The Good
Original Sills and Headers Intact
NOT Covered in Asbestos Siding
The Bad
Whoever re-sided the house took the brick off of the back of the house entirely, and framed that wall and the addition in instead. (I have my theories that I will explain in a future post, hopefully with historic backup.) That leaves us with about 3 feet of original house on each side of the addition that is NOT brick anymore. We've left the steel siding up for now.
Corner A, crumbling with a large stairstep crack working up from the bottom to join it. This corner ajoins the "new" frame construction of the house, and we are a little afraid to take off the wood that is currently over part of it.
Corner B: Vertical cracks, mostly missing bricks, and stairstep cracks, OH MY!
Cracks, cracks, and more cracks...
And loose bricks everywhere.
The Ugly
There are chips out of many of the bricks on the lower quarter of the house from where the previous owners carelessly ripped off the wood strips and tacked them up a little closer together for the steel siding skirt.
A big hole in the wall, where the previous porch columns were attached to the house.
The Plan
The plan of action is to call in a historic brick specialist and have an inspection done. Hopefully we can find some one who can do this for us, as we don't feel we have the expertise to determine the causes and fixes for all of these problems.
7 comments:
First of all, kudos on a job well done! I'm sure you are exhausted after such hard work. Give yourselves a pat on the back and treat yourselves to something special. You've earned it.
Thanks for posting all the pictures of the brick sans siding. I've never seen a brick house in that state, before restoration, so it might not be that bad. I'm sure your professional brick guy will be able to give you some good advice and point you in the right direction.
Also, I wanted to ask you about that steel siding. I've actually never heard anyone mention steel siding before, but I would swear that the stuff that encases Oliver's Bungalow is steel, too. If it isn't steel, then it is the heaviest gague aluminum siding I've ever seen. Ours has a kind of copper-color finish on the back. How can you tell that it is steel and not aluminum?
Oliver's Bungalow~
I don't know it's steel... but magnets stick to it (it's ferrous), so it's not aluminum. I'm guessing that the only thing it could be (based on price) is steel... but it looks just like aluminum siding I've seen. The back of our siding is painted the same color as the front (a nasty tan/yellow), so I don't know what color it is underneath. The siding is REALLY thick, too... it took me 15 minutes to cut through 3 inches of it with a wire cutter.
I've never seen a brick house before the work, either... my only hope is that the house next store has repairs done that look an awful lot like what we need done!
You guys are doing great! I don't really know what an historic brick specialist is, but I would definitely recommend having a structural engineer inspect your brick as well. Good luck!
Oh! It really does look good, though, all things considered-- I really like the look of it. I think a brick specialist is just the ticket for you...keep us all posted!
I think your house looks great in brick! LOL wish I saw all that brick when I had to take a piece of t-1-11 siding of my house- no luck!I too am sure you brick guy will just chuckle and say No charge~!
We had steel siding on one of our homes. Very nice. Much more expensive than aluminum and vinyl, much more durable too. Maybe it's more prevalent in the Midwest?
Lisa in MN
I agree with Amalie--the house looks great, all things considered. Amazing that the PO's covered up a brick exterior....I just can't get over my wonderment at that!
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