walls. The ceilings and exterior walls are next. I’ll have to get into the attic to remove a few things left behind from the previous owner before we drop the ceilings, however.

What have we here?

During the demolition of the bathroom, we also removed the knee-wall installed in a previous 1970’s renovation. How do I know the bathroom was renovated in the 70’s, you ask? Because this was behind the wall.

1974 to be exact

I’m still not sure if this room was always a bathroom or if the room had another use previously. Either way, the space hidden behind the knee-wall was part of the room previously and by opening it up, we gain almost twenty additional square feet in the bathroom. I’ll take that.

While we could date the bathroom renovation, we haven’t been able to accurately date our house yet. We know that the house once served as the manse to the local Methodist church, which was built around 1878. A local historian also provided a picture from 1920 of Pleasant Valley in which you can see our house in the distance.

So, for now, it’s safe to say our home is somewhere around 100-135 years old. I’m still waiting to find that special “something” left behind from the original homebuilder, giving us a link to the past showing the true age of this old island home.

My sore elbows are telling their true age

My elbows are telling their true age

Where we’re going

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Russ Anthony

So with demolition now underway on the second floor, I thought I’d show you where we want to take our renovations to our old island home. Last week I posted the floorplans and a couple of elevations of our house as it currently stands – you can see it here: https://ouroldislandhome.com/2014/01/20/best-laid-plans/ . This week, I’m going to post the new plans showing some of the changes we want to make – more on that shortly.

Yesterday, I had some lumber and plywood delivered from Castle Building Supply just outside Kensington. Since we’re just gutting the second floor for now, I had the disposal bin dropped under the Master Bedroom window and I built a garbage chute with some of that lumber – from the window right into the bin.

Ignore that sofa – it’s left from the previous owner

We’ve been pulling off all the old doors and trim before we get to the dirty stuff – lath and plaster.

….and bathroom fixtures

Vanessa’s also been saving all of the old cut-nails from the trim. She already has plans to incorporate them into her jewellery making.

We’ve been looking at a lot of island homes like ours. The truth is, the “island-ell” style of our farmhouse was obviously very popular back in the day. It’s hard to drive anywhere without spotting a house like ours. Unfortunately however, a lot of them have been renovated beyond their original design and charm. You could say they’ve been “ruinovated.” Some others have been abandoned and left to decay. Still, there are those old homes which have been maintained over the years or restored out of their ruinovation or neglect and brought back to their original glory.

Like these gems

Fortunately, our house has not been overly renovated – although it has suffered from years of neglect and some poor design choices. The exterior is close to what was original (as far as I can see) with a couple small changes inside and out.

Main Floor

Main Floor: The functionality of each room will remain essentially the same. The Front Hall/Entry remains as-is although we’ll likely build a closet into the nook under the stairs. The previous owner had laundry hook-ups in this space – and I’m now using the nook for my drafting table. We’ll change the front door system and add a transom window over it. A number of the older homes like ours also have a portico (porch roof) over the entrance – we’ll do the same. The Parlor/Living Room to the left will get a new bay-window (very typical of this style of house, although missing in ours) and the triple casement window on the side (previously added and now in desperate need of replacement) will be changed to two double-hung windows. The French Doors from the entry Hall to the Living Room were also a previous owner’s addition and will be removed and a more open-concept at the Hall/Parlor/Dining Room junction provided. A new set of Garden doors will open from the Dining Room onto a new covered rear-yard deck. Vanessa’s Craft Room opens to the left of the Dining Room. The Kitchen excites me – new cabinets, fridge, wall oven, cooktop, apron sink and an island fills the space. We have a small banquette in the corner with round table for in-kitchen eating and a coffee bar between the two new front windows. The front porch now extends to wrap around the side of the kitchen providing a secondary entrance into our new addition. This multi-purpose space serves as a combination of Mudroom, Laundry, Pantry, Washroom and Summer Kitchen. We love to cook and entertain and this layout will serve us well.

