It’s been awhile
since we have posted anything on the Horner House and associated projects. We
are still here and still moving forward with all of our projects, but we have
run into a few new bumps in the road. The first is my (Amanda's) health. While
the Rheumatologist has given me a tentative diagnosis I have been passed on to literally
an additional dozen specialists to make sure that nothing has been missed.
Unfortunately, they have only found additional questions and no answers. To
complicate things further, my health is only stable when I keep my activity to only a
few miserly hours each day. My PCP is very pleased with the care that I have
received from the IU system, but she thinks it’s time to try another approach
and has set me up with the Mayo Clinic. I will be seeing them at the end of
June. The doctor is very hopeful that we can finally get some answers or at the
very least, get me back to “normal.”
A number of
people have asked me how this will affect the Horner House. We are still 100% committed
to this project. However, it will change our timelines. Things that need my
attention are happening at a much slower rate and will continue to do so until
I am feeling better. Also, the very significant medical bills that we are
incurring are taking the available funds to work on our projects. We will
have to be even more creative in how we deal with the project from here on.
The other
new bump in the road has to do with the Bungalow. We now know that it was a
very good thing for all of the walls in the basement, which were only decorative anyway, to
have come down. The main part of the house has joists that span half of the house
and rest on a “beam” that runs down the middle. Then there is another “beam”
where the back wall used to be and the joists for the back porch rest on this.
Well, they really aren’t beams. Not that this is unusual for construction of
this age, but the single boards that are in place of the beams aren’t really up to
the challenge of holding the house up. So, it’s probably a really good thing
that I didn’t host our family Thanksgiving last year and the 40+ people that
show up for it.
In the
picture the “beam” is the board that runs sideways and is held up by the post.
You can see how it bows down from where it is help up by the post.
We have a
plan for fixing this problem but we need the calculations on board sizes and
such so that we can get started. Once we have that information we will do
another blog with more detail and better pictures. We will also do the stabilization
necessary so that we can get back to the other things I want done before I will
move; like putting in a floor and cabinets in the kitchen and a toilet in the
upstairs bathroom. :)
Over the
next months our posts may not always happen on Tuesdays and we might, at times,
be slow answering questions, but we will continue to work on these projects and
do our best to correspond in a timely manner. We’ve known from the beginning
that this undertaking would not be without complications, but we didn’t
anticipate that so many of them would be health related. At this point we’ll
take what we’ve been dealt and find a way to vanquish it. It could always be
worse. The house IS still standing and progress is being made.
-Amanda
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