[Today’s run: 3.4 miles]
During our recent trip I had the opportunity to talk to my brother-in-law Mike. He is looking at refurbishing an old two-story farmhouse to use as a regular residence.
This house is familiar to me because I lived in it for about 6 months, 31 years ago!
So, on the drive last Sunday I was pondering how they could fix it up and make it modern. And as we drove through rural Iowa, I noticed all of the similar houses and the various ways people had added to them over the years. On US-163, between Des Moines and Mt. Pleasant, I think we probably saw a dozen such houses.
Here is one just west of Fairfield, IA that I think they have done a good job on.
Here is the South side
Here is the East side
In my own thoughts I was pondering adding two small one-story additions on the left and right, then have a wrap-around front porch. The additions would allow removal of siding up to the level of the upper story windows. That would let you put in electrical and HVAC in the existing walls, and insulation! And you could put a bathroom on each end since there isn’t any plumbing in the old place, within the cube.
I also wondered if the walls were balloon frame. In that style of building the studs go all the way up. Modern houses are built with platform frame where the walls sit on the floor, then you put a floor up on top of that for the 2nd story and put up walls on the floor again. With balloon, since the studs go all the way up, I was wondering if a person could take the ceiling and floor out of part of the upper level and have a two-story open area. You would have to leave in the joists. But you could paint them white or something and still would get a lot of light into the lower level. I’m not sure it would be worth trying, but it was an interesting idea.
My brother-in-law works in remodeling and construction so I expect he already has some good ideas about all of this. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does.