Second Floor

Second Floor: The big change up here is the Master Bedroom to the right of the upper hall. This big bedroom currently has no closets or storage of any sort. We’ll add closets and dressers built directly into the knee walls under the sloped ceilings. The addition of a large dormer at the back will greatly improve our view and add lots of natural light to the room. The front dormer looks onto the street and the side window over our driveway – but the new large window dormer at the back (complete with window seat) will open up our view to the valley. The Bathroom gets a full overhaul with freestanding tub and toilet moved under the sloped ceiling. A shower with glass enclosure and vanity are added to the other side. I see white mosaic tiles on the floor and subway tiles on the wall for a bright, crisp classic look. The huge closet in the spare bedroom was mostly removed along with the chimney flue. This opens up the room nicely while keeping a portion of the closet (accessed from the hall) for linens. The front bedroom will now serve as an Office/Den and the storage closet remains at the front of the Upper Hall.

Front Elevation

Front Elevation: The addition of the bay window and a portico at the front door give some “heft” to the main cape at the left side of the house. This provides some balance to the ell with the front porch extending around the side of the Kitchen. Oversized window casings and corner/frieze boards will add some depth from the fairly bland trim and “shutters” of the original.

So, there you have it – the “bones” of it, anyhow. You can see our direction. In the near future we’ll be posting some of our design choices – the trim style, doors, cabinetry, flooring and tiles, etc.

For now, the gutting continues and we’ve got a lot of the thankless jobs still ahead (cleaning, insulation, plumbing and electrical rough-ins, framing repairs) before the beautification happens.

Until then, I will continue to resist the urge to use our garbage chute as a slide.

….or perhaps a fireman’s pole from the bedroom to the kitchen?

Snow day

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Russ Anthony

So the first major winter storm of 2014 hit us today. Actually it continues to hit us. As I’m typing, the wind is howling and the snow is blowing. It’s not even fit for a dog today.

“Open this door!”

So demo and cleanup is ruled out. Even though we filled our first disposal bin yesterday and managed to get an empty one exchanged before the snow started this morning, there’s no way I’m hoofing any garbage outside today.

So what’s one to do when the weather makes a detour to your plans? You roll with it.

Whenever we get house-bound for any reason, Vanessa goes full-on-baking-mode. Today was no exception – the jar of fresh biscotti and a couple loaves of homemade bread on the kitchen counter proves that.

And as much as I’d like to just sit by the fire with a coffee and some of that biscotti – I kept busy too.

We bought a few bunches of fresh radishes this week to attempt something we hadn’t tried yet – pickling them. And this is about as easy as it gets.

Wash the radishes, cut off the tops and root “tails”, quarter them and add them to a mason jar.

I’m sure slices would be fine – and probably easier for sandwich stacking, too. In a small saucepan, boil 1 cup vinegar (cider vinegar would be nice, too), 1/2 cup water, 2-3 tablespoons honey (or sugar), 1-2 teaspoons salt and two or three cloves of sliced garlic and pour into the radish-holding mason jar.

Allow to cool and store in the fridge.

We didn’t water-bath these pickles for long-term storage – it didn’t seem necessary as we only one made one jar. And to be honest, we’re probably going to eat all of these by the weekend, anyhow (they’re that good). The radishes have a nice, peppery/pungent flavor that’s not like a typical pickle and retain they their crunch (because they’re not cooked, as such). Guaranteed, we’ll be making these in a large batches come the spring with the radishes we grow in our own garden.

So, as it turns out, snow days aren’t so bad. If it means you can’t do Plan “A”, there’s always Plan “B”. And when you’ve finished Plan “B”, move on to Plan “C”.

Plan “C”

Best laid plans

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Russ Anthony

It’s been a very long time. I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I actually drew anything on my drafting table – let alone actual plans. Needless to say, that’s changed this past week.

I’ve missed this

I’ve drawn the floorplans and elevations as the house currently exists. I’ll take you on a little tour in a moment, but first let me tell you a bit of history. I don’t actually remember a time when my drafting table wasn’t in our household – and I don’t mean in the time Vanessa and I have been together – I mean EVER. The drafting table was my fathers and I guess it’s something that’s just been passed along to me. My Dad was a homebuilder/general contractor when I was growing up and I remember “playing” with all his drafting tools as a kid.

Later, I spent many late nights working on drafting projects during my post-secondary Architectural Technologist program – although my actual career choices didn’t require much of my “hands-on” drafting skills. I was an estimator at a large timber-frame construction company, worked in the building departments at both the Town of Richmond Hill and Town of Ajax in Ontario and was an Associate Project Manager for a restoration contractor in Durham Region (alongside my brother) when we left Ontario for PEI.

