This is a thread about our family cabin. It was out by the road, behind the newer home and was in pretty bad disrepair when Dad got ownership from his Father. The cabin was the original house and when they decided they wanted a newer, bigger home, they just built in front of it. They left the cabin there and used it as a wash house first, then as a storage for coal. Dad decided he wanted to move it back into the woods and repair it for family get togethers and such. Dad and I worked to clear the small brush and junk trees from a section of woods. Let me be clear on this. Dad did most of the work himself. I helped when I could along with our longtime neighbor who put a good bit of time in as well. He was Dad and I's wood cutting partner early on as he had a truck. Other friends pitched in for a few things as well but the credit goes to Dad. He was retired and enjoyed the process so here are some pics along the way and the finished result. Some of the pics may not be the best quality but they are scans and all we have of it. This was over a span of a few years and you'll see the seasons change as progress was made.
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Here is the cabin as it was when Dad got the property. They had wood sided it at one time and he took what was left of it off.
It was sitting on rocks on the corners and had slipped off on the one end. Slowly rotting back into the ground. Looks like it is in quicksand doesn't it?
We have deeds back to 1830 but don't know how much further back it was. This was the original house for a rather large tract of ground. My grandfather got the place in 1937. It was a settlement with money lost in the 1929 stock market crash. Bank repaid 10 cents on the dollar in land value back to him.
Dad wanted to pull the logs out and keep the whole roof structure as one piece. Everyone tried to convince him not to but he had his mind set. We knew we'd have to get some new timbers for the ones rotted away but the farm has 40 acres of woods.
His plan was to jack the roof structure up and take each layer of logs out, one level at a time and slowly lower it down onto a trailer. Then move the roof back and jack it up in reverse order.
He started by cleaning out between the logs. They used small pieces of wood and a mud /mortar to fill it all in. Some call the wood daubing and the filler material chinking.
Log were number and set in order for reassembly. Chains and cables used to tie the roof together and bottle jack and such used for raising and lowering. here it is almost ready to back the trailer under.
On the trailer and using a tractor to slowly pull it back too the woods
.
Here is the cabin as it was when Dad got the property. They had wood sided it at one time and he took what was left of it off.
It was sitting on rocks on the corners and had slipped off on the one end. Slowly rotting back into the ground. Looks like it is in quicksand doesn't it?
We have deeds back to 1830 but don't know how much further back it was. This was the original house for a rather large tract of ground. My grandfather got the place in 1937. It was a settlement with money lost in the 1929 stock market crash. Bank repaid 10 cents on the dollar in land value back to him.
Dad wanted to pull the logs out and keep the whole roof structure as one piece. Everyone tried to convince him not to but he had his mind set. We knew we'd have to get some new timbers for the ones rotted away but the farm has 40 acres of woods.
His plan was to jack the roof structure up and take each layer of logs out, one level at a time and slowly lower it down onto a trailer. Then move the roof back and jack it up in reverse order.
He started by cleaning out between the logs. They used small pieces of wood and a mud /mortar to fill it all in. Some call the wood daubing and the filler material chinking.
Log were number and set in order for reassembly. Chains and cables used to tie the roof together and bottle jack and such used for raising and lowering. here it is almost ready to back the trailer under.
On the trailer and using a tractor to slowly pull it back too the woods
