T -minus 1 and counting...

Tomorrow is the day the old house comes down.

June 2011

We all worked this weekend to clear the rest of the items out of the old house.  Windows have been renoved so we don't have broken glass everywhere.  Doors we will be using in the new house have been removed.  (I wanted there to be a bit of history of the old house in the new house).  The doors were basically the only things left from the original house.  The front door will be our laundry room door.

Demo blades are ready, additional line-man cutters will be purchased (wires will be holding the walls together, so we'll need to be able to cut them).

Nathan was up on the roof this morning with a chain saw cutting the beams in half (12 foot trailers & 16 foot beams - beams at a manageable size will be a good thing).  He's pretty tired.  He said if he never does that again, he'd be fine with that.

East side, relocated 'front' door.

Looking east to west.  Alley side of the house.  There was a tool shed built later that was almost tall enough to walk in...

In the alley looking south.  From left to right, dining room window, bathrrom winow, shed area.

Looking down the west side of the house, bedroom windows closest, living room next to new house

Dining room looking through to kitchen.  The house is so small it's hard to take a picture of any one room

We have Keith and friends doing dump runs all day tomorrow.  It's goning to be a batch of work for sure.

Deep sigh before another climb up the ladder, chains sawing a house apart = hard work

New house and old house roof are less than a finger width apart

The house was built in 1921 on wooden peirs.  This is why most parts of the house were sagging or falling in one direction or another.  Doors no longer closed fully & showing signs of being cut at odd angles to accomidate the new 'shape' of the doorways.  It was one of the first houses on our block of Clark.  It was  probably a Sears & Robuck kit house although I did not find the specific floor plan on any website.  It had small, intimate rooms.  Room for necessities.  Closet space for a couple of house dresses and a Sunday dress. Remanents of days with much less belongings.

The people we purchased the house from still live in Billings.  In their late 70's with both houses as rentals, we offered to buy at a time when ridding themselves of the work of these two rental houses was a welcomed relief.  His mother was the first resident in the house and until our purchase of the property this had always been in their family.  At some point "Grandma" (as she was always referred to - no talk of "Grandpa"...) decided to use the house as a rental.  From our conversations, this house had been a rental property for at least 40 years.  When we moved in to the 811 square foot house (200 sq ft of that was finished attic space), all charm had long been removed or replaced.  Years of tenants left grime that one couldn't scrub away.  It was rode hard & put away wet. 

Our friend, "Mr. Bill" with his 84 years in the neighborhood, living in the house he was born in just a block away, will be there to "Snoopervise" the process.  A few neighbor children will be at a safe distance watching.  I can't help but want to rearrange my work hours to be there too...

A little chunk of history is standing for it's last day today.  Tomorrow this part of Billings will make way for new history.  Just as the little white house was trend setting in it's time, this lot is once again prepping to host a new century of family.