Deb I read your post on CS about your 91 year old rock house. Can I ask you a few questions? Do the headers above the windows sag. was it built with re-bar and are there any wall cracks that have been patched? Was it poured with a concrete floor slab? Is the foor still level? Plus anything else of interest in living there. Ha, did ya think that post would get past me without a bunch of my nosey questions?...Thanks...Kirk

-- Anonymous, May 17, 2001

Answers

Hi Kirk, You can ask me questions anytime! Let's see..no the headers above the windows don't sag ...yet anyway. Was it built with rebar? Boy you got me. Did they have rebar in 1910? Any wall cracks that have been patched? Not that I'm aware of, although I had the foundation tuckpointed when I bought it in '95. Someone had already done the whole outside. No it wasn't poured on a concrete slab. The floors became unlevel at some point I'm guessing because when I put in a furnace and central air the guy said he had to drill through two floors to put in the ductwork and registers. I then measured from the floor to the ceiling and found that it was 8'9" instead of nine feet.

It is very cool in the summer until it hits the 90's. It faces west with no shade whatsoever. If I had shade on that side I bet I could get through the summer with no air conditioning at all. This year I'm training vines up the west side to help shade it. Oh, the windows are original and not in good shape at all. I have to put plastic on the windows each fall or I'd freeze to death.(I installed a woodstove in '99.) Dad put storm windows on it as a housewarming present which helped a little. I'd like to get the windows replaced, but Dad said it would cost about a $1,000 per window to have the kind I want. Fortunately, there are only 7 windows downstairs so I might see if I can get that done someday. The house is only 24'x24' not counting the wood backporch so she is very small.(The dog pen is bigger than the house). When it was built there was no bathroom. Someone turned the kitchen pantry into a bathroom though and it works fine even if it is kinda small. No fat people could live in my house! LOL Did I mention in the other post that local legend says it was the original jail here? Supposedly the sheriff and his wife lived there and kept the occaisional prisoner. Someday I'll get to the historical society and see what I can document. Maybe I can have it put on the register of historic buildings. I have people stop all the time and knock on the door to tell me how much they just love my house. That's always nice. I turned the entire front yard into a cottage garden so it has wonderful curb appeal. A few months ago a realtor contacted me to tell me if I ever wanted to sell it he would buy it! How nice. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Do you like stone houses in particular? I love them, always have. All my friends call the house "Deb's castle". I call it "Dragon Cottage" as I have a huge dragon light outside on the front and oh about a 100 dragons inside. When I get married this summer the husband will be moving in until we save enough money to build the earth shelter I want. I plan to have a rock front on it so I can still live in a "stone" house. We will be renting mine out. If you know anyone in the Kansas City area who would like to live there tell them to e-mail me. I'll be pretty picky about my renters though. Thanks for the questions Kirk. As you can tell I'm pretty attached to the place. Oh, yeah, the house only cost me $25,000.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 2001

Which thread on CS? Are there pictures somewhere? Post some please! I've never had/lived in a stone house, but I think they're really appealing!

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2001

Thank you Deb! It sounds wonderful. Gosh 25,000 must mean It would sell for about 200,000 here in Calif.

Joy: Deb and I responded to a rock construction thread on CS and I just wondered about how Deb's 91 year old rock house was holding up. Would be nice to see debs place tho. Any picts floating around on the internet Deb?.....Kirk

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2001

Sorry no pics on the internet. I haven't got the slightest idea how one goes about doing that. I'm pretty much a Luddite at heart and have only come around to computers recently. If someone wants to give me specific easy to follow step by step instructions on how to put them on the net I'd try. We have all the equipment here at work to do that I just don't know how. Everyone here is too busy to bother with trivial things like helping me.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2001

whoever is so kind as to answer deb's question, please do it here so I can learn also. Thanks...

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2001