Dead cat farm

[theoldwizard1]

update on partial stone garage.
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.
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... but the concrete guy is showing up this weekend to start leveling out the inside with gravel, and start putting in rebar for the floor. hes also going to dig out an apron on the outside which can take place while the mortar is being done.

Are you ever going to heat the place ? Now is the time to decide on under floor insulation and vapor barrier.

... this is a work bench where the work top is an 18 inch wide 2.5 inch thick oak slab that weighs about 100lbs and is as hard as iron, though horribly warped and fractured now from the POs fetish of putting wood on wet dirt (and also from at least 100 years of being used as a work bench in this old shed).
I decided I would keep this and do something with it. boards like that just dont exist anymore. I can probably cut it in half at the fracture and have two nice boards for something around the house or in the garage later.

That one crack runs end to end so putting a cut in there is probably reasonable. Also, it is next to impossible to find a planer wider than 12", unless you have a lumber mill near by.

Some 4x4s, clamps and shims and you might be able to take the warp/twist out of that board. It will have to sit in the clamps for at least a year maybe 2. If you have the time and space, at the end of the first year, check and see how much progress you have made with the clamps and shims. Cut a couple of inches off of each end and seal the end grain with oil based primer or boiled linseed oil. Add/subtract shims as required and then store it in a heat space for another year.

Plane it, but you will have to seal it with linseed or tung oil while it is still dry or it will warp again.

 

[jb3]

...where did the name "dead cat farm" come from?

In honor of the number of dead cats I removed from the buildings cleaning the area. Previous owners were very fond of feral cats and fed a large number of them. All buildings have special cat entrances installed as well. I removed two dismembered carcasses from the attached garage, one from the stone garage, and some bones from the other buildings. Not sure of species, but look cat size.

When we first moved in there are 3 or 4 live ones prowling around daily, and they seem to have moved on. One did die though and I buried it in the yard before the others could eat it.

In all, its been a somewhat gross addition to the usual neglect an empty series of buildings suffer from being unattended for a few years. It looks like anarchy reigned and the sudden disappearance of consistent food for the feral cats resulted in a lord of the flies style series of deaths all over the property.

 

[jb3]

Are you ever going to heat the place ? Now is the time to decide on under floor insulation and vapor barrier.

he is installing a vapor barrier, but no insulation based on the partial buried nature of the floor.

Havent really decided how I will heat it, but leaning towards electric heat at the moment since it seems simplest.

That one crack runs end to end so putting a cut in there is probably reasonable. Also, it is next to impossible to find a planer wider than 12", unless you have a lumber mill near by.

Some 4x4s, clamps and shims and you might be able to take the warp/twist out of that board. It will have to sit in the clamps for at least a year maybe 2. If you have the time and space, at the end of the first year, check and see how much progress you have made with the clamps and shims. Cut a couple of inches off of each end and seal the end grain with oil based primer or boiled linseed oil. Add/subtract shims as required and then store it in a heat space for another year.

Plane it, but you will have to seal it with linseed or tung oil while it is still dry or it will warp again.

good ideas, thanks!
I have a place I can put something like this for the long term

 

[booch]

Looks great! What part of RI are you in? I grew up in Chepachet... we recently moved back from NYC, but couldn't get far enough north to RI so settled about a half hour from the RI line in CT. The cats would have creeped me out, you're a good man to deal with them so valiantly

 

[jb3]

Looks great! What part of RI are you in? I grew up in Chepachet... we recently moved back from NYC, but couldn't get far enough north to RI so settled about a half hour from the RI line in CT. The cats would have creeped me out, you're a good man to deal with them so valiantly

Thanks!
im in western cranston
Chepachet is a beautiful area, the wife lived up there for a while. Love the forests in that part of the state

 

[jb3]

So finally some progress

Saturday morning opened with the grisly discovery of yet another dead cat at 1am when I returned from work.



Omen of some type maybe. I waited until 8am to bury it while gravel was being dumped.

