Fallen Oak Cottage Porch Removal Update
Things are really moving now over at Fallen Oak Cottage, with Rob tackling porch removal last week.
If you need a refresher, we’re moving a 93-year-old home 15 miles across the county to a piece of lakeside property we own a few streets over from our cottage.
Currently, the house moving plans are with the structural engineer of our house-moving company. His job involves crafting plans for a new foundation that meets code requirements and determining exactly where on the property the house will be located. We’ve been told that the plans should be finalized within the week and sent off to our county for approval.
In the meantime, Rob has to take off the front and back porch of the house because only the original structure can be moved.
I had to ask Rob why the porches must be removed, and here was his response:
“For porches, most of their support is on the ground. Which means picking them up off the ground removes them from their support. It also makes the home smaller and more maneuverable.”
That totally makes sense.
Last Friday, Rob finally had a day of pretty uninterrupted time, so he planned to remove the entire back porch. His plan was to salvage as much of the materials as possible so that they can be reattached once the home is in its final spot.
I started the morning off with him as he dug into the sides and flooring. He uncovered a bit of old termite damage, which we expected. And the old porch flooring underneath the layer of plywood was old tongue-and-groove wood, which was pretty neat. We also found so many pieces of wood with all kinds of paint colors: yellow, salmon, green, cream. There’s no telling how many colors this little house has seen in its lifetime!
We’ve long debated how old the porch actually is and whether it was original to the house. And I think we finally have our answer.
One of the porch roof trusses actually disappears inside the wall of the house, and it doesn’t look like it was added after-the-fact. That indicates that the porch is very nearly original to the house or was added at the same time the kitchen was added, if that wasn’t original (which we also have questioned).
Rob thought he could get the porch demolished in a day. I’ve always teased him about how he operates on Rob Time, which is a mechanism apart from standard time. If Rob tells me something will take “a couple of hours,” it’s usually a safe bet that it’s a job will extend beyond that. A “one-day job” is usually code for two days.
You get the picture.
It turns out that he got nearly all of it demolished in that one day! I was so impressed. The last remaining puzzle is the roof, and his plan shifted and extended when he climbed up and realized that whatever silicone was used on the metal was going to extend the job. Because of that unexpected find, he had to keep up a lot more than he intended (posts, floor framing, etc.) while he thinks through his next plan of attack.
The next day, he went back and started working on the front porch, removing the old wheelchair ramp.
I’m really hoping it’s possible to pick up and move the old concrete steps out the back door because I think they would be so cute to salvage and use once the porch is reassembled.
It will probably be a few days before he heads back, pending the engineering report. We’ll keep you updated on the whole house-moving process right here!
