If you’ve been wondering what’s going on at the Taylor Homestead, we’ve had to wait to do any interior renovations until the funding came through to level the house.
Here are the colors Carol chose for the Taylor Homestead.
It was REALLY not level, and the drainage was “interesting,” so we addressed those items first.
In the meantime, Anita has been gathering bids for all the aspects of the repair, and Carol has chosen the paint colors, which is always exciting. The body of the house will be Intellectual Gray (one of my favorite grays), and the trim is Divine White, which looks pink on my phone, but I don’t think it really is. The front door is a gold color called Peristyle Brass. It will be fun to see those go on, but that is not happening yet!
Why, this pier is not touching the actual house. Whoops.
The Taylor Homestead is a pier and beam house (here are links to a video on why they are a good idea and a comparison of pier and beam versus concrete). These are very common in places, like the area east and north of Austin, where the soil tends to shift a lot. A concrete foundation will crack, and require expensive repairs. Pier and beam houses, which sit on some strong, but separate, points, do get out of level, but are fairly easy to straighten out if you do it before the damage is too great.
The leveling operation started last week, when Gabe the Leveler, as we call him now, showed up to check out those piers and beams. There were some piers that weren’t actually touching the ground,as you can see in the pictures. It’s amazing that the house is holding up as well as it is. We had to make the house safe and sturdy!
These beams aren’t exactly being held up, either.
So, they dug holes (not an easy task) and built forms for the concrete, all while under the house.
The concrete got poured and the rebar got set the next day, to make that concrete strong. It didn’t rain TOO much afterwards, so that was successful.
Next came the actual leveling part, where they jack the house up and get it level. I wish we had pictures of THAT, because it’s always exciting. Once the house is level, they put in shims and high-compression blocks to hold the house in place, and do the finishing touches.
NOW we can get to work making other improvements.
But Wait, Would You Like It?
Lee and Carol decided to put the house on the market as a “pre-hab,” which means it’s a house that has been made ready for a rehab, but not completely fixed up yet. The yard has been taken care of, trees trimmed, drainage issues addressed, and the house is now level. The property is very large, and though there are only two bedrooms, one is huge. We are asking $115K as it is now. The price will go up as we make improvements.
Here’s the virtual tour Carol has made for the property. Enjoy!
Photos in the text are by Carol Mangum and Anita McCabe. Tour photos by Russell and Carol Mangum. ©2017