A little preface: I have lived in the Historic District South Park in Dayton for nearly nine years. I purchased a double on Adams St in Dec 97, living in one half and renting out the other. That got me prepared for this Oak St project. 3 months before my wife and I were to marry June 2004, we bought 313-315 Oak St. We immediately planned returning it to a single family it once was long time ago. It was planted between two city subsidized rehabs from 2002, so we figured it would be a worthy investment. I was not very good with the camera as I should have been like I was with my double on Adams. I just wanted to get the work done. So here is an exterior renovation tour. Since I don't blog like This Old Crack House, I would share a couple photos here. Besides, this place has more traffic than a start up blog. :wink:

 

January 2004

About to buy.

 

April 2005

Interior work starts.

 

October 2005

Asbestos starts to come off.

 

November 2005

...

 

December 2005

... filthy place. We had this pressure washed prior to the painting started.

 

September 2006

That's right. No sprayer. Ugh.

 

December 2006

This primer, base color at 75%. I have yet to get the final coat on, but most of the white trim is painted final coat, as are the doors. I have to replicate the swan decor and gingerbread like stuff to finish the porch. We'll see if the winter here will give me a few nice days.

 

How's your German? From a piece of makeshift insulation crammed in an attic crevice, the name August Eichenlaub, original home owner/builder, and date was found on what we can tell as an old German Catholic Newspaper address label. Through census records, he came from 122 Cass St in 1880 (which may have burned down prior to 1887) in the Oregon District. He would move back to 116 Cass St by 1910, leaving the house to his children, we think. These houses are no longer there on Cass St. His last name is also written on the back of the mantle.

 

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (progression). We are not sure what the single story building was that extended off the back of the house. It was removed between 1918 and 1950 and the NE porch became an addition.

 

Today as best as I can sketch.

 

When we filed for work permits, we picked the address 315 Oak St instead of the original 313 number by accident. 50/50 chance, and we got it wrong. It wasn't until later we realized the error. It's still reversible, but a hassle.

 

For more pictures of indoor renovations are here. I'm still restoring the original trim on the first floor. The second floor original trim was mostly gone when we bought it. I tried to emulate the pediment/farm-house style trim where we had no trim for. I hope you enjoy.

 

http://www.kevinjmoran.com/315/

 

Porch Renovation:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,14576.msg235516.html#msg235516

 

 

 

Neat photos, thanks for posting and investing in Dayton!

Nice job; I can fully appreciate what you've undertaken. Old houses are not for the faint of heart.

Great job!!!

Very nice.

Oh boy..this is interesting!  Great research there, thanks! 

 

I can't read the German, but the address uses the German abbreviation for 'street; (strasse in German)..."Str".  Interesting.

 

The newspaper is set in fraktur, akin to the English "black letter".  Fraktur was a popular German typeface (used along with the more conventional latin-based typefaces ...but difficult to read), rare now.

 

The work on the house is impressive...stripping off that old siding. What kind of siding was that...it almost looks like old asbestos-cement siding?

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

Yes, Jeffrey. Those be asbestos-cement shingles with a tar paper underlayment. Since they used ring-shanked nails for the shingles, it made for a much more difficult removal. I wondered if it was worth pulling all the nails that remained, or just sink them the rest of the way and avoid the hole it left. I guess that would be something for someone to contemplate prior to removing these kind of shingles. Anywho, they look to have been on there since WWII or so. They went on after the exterior steps were added and the east addition was added, and before the kitchen was redone. We know this because the original window in the kitchen was patched in with replacement shingles. Records don't really date much for the house when modifications were done.

I also want to add, the shingles preserved the wood tongue and groove "106" siding very well. It made for easy scraping. Didn't have to heat gun the house like my Adams St. property. Almost all of the front I was able to scrape to bare wood. I had Requarth Lumber mill the replacement siding to match, because today's 106 siding is different from the 106 siding they milled 1880s. :|

I'd really love to do that type of work when I am older... as kind of like a hobby or something when I have free time... Is it worth it? I don't know... but it sounds fun to me!

 

You did a very nice job... I think that fence you put up took the entire property level WAY up... great touch!

I'd really love to do that type of work when I am older... as kind of like a hobby or something when I have free time... Is it worth it? I don't know... but it sounds fun to me!

 

You did a very nice job... I think that fence you put up took the entire property level WAY up... great touch!

 

Thank you, Chas.

 

I really wasn't planning on rehabbing becoming a second job. But when you purchase an old house and it needs work, you have two choices: you or someone else will do the work if you want to keep your homeowner insurance company happy. So I guarantee if you buy a fixer upper, some amount of work will come naturally from yourself. It simply starts with being able to paint or hammer something, which is quite elementary. How much work you do will be based on how much time you can give and possible financial incentives. Of course there are days I wish I was a renter again. ;)