Guys showed up promptly at 8am only to discover that our planned access to the garage building was blocked by the gate which was not unlocked by the neighbor as planned. Fortunately we discovered that its a close squeeze, but a dump truck can just get by the building, good sign for concrete later and means I don't really have to bother the neighbor in the future, or cut a hole in the roof of the garage to get concrete down on the floor.



sort of leveled out dirt-




I had sort of an issue with the posts in this building. With concrete poured, the bottom 5 inches of the post will be sub concrete, and ultimately rot. There is no easy fix to this because of the way the building is cobbled together, so worked out a plan with the concrete guy to form off the posts slightly so I can pull them out completely when it comes time to redo how the roof is supported.
What that meant was we unbolted the posts from the footings at this stage. You can see here the eventual floor level will be about the height of the concrete ledge on the right



Gravel dumped-



Gravel compacted-
Uncompacted strip is a 3 foot section that will be dug down to 12 inches deep for a lift if I decide to install one down the line. Concrete depth across the whole garage will end up being about 7 inches average




Starting to dig out the apron areas. We were thwarted here as well with the discovery of a massive boulder that travels under the foundation of the building and is just under the surface at the corner. Instead of an apron that wraps around the building, the new plan is two aprons, a small step outside the door, and the one in front of the garage, which will sidestep the boulder issue.



This upcoming week the guy will drop off the steel mesh, and finish digging the apron forms. Next step though before he can prepare to pour is the mason has to complete the walls, which should take about 3 days im told. In a holding pattern until hes ready to come by.

 

[Hausi]

Thanks for the update, I really like your property and what you are doing with it.

 

[sunsation288]

Wow !! . subscibed

 

[Danish-welder]

Looking good! Love those properties With a lot of buildings and soul's keep up the good work!

 

[Sunbimmer]

I'm curious where you're going with this, great building Keep the pics coming.

 

[jb3]

Thanks for the update, I really like your property and what you are doing with it.

Wow !! . subscibed .

Looking good! Love those properties With a lot of buildings and soul's keep up the good work! .

I'm curious where you're going with this, great building Keep the pics coming.

Thanks all!

Cant wait to actually use this building. this past year its just been a dark dirty damp hole to store wood you absolutely want rotten in the shortest period of time possible.

 

[jb3]

progress, stone mason was here today pointing. some pics of first pass, he will be doing a second coat and the outside over the next 2 days-

early arrival, I work second shift, so to wake up at 9am and have this guys already going full bore in the building is kind of like christmas morning



pointing progress-








im deciding if I want to paint the stone walls or not when done. the natural stone sure does **** up a lot of light. If I paint it white will lose some charm, but brighten the building quite a bit for future lighting


weirdly this thing appeared at lunch as if by miracle, because no one saw it get dropped off. Only found out an hour ago that its for a septic test hole down the street and has the neighbors permission to be in his access road. Spent a while calling everyone who's done work here trying to find out of they dropped it off while we were all out.

Wish they left keys in it, cause I could have used it to move those boulders in my yard over onto the wall closest to the excavator

 

[theoldwizard1]

Havent really decided how I will heat it, but leaning towards electric heat at the moment since it seems simplest.

Electric heat IS easy and inexpensive to install. It is also the most expensive to operate !

Consider a mini-split heat pump. More expensive to install, but much cheaper to operate.

 

[jb3]

Electric heat IS easy and inexpensive to install. It is also the most expensive to operate !

Consider a mini-split heat pump. More expensive to install, but much cheaper to operate.

Interesting idea, ill check it out.

I was also considering going old fashioned and moving the wood stove in the attached house garage down to this building and burning firewood to heat it. The attraction there is it costs nothing to set that up. I have everything i need already installed in the house

Ive got some time to think about this though. The wood stove could go nicely up against the center of the stone wall

 

[theoldwizard1]

Interesting idea, ill check it out.

I was also considering going old fashioned and moving the wood stove in the attached house garage down to this building and burning firewood to heat it. The attraction there is it costs nothing to set that up. I have everything i need already installed in the house

Ive got some time to think about this though. The wood stove could go nicely up against the center of the stone wall

If you have access to wood on the property, or there is an inexpensive source near by, wood really is the cheapest way to go.

Regarding painting, don't do it. It will ruin the charm ! Buy extra light.

 

[Cris B]

Many old stone built properties in the UK and Ireland are limewashed. The white finish does make a big difference and if you mix your own from lime putty it is incredibly cheap in comparison to paint. It is a durable and natural finish.

 

[Lippyp]

The brick walls in my garage are limewashed as it used to be a cowshed. Limewash amongst other properties is slightly antiseptic so stops mould etc growing.

 

[xtremek]

I'm for leaving it natural and just pumping in more light fixtures. But none of us have to deal with your decision, so do what you like. But continue to keep us in the loop, if you don't mind, cause it looks like fun.

 

[jb3]

thanks for the tips, limwash i find a pretty interesting idea!
I will let the mortar dry and see what it looks like then decided later on


guys are done with the stone walls!

some finished wet pics, will dry a lot brighter





and the outside section-



Concrete guy is back tomorrow, and he thinks he can pour tuesday!


Also in the meantime, ive had a epiphany on my cherished early 90s overbuilt lift.

Here is another pic of the top section-



basically the brain wave has to do with me realizing that the huge steel top piece connected to two of the below towers may be modifiable if I alter the pully setup to a different route potentially. There is a cable that runs along the bar



The same company sells two current lifts that look like the same basic column elements are used for both a lift with an overhead bar like mine, and one with the hydraulics and cable running under a cover along the floor.

I have a few emails going back and forth on whether I can have two freestanding columns with my 25 year old model. If thats the case it means I can reroute the hydraulics and pulleys, remove the rafters from one side of the garage, and stand up my lift columns and actually use it. With the top piece installed, the lift will be approximately 1 foot above the roof line.

I still wont be able to service my full size work van, but all other personal vehicles could be lifted up and worked on, so this idea has me pretty excited. Even If I can't use it until I raise the roof, the attraction of standing the columns up and bolting them down is there, for the rest added later

This also came with the realization that all the rafters on this building are add on. The main structure is 3 poles holding up a ridge beam and roof rafters, then he nailed blocks on the posts and created rafter ties for storage. I can rip out one whole side and reinforce differently, which would create lift room for a modified lift.

 

[theoldwizard1]

guys are done with the stone walls!

some finished wet pics, will dry a lot brighter

Looks nice !

 

[jb3]

Thanks!

Returing to heat im now leaning towards a pellet stove to heat this space. Was just in a stove place earlier today playing with them.

What attracts me is the auto feed nature and hands free so i can fill the hopper, turn it on, tinker, and turn it off. Seems like the perfect combination of features to work with this little building provided i insulate it properly, and provided its legal.

Read some threads on here linking to restrictions to solid fuel sources in garages

 

[SteveCh]

Pellet stove not a bad idea. I don't have one, but we heat with two wood stoves. You are right, though: wood stoves take a slight bit more management. With the pellets, you pour in some of them and light it off. If you get one, start watching for bags of pellets on sale.

Around here, we have tons of beetle-killed trees, and several companies have set up shop to grind the wood into pellets. One can purchase the pellets by the ton, like with coal, but you need a bin to keep them in and keep them dry. But it is significantly cheaper than buying bags, if you care. You might check around, see if that's an option up there. Like I said, if you care. The bags are easy to store and deal with.

 

[jbmatth]

I love the look of that house and the buildings you are working to save. My hat is off to you for tackling this amount of work, but in 10 years you'll be able to step back and look at the before and after pictures and just say, heck yeah I did this and it is awesome!

...
couple tough choices on what wood to get rid of. this is a work bench where the work top is an 18 inch wide 2.5 inch thick oak slab that weighs about 100lbs and is as hard as iron, though horribly warped and fractured now from the POs fetish of putting wood on wet dirt (and also from at least 100 years of being used as a work bench in this old shed).
I decided I would keep this and do something with it. boards like that just dont exist anymore. I can probably cut it in half at the fracture and have two nice boards for something around the house or in the garage later.

