My "Deed" for the Day

William K. Fentress and Louise Gