We truly didn't know where to begin... I'm still not sure we do, two years later!
Pretty quickly after we bought the place, Ben went up for a day to wage war against the incredibly healthy population of Autumn Olive on the property. He made a nice dent, but I think it's still winning.
Over the winter, we sought out an architect who could help us re-imagine the place. We found Scott Lankford at http://www.lankforddesigngroup.com/. Scott had restored a historic home himself, and I think he's just crazy enough to think this project is cool!
As we got closer to the finish line with design plans, we also connected with Max Strickland who is working with us to make the house as energy efficient as possible. http://www.stricklandewing.com/ Stay tuned for more on that effort.
What neither Scott nor Max could have imagined, is that the house is not your typical...anything! In fact, we're still not quite sure what to call it. Some have described it as a "plank house." Maybe a "slab house." Or perhaps "lincoln log" construction. This makes remodeling a challenge. To what degree, we still don't know!
The house is constructed of horizontal planks about 2" thick by 4" wide stacked one on top of the other with mortar in the middle. We have learned that this was often done by those in the lumber industry where lumber was free or very cheap. In our house, each piece has spacer blocks between with old square nails holding each piece in place. I just cannot imagine the incredible amount of labor this project would have required! Apparently there are a few houses in downtown Traverse City that may be similar that were built by employees of Perry Hannah's - a lumberman in the early days of Traverse City.
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