Restoring an 1890s Farmhouse.

This American Gothic home was built by hand in 1890 by the Amish, just north-west of Columbus, Ohio. After years of neglect and a decade of sitting empty, this farmhouse is finally getting the love and attention it deserves. Our goal is to save as many original details as possible, including the original wood flooring and repurposing the original floor joists we had to replace. (Check the blog for more details on the process of this project).

Screen Shot 2021-10-04 at 5.56.42 PM.png — Updating the floor plan.

The entire back of the house was redesigned for a more modern lifestyle. The back-porch was transformed into a sunroom/dining area, opening up into a spacious kitchen with large island and separate laundry/panty and half bath. The opening from the kitchen to the living room was also widened to create a more open floor-plan. There are future plans to build an attached garage with a mud-room, with entrance into the kitchen.

Demolition

Before work begun.
Removing the insulation.
Demo of the chimney.
Down to the studs.

Rebuilding the Structural Foundation

The foundation beams were deteriorating and needed to be replaced..
The foundation blocks were also deteriorating and needed to be replaced.
We built temporary wall frames to support the second floor while we replaced the support beams. You can see how uneven the floor is, which will also be fixed by replacing the floor joists.
An above look at a beam ready to be replaced. The walls have been secured on either side, and underneath the floor there are jacks supporting everything.
The original support was a sold 8"x8" beam that had to be cut in sections in order to remove. This type of framing is called post and beam.
The new pylons were dug well below the frost line ensuring stability.
While digging the foundation we came across dozens of pieces of pottery and glass bottles.
After replacing the structural beams, the floor joists needed to be replaced. So the hardwood floor was carefully removed and stored.
Parts of the joists are still usable, and we plan on repurposing in other parts of the house.
After the floor joists have been replaced we added a subfloor for better insulation. Also not pictured is the new irrigation system, insulation, and sump-pump we added to prevent moisture build-up underneath the house.