So, last week, I set up my drafting table and started with the current layout of our house:

Main Floor

Main Floor: closest to you is the front of our house. The front door opens into the main hall with the stairs to the second floor on your right. To the left is a set of double French doors leading into the Living Room (which we’re currently using as our bedroom while we demo and renovate the upper level). The hall leads to the Dining Room (currently our Living Room) and the small room to the left is where we built the temporary washroom. I’m guessing that previous owners probably used this room as a den or office. We’ll likely turn it into Vanessa’s Craft Room where she can finally have a dedicated space for knitting, sewing and jewellery making. To the right of the Dining Room is the Kitchen. Probably the most important room to Vanessa and I, it currently has sparse cabinetry and minimal storage. We’ve also had to use this space to install the hot water tank and laundry facilities until the renovations allow these items to be relocated elsewhere. Off the back of the Kitchen is a small Foyer with a Powder Room that we’ve taken apart and is currently being used for storage. The long room off the back Kitchen hallway is….well….I’m not sure. Some previous owner of the house built this addition for some purpose – storage, most likely – and it’s not in the best shape. No foundation, no heat, un-insulated, sinking on one side and a leaking roof makes this addition not useable for anything other than we what have been using it for – a glorified mudroom/entrance/storage area. This addition, back hall and Powder Room will be removed as part of our main floor renovations and replaced with a more appropriate rear-entrance/mudroom/laundry room.

Second Floor

Second Floor: to the right at the top of the stairs is (what will eventually be) our Master Bedroom. One window in a dormer looks out the front of the house and a window in the side gable looks over the driveway. The washroom is at the top of the stairs, with a small vanity, tub and toilet. The second bedroom is on the back corner of the house with a big closet and the chimney coming up through the room. The front room is the third bedroom, although we’ll use it as an office/den. There is a small walk-in closet in the upper hall towards the front of the house.

Front Elevation

Front Elevation: very typical styling of a PEI “island-ell” farmhouse with the front dormer and round-top window and has some decorative gingerbread trim around the front porch. The shutters are not original, nor functional, nor real shutters – just some boards fastened and painted for a decorative treatment added some-time in the past.

Rear Elevation

Rear Elevation: nothing special here. The back addition makes for a poor view and will be much better once it is removed.

In addition to documenting the current use and layout of the house, I’ve been sketching the changes were going to make as things progress the next few months. I hope to have these plans posted in the near future.

I’d love to hear some of your feedback and suggestions or answer any questions you have (at least to the best of my ability).

Spring dreaming

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Russ Anthony

Fresh air, warm sun, digging in the soil, planting seeds……sorry, I was dreaming there. It’s the same every year, though – by mid-January, we’re pouring through seed catalogues and making our wish-list for the vegetable gardens. It probably makes it all the worse because of the early and (so far) harsh winter.

The big difference for us is the space we have to grow our plants – and it’s a BIG difference. Back in Ontario, we had the largest lot in our subdivision – a nice pie-shaped lot – but still a subdivision lot. We used our 30’x150′ lot to it’s maximum potential, growing lots of vegetables (tomatoes, onions, spinach, peppers, carrots, beets, parsnips, peas), fruit trees (cherry, plum and peach) and berries (raspberries, blackberries and blueberries).

Now we have an acre of space to grow….things. When I look out my window, I think “yeah, that’s a lot of space” but when I actually walk to the other end of the property and look back, it really puts the size of it into perspective.

Murdoch loves it!

So here we are reading the Vesey’s Seed Catalogue and making our list, checking it twice. We’ve got a lot of work ahead as spring approaches – clearing and tilling the soil and preparing the beds for planting – but not until things dry out some more. I’m just hoping that as early as winter arrived, spring will follow suit.

Here’s a look at what we’d like to plant:

