We got a call from a daughter who asked us if we could help them out in Vancleave. It seems the house her mother, Mrs. Iola, lived in had become too decrepit after Katrina for an elderly widow. The new tin roof never sealed right and they had found someone in North Mississippi who would sell them a modular home and install it if they could prepare the site. She asked could we tear down the old homestead for them?
I traveled out and found a sixty year old house, originally two or three rooms, with added several rooms and porches. There was gross signs of termite damage, a lot of leaks in the roof and, shall I say, a lot of airy rooms. Hardly the place for a woman in her eighties to be living.
I looked around, many of the brick pilings were severely weathered and missing bricks. I was amazed it was standing. Even so you could see the massive true 6x6 rough cut long timbers used for the sills, though the splices look iffy. (If you've read any Faulkner you may remember this part of Mississippi was originally virgin pine forest, massive trees. Even sixty years ago it was common to see these large timbers.)
So I told the daughter in mid-January when we had volunteers we'd be out to tear it down so she could purchase and install the modular home before the February deadline to purchase. We arranged for a dumpster to be on site and as soon as our new friends from Stillwater, MN and Wisconsin arrived, we formed a team and headed for the house. I ensured water, electricity and gas were disconnected, and we had plenty of hard hats.
The first thing we noticed on the rear of the house is that Mrs. Iola's son had partially dismantled the dining room. No problem, we just finished that work.
The best demolition method (in absence of a bulldozer) after ensuring all utilities are disconnected is to start with the roof and then the roof rafters, Pull the siding, save any valuable or useful doors, fixtures, and overlooked belongings and bring down the walls.
In this case we decided to go ahead and pull down the bathroom since it was an added structure.
By the second day we had most of the tin roof removed.
We started the week with lows in the 40's and highs in the fifties, pretty nice and with the sun a little outdoor picnic for lunch hit the spot! We had a fire out back where the son was burning lumber too ruined to save and by Wednesday when the temperatures were dropping, that too came in handy.
We found some surprises in the attic, Mrs. Iola was lucky neither she or her children were harmed by a fire started by badly spliced wiring! When you read about old homes catching fire, think about things like this.
We found one other remarkable thing in the attic, the bassinet used to bring Mrs. Iola's children home from birthing. One of our volunteers told us it was the identical bassinet her mother used to bring her home!
By Wednesday we had all the roof removed and all the siding, it was pretty clear we would be done on Thursday.
Before we brought down the walls, I had to go through the house with my camera. On the living room wall by the back door where the phone had laid I found the old message board and address book. There is a lot of history in the house, I can only imagine what dreadful thing happened on 9/11/72 in L'ville...
At this point on Wednesday all the siding is stripped and we really only have to knock down the rafters and pull down the walls.
Thursday only the concrete and brick piers, and piles of lumber were left which the son was using to build a shed out back to keep Mrs. Iola's belongings until the new home is set up.
Our crew leader, Mike, and others had the idea to take pieces of siding and rip it to make seven picture frames, replicate an old photograph of Mrs. Iola and her late husband and give a frame to each daughter or son and to Mrs. Iola. The picture for Mrs. Iola, standing next to Mike in front of the daughter's home rests on the railing.
So we have a happy ending - so I thought until last Monday. I was buying building supplies in Lowes for an Orange Grove client when I received a call from Mrs. Iola's daughter. She apologized profusely for missing us on our last day there and we talked a while. She told me that when they went up to buy the modular home, the man had already sold it even though he promised to hold it. It was a very good deal financially that they barely could make. They may not have enough money to buy another. The daughter told me she doesn't have the heart to tell Ms. Iola the modular home was lost; they already had worried much over Ms. Iola's anxiety about seeing the home he husband built and she had lived in for sixty years go down. She said they don't know what to do except they would keep on paying for help since that had gotten them this far.
No comments:
Post a Comment