I would LOVE to have that slab of oak! I'm in the process of rebuilding a very old cabinet makers bench turned blacksmith table turned mechanics table I received from Tom and Chris at The Restored 1930's Auto Shop. The center board was badly warped and very split, and on top of that it was on 1" thick so I didn't have much material to work with. I've been hunting for a slab of wood 16" wide and 7.5' long and 2-3" thick with no real luck. I'm sure you wouldn't give it away nor could I afford to have it shipped or come to get it from Ok. It makes me sad just thinking about it. However, after you try to get it as flat as you can you could plane it with a router and some time. Look up board planing with a router and you will see what I'm talking about. Keep up the good work,
JB

 

[jb3]

I love the look of that house and the buildings you are working to save. My hat is off to you for tackling this amount of work, but in 10 years you'll be able to step back and look at the before and after pictures and just say, heck yeah I did this and it is awesome!



I would LOVE to have that slab of oak! I'm in the process of rebuilding a very old cabinet makers bench turned blacksmith table turned mechanics table I received from Tom and Chris at The Restored 1930's Auto Shop. The center board was badly warped and very split, and on top of that it was on 1" thick so I didn't have much material to work with. I've been hunting for a slab of wood 16" wide and 7.5' long and 2-3" thick with no real luck. I'm sure you wouldn't give it away nor could I afford to have it shipped or come to get it from Ok. It makes me sad just thinking about it. However, after you try to get it as flat as you can you could plane it with a router and some time. Look up board planing with a router and you will see what I'm talking about. Keep up the good work,
JB

Thanks!

its too bad you arent closer! you could have it.
I also found some hardwood original tarred gutters in the woods I want to do something with as well

Eventually that wood will find a purpose on the ten year plan

 

[jb3]

Concrete is almost done!

concrete guy had a good idea on the posts, he just surrounded them with circular forms so I could pull them right out without any issue at all



Ready to pour inside, lift will be on the left when I get to that point-



forms almost finished outside for the aprons-
We had heavy downpour for two days prior to the concrete trucks appearing, so this made some issues with saturated ground and water in the forms



Helpful neighbor gave us access, which turned out great as the concrete trucks I do not think would have fit by this building if he didnt. The short dump truck maneuvered by, but there is a really poorly located stump right in the way you have to drive around. Will be eliminating that down the line



immediately after pour and finish work-






And finished result! I am very pleased with how it turned out. He is back tomorrow to do the cuts, and then its time to pack this garage with a mountain of **** for Phase 2, making the small shed usable.

 

[jbmatth]

Concrete work turned out great, that building has charicter just oozing out of it. Good call on the forms around the posts. Down the road when you can remove them it'll be a simple job to fill those in and smooth it out.
JB

 

[jb3]

Concrete work turned out great, that building has charicter just oozing out of it. Good call on the forms around the posts. Down the road when you can remove them it'll be a simple job to fill those in and smooth it out.
JB

Thanks!
Im really pleased with the quality of the finish work the guy did. There are a few compromises based on my limited budget, and in one place he encased a bit of rotten OSB, but I can work with that problem.

Im hoping to go with trusses long term and eliminate the posts all together, but it will be a while before that point.

I want to do a barn shaped roof to match the white shed.

 

[jb3]

next order of business for this building is managing drainage around the hill side of it.

Over the winter the moisture would come through the wall and freeze in ice crystals like so-




because only one side of it is mortared, water can still get through the wall. Ironically where the stones are closest fitted together that were hard to mortar.

This pic is after the couple days of heavy rain-



good news is that the leaks are only on this side where the gutter was destroyed by snowload this last winter, and where there is a bit of erosion. (pic before the mortar process)



My plan is to create a nice big french drain all along the back of the building to route runoff from the hill and snow melt around to the sides. The biggest problem is the red building uphill from this one, which concentrates all the rain and snow melt into a large pool right above this building, then runs down.
Once thats knocked down eventually, the drainage should get better

 

[sublime68charger]

is there any way to divert the runoff from the red building away before it gets down to this building?

great progress and work so far.

 

[Water Boy]

Updates?

 

[jb3]

Updates?

Nothing substantial, was bit by a tick and picked up lyme disease which had me out of action for a bit, plus very busy at work this season. Struggle completing work and just wanted to lay there like a slug when home.

Paved garage has become a lawn tractor repair ward. Hopefully soon some activity, have recovered from being sick and off the meds finally

 

[aaron77]

Hope you feel better soon! I'm sure everyone of us watching this thread wishes you a safe recovery and are looking forward to seeing more updates!

