1910 Small Town Restoration

[momtaks]

I'm no expert for sure! I rely on my grandpa for a definite ID. Oak and pine are very comon around here though. Color, pattern, density and texture of oak are pretty unique. It's much harder than pine. Pine is very soft and much less dense than oak.

All our woodwork is soft wood. Someone told me my clapboards are redwood, my claps are 1/4 to 1/8 thickness and only 3.5 inches tall. They're very thin. A mill told me my original windows were fir.

What state are you in? I'm in IL.

I'm in Southwest Oklahoma

[Sinoed]

What a beautiful home! Lots of work but you're well on your way to restoring it and the work so far is terrific. I'd love to get my hands on a house like yours - keep it up.

[Don M]

Looks real nice! and welcome to the district! And I second that, based on the exterior pic I'd say closer to 1900.


What's the story behind the diagonal sheathing?

Diagonal sheathing was fairly common at the turn of the century both in walls & in floors. I am not sure but putting the sheathing on a diagonal may have made the construction stronger or at least avoided any issues with the finish flooring or siding running the same direction as the sheathing which definitely would make the construction weaker. Installing sheathing on the diagonal would take more time due to the cuts involved.

[momtaks]

Here are a few of the treasures we have found recently. These were all collected in the attic beneath the floorboards. There is a wooden bubble blower dated 1909. Lots of pictures. An advertisement for a Formaldehyde Fumigator! My favorite is a pamphlet and letter from the Wilce hardwood flooring company. The letter states that floors were installed in 1907, so I think we can finally put an accurate date to the house!

[Don M]

Very interesting finds!

[Vala]

That's pretty cool. I've found a few things similar to that in my attic also in other places. On my house, construction was started in 1900 but didn't finish until 1902. So the 1907 date would most likely be the finishing date, depending on if you want to go off of the date it was first started or the finishing date, it could be a year or two earlier. But at the very least you have something to go off of now for the date and that's always a plus.

[JacquieJet]

Oh wow! That's amazing that you found all of that! So awesome! So far, the only "artifact" we have found was a burned antique looking spoon buried in the backyard... we got a chuckle out of that!

[Vala]

Well I didn't find any flooring papers but I found the installation instructions for the pocket doors hidden under the stairs.

[momtaks]

Some pics of the stairwell plaster removal. It was literally falling off. Keeping the lathe on interior walls, but removing it on exterior to insulate. Also, pics of porch where we removed the aluminum siding! Original clapboard looks great!!!

[Don M]

Very nice!