Asparagus – takes a few years to mature enough to harvest, but a perennial that is very hardy and will continue to produce for years
Soy Beans – steamed in the shell with a sprinkle of salt (mmmm, Edamame)
Yellow & Green Bush Beans – freezes very well or pickle some “Dilly Beans”
Beets – a typical red variety for caning and a yellow version for roasting or grilling that doesn’t stain everything pink
Broccoli – never had much success in Ontario, but the cooler PEI temps may help
Cabbage – a summer variety for fresh use and a winter variety for storing and sauerkraut
Carrot – chose three types, all sweet and stores well
Celery – again, another vegetable new to us, but we’ll give it a try
Collard – we enjoyed trying and eating different greens last year, wanted to try this one
Corn – two varieties that mature two weeks apart so we have time to blanch and freeze portions
Cucumber – a “burpless” variety for salads and a standard pickling variety
Garlic – easy to grow and stores well, will never go to waste
Kale – have you ever had Kale Chips?
Leeks – freeze for use through the winter in soups and stews
Lettuce – a couple of varieties of Leaf and Romaine, planted in the spring for early use and another planting in the fall
Onion – two kinds, a storing onion and a red onion
Parsnip – added to soup and stew or (my favorite) roasted or grilled like fries
Snow Peas – for stir-frys or salads
Peppers – a couple sweet varieties and some hot (jalapenos and Hungarian wax for pickling and chilies for roasting Ancho)
Sweet Potato – not seeds but grown from vines – needs warm soil but does grow very well in Vesey’s test gardens
Pumpkin – small cooking variety for pies and loafs
Radishes – for salads and pickling
Rutabega – soups, stews and side dishes – can also be fermented like sauerkraut
Spinach – “I’m strong to the finish, ’cause I eats me…..”
Zucchini – love grilled zucchini with olive oil and sea salt
Winter Squash – a buttercup and butternut variety
Swiss Chard – greens
Tomato – two heirloom varieties, one plum-type for canning and a cherry tomato
Tomatillo – we grew it last year in Ontario but never got to use the fruit – we’ll be making Salsa Verde this year

I think that’s good

And that’s it for veggies. I’ve also got my eye on a few apple trees. We’ll likely plant a couple Macintosh trees for cooking and Honeycrisp for eating fresh, and of course we’ll also be growing my favorites: raspberries and blueberries.

When I get some time, I’ll sketch out what we want to do with the gardens. Until then, happy daydreaming.

Well, it’s begun….

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Russ Anthony

….sort of. Really, we began the repairs and renovations to the house on the day we purchased it – November 15, 2013. But TODAY, our disposal bin was dropped in our driveway and demo has started.

One man’s junk….

If you’re now looking at the dates, yes, it’s been two months since we bought the house. Don’t judge me, we’ve been busy. Up until now, we’ve been preparing to start the renovations and make the house livable – if not somewhat comfortable. And the snow. Oh boy, the snow.

There were a number of things we needed to do in order to live here – not the least of which was to dig a new well and build a washroom (an outhouse, while a throwback to simpler times, wasn’t an option). That’s where we began.

15 storeys deep – two streams

Here’s where I need to give you some background. Our house needs a complete overhaul. I’m talking foundation-to-roof overhaul. When we inspected the house, we were pretty comfortable with the structure – everything was straight and true – no sags in the roof, no racking walls, no inter-dimensional vortex in the crawlspace to drag you into some parallel universe. Well, I’m assuming that last one is true – so far, so good anyhow. So, to start, we’re going to live on the main floor, gut the second floor, start the foundation and roof repairs, move upstairs and then tackle the main floor. Easy, peasy.

So, the new well was relocated and dug, trenched to the house, new pump and pressure tank installed, decommissioned the old well, installed new piping to the temporary washroom (now in what was originally the Den), installed the tub, toilet and vanity, plumbed-in the washer and dryer (in the kitchen for now) and installed the new hot water tank. Well, that takes care of the plumbing-related stuff. In addition to that, we painted the Living-Room-now-Master-Bedroom and the Dining-Room-now-Living-Room, installed a new wood burning stove in the Living Room and put-up two cords of firewood and shopped for and bought a new car. Throw in Christmas and New Year’s – it’s been a very busy two months.

Yeah. That and the snow.

PEI: “Canada’s Summer Playground”

We moved to PEI in the earliest and snowiest winter in recent memory. In three weeks we had six major snowfalls. The field in our backyard had at least 4 feet over it. I know that because there is an old oil drum with a broomstick poking out of it – and it was completely buried. The snowbanks were shoulder-high in the driveway and I was starting to get a bit desperate. I simply couldn’t throw the snow any higher. Then the thaw happened. In less than two weeks, the snow is all but gone. A few days of above-zero temperatures, rain and winds of 60-80 km/h (gusting to 100) made this winter wonderland a soggy, muddy mess.

But hey, that’s part of the adventure. We’re going to have lots more mud before it gets better (wait till we start digging a new foundation).

Our Old Island Home

Sharing our adventures in Pleasant Valley, PEI

Monthly Archives: January 2014