We are finally putting the farmhouse back together and it started with the joists and subfloor. The original kitchen and bathroom floors had rotted to such an extent that they couldn’t be salvaged. After straightening the beams and exterior walls, and removing two feet of dirt from the kitchen floor, Jaime and Brett started putting the floors back together:

The original floor joists and sub floor are over 100 years old and needed to be replaced but that wasn’t so easy.  Here is Jaime ripping 2×10 boards down to 2×8 in boards for the floor joists in the old kitchen and bathroom:

Instead of the usual 1-hour-per-day progress that they typically make during the week, an entire Saturday was devoted to the floor in the kitchen and bath.  Below are the new joists in the kitchen:

And the new joists in the bathroom:

The original subfloor was 15/16th of an inch thick, which is not something you can just go out and buy. New subfloor had to be made. Here’s a video of curly maple being planed down: 

 

A post shared by Sixty-One Park (@sixtyonepark) on Jun 12, 2017 at 6:40pm PDT

Below is one of my favorite photos so far…I should frame a black and white version for the finished farmhouse. These guys work so hard. They installed all of the floor joists and the new subfloor in just one day.

And the finished product!  I love it, even though I have to remind the guys at least once a week that it does not have to be perfect. I’m amazed at how dedicated they are: 

To read more about the Sixty-One Park Farmhouse click here. 

You can follow Sixty-One Park on Instagram where I post more recent updates as we go along. Here’s the sunset in town tonight:

The Sixty-One Park farmhouse project has gotten a lot bigger since we started…but in a good way. We’ve had a lot more prep work to do because of the age of the house but that’s opened up opportunities to improve the property. The main thing that the guys have been working on the past month is the foundation:

There’s an embankment on one side of the house that has caused all kinds of water damage over the years. In order to expose the current foundation we had to remove the concrete sidewalk and concrete wall:

Jaime and Brett started on the Northwest side of the house where the sidewalk was right up against the beam supporting that side of the house. This beam was actually still in pretty good shape, but had rolled over due to some rot, so the guys decided it needed to come out.  They built temporary walls and tied the 1st floor to the second floor so that they could lift the house from the inside to take the weight off the beam that needed to be removed:

Here is Jaime rebuilding one of the piers that serve as the foundation for the house.  This was the first section of the new beam to be replaced, which at that moment was probably the straightest thing in the whole house.  They try to work on the house every morning before work, rain or shine.  It was raining on this day, but they worked through it:  

Working their way down the wall, one section at a time.  A side note, that as soon as they finished with this side of the house the old door closed perfectly…amazing!

After the beam was removed and replaced they worked around the house leveling as they went.  Some sections, like the one below, created other problems like: Where do we put the hydraulic jack?!  Problem solved, they just “sistered” a board onto the beam and cantilevered it out past the foundation so a jack could go under it.  Then they jacked up the entire house to straighten it: 

The last thing to be fixed was the foundation under the old kitchen walls. These walls had sagged the most over time. First, they jacked up the house. Then they put scaffolding under the kitchen ceiling so the walls would hang from the roof temporally.  Here’s what I’ve learned from the guys: Use what you have, make it safe, get the work done quickly and then set everything back down. They are so funny to watch…some of the solutions they come up with are hilarious, a little MacGyver never hurt:

On another Saturday, a brick skirt was started…but there is still a ton more to go.  Jaime was able to get some old reclaimed brick to match the old style as close as possible.  I like how they took the extra time to joint the beams together just like it would have been done 100 years ago:

The old deck was by far the worst floor in the house…I was really worried someone might fall through it and was relieved when it was finally completely removed. It’s interesting to note that whoever built the house (I think the Everett family) built the deck with tongue and groove flooring that matched the inside of the house. The crawlspace actually extends under the deck! We’ll have to make sure we thoroughly insulate the crawlspace so none of the pipes freeze in winter. Also, the tongue and groove flooring that we put back will be pressure treated so it holds up better.  I can’t wait to swing on the swing on the porch when it is done:

The deck back in 1925:

In this photo the old kitchen was just floating as Brett poured new footers for the foundation walls:  

The new kitchen foundation wall on the right and the deck completely removed on the left.  The guys still have to rebuild the brick foundation under the deck before they rebuild it, but that is for another day.  