 

[M-technik-3]

Seems many of us are suffering from Lyme's disease here in the NorthEast this year. I have restricted my some of my hiking in my new woods because of it.

We have 4 people in my office of 65 that have it. Not good.

 

[jb3]

finally have an architect on board for a home remodel involving the attached garage. we have our work cut out for us, and contrary to the GG policy, we will actually be taking about 15 feet of attached garage and turning it into a mud room.

This photo im reposting shows the area-



what we are looking at is the original exterior of the house, which then got roofed over and covered into an open shed for animals, then closed in to make a garage for cars. Because of this history, the bulkhead entrance is inside the garage, and a whole extra staircase in the picture is installed which coincidentally runs almost directly into an interior staircase that comes out right next to the door on the right.

This space is also stepped with 4 different levels. Its going to be a bit complex as the loft of the garage is at least 2 feet lower than the 2nd story of the house.

Our goals with a remodel in this area and the house in general are to-

-create a modern single staircase that provided access to both the loft and house second story with probably a landing. This house has a beautiful semi spiral wooden staircase in the front that we want to keep, but its going to be a problem with children.
-create a level consistent floor for this mudroom area on the same level as the rest of the house
-create access to the back of the house (to the left in the pic above) where there is an ideal area for a patio (currently impossible as any door would open directly into the bulkhead pit)
-turn the attic loft into house living space. Would make a fabulous master bedroom
-add a powder room to the mud room area.
-where the new staircase ends up move a few walls to rework the 2nd story colonial design slightly so we have dedicated bedrooms with hallways instead of linked rooms surrounding a fireplace as it is now

To do all this we might need to-

-Move one or both bathrooms (window on the left)
-dormer out a bit of the top of the garage structure
-floor over the current bulkhead entrance and create a new exterior access to the basement, either an escape window or another whole bulkhead
-upgrade from a cesspool to a real septic system

Obviously we arent going to be able to afford everything we want to do, but im hoping to separate this project into 5 or 6 remodel projects over the next decade all based on a fully thought out original plan so nothing has to be redone each time. Im conservatively estimating that the above list is easily a 100k undertaking (especially if they need chainsaws to cut through 200 year old timber), probably more like 150k so we will start with pie in the sky planning with the architect, then downgrade to a much more realistic budget.

Ill settle for just working out the staircase and dividing the garage slightly to make this mudroom. With that done, we will still have an attached 2.5 car garage which will be used for parking for the first time in the history of this house most likely.

 

[jb3]

here is a pic of the existing primary staircase which we love. This we are retaining, but as you can see, its steep and a bit dangerous if you are carrying anything-




this is a better pic of the area which would become a mudroom. This is taken from the loft of the garage looking down
The door right in the middle opens onto another steep straight back staircase.

 

[theoldwizard1]

here is a pic of the existing primary staircase which we love. This we are retaining, but as you can see, its steep and a bit dangerous if you are carrying anything-

I love it ! Is their money in the budget to re-finish it, perhaps a lighter color ?

 

[theoldwizard1]

So ... any work being done on the out-buildings this summer ?

 

[jb3]

I love it ! Is their money in the budget to re-finish it, perhaps a lighter color ?

The finish quality is actually pretty good. (its a lot cleaner now also) these pics are from when we first moved in.
I like the dark finish, matches all the floors. Priorty one in that area is to get rid of the old wall paper and paint

 

[jb3]

So ... any work being done on the out-buildings this summer ?

Apart from moving stuff around and some basic maintenance repairs, not much. I really hope to push two non running cars into the garage i just concreted though and get them going

If i want to stay married i focus on the house first and its livability with children before i play in the garages.

 

[BSAschields]

Apart from moving stuff around and some basic maintenance repairs, not much. I really hope to push two non running cars into the garage i just concreted though and get them going

If i want to stay married i focus on the house first and its livability with children before i play in the garages.

Ive had to make that same decision........ Happy Wife Happy Life. Nice to see some one else saving old buildings. I need one more and you are giving me ideas of how to design it in keeping with what we have already.
Thanks