The footers for the brick foundation under the deck. 

Right now everyone is so busy that the guys are just working at the crack of dawn….sometimes for only an hour at a time before going off to their real jobs.  They call themselves “One Hour Construction Company” which I think works perfectly. Last night we all got together to go over the final downstairs floor plan that Jaime drew up. I’ll share that soon. I think it works really well for a multi-family rental! In the meantime I’m still dreaming up decor for the inside. We’ve found some old metal beds and other furniture to restore. I’m still looking for an old telegraph machine that will go along with the history of the old house!

To read more about the Sixty-One Park Farmhouse click here. 

You can follow Sixty-One Park on Instagram where I post more recent updates as we go along. We are still aiming for early 2018 for our first reservation openings! It’s right smack in the middle of downtown Bryson City where it’s just a 5 minute walk to the train, the river park, our store Bryson City Outdoors and all my favorite shops and restaurants. I hope to maybe hold some small retreats there too. It’s exciting to undertake a project that honors the railroad history and will bring new visitors to our cute little mountain town:

I’m happy to report that there is progress at the Sixty-One Park farmhouse. The foundation has taken some extended time to repair but the guys have that under control. The good news for me is that the excavator has been at the farmhouse for the last few weeks moving dirt away from the foundation:

Why is that good news? Because I’m a newbie to metal detecting and any movement of large amounts of dirt from a 107-year-old farmhouse is bound to yield some treasures!  I’ve taken my metal detector out there a few times and found some really cool things. When I opened up my metal detector at Christmas I learned that there is a code of conduct you are supposed to follow as a metal detectorist…unless it’s your own property…then you can use an excavator and do whatever you want. 

Here are some of my favorite items I’ve found…before scrolling down try to guess what some of them are:

1. A mason jar lid
2. An oversized die.  This oversized cherry amber die feels like it’s made of bakelite or acrylic. It was found by one of the guys while digging up some of the old plumbing. 
3. An oval hose spigot.
4. A large silver serving spoon.
5. A blue marble.
6. A large bottle cap.
7. A piece of an old railroad spike. 
8. A piece of bone.
9. A few pieces of coal. The house used to be heated with coal until about the 1950’s when they switched to kerosene.
10. A silver ring. This looks like a wedding band. I found it with my metal detector. Probably the first thing I’ve ever found with any monetary value. It all has emotional value to me…which I think is one of the first signs of hoarding.
11. A plastic orange. This was found under the kitchen floor and it has cute little tiny teeth marks in it! Obviously a “Templeton” had mistaken it for a real orange, dragged it under the house and tried to eat it. 
12. The top of an old hammer. 
13. A domino. Blank. Not very old but I love finding game pieces in my path. 
14. A seltzer cartridge. The seltzer cartridge would have been screwed onto one of those old 1930’s seltzer bottles. 

*****

This little metal canister was found in the crawlspace of the house. While the outside looks pretty rough, inside there was a perfectly preserved piece of paper, the original marketing material that would have come in this little tin. Turns out the can used to hold Ramon’s Pink Pills. I found a picture of what the original can would have looked like on the Smithsonian American History site. Ramon’s Pink Pills were a laxative sold in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

“The Little Doctor Brings Happy Days – THOROUGH – Ramon’s Pink Pills – A real laxative for adults. Used for three generations. One pill a dose.”

I loved this bottle find, found behind the retaining wall that came out….perfectly preserved for about 70 years:

After a little research I learned that the Biltmore Club Bottling Company became Orange Crush around 1947:

You can read more about the Sixty-One Park Farmhouse history and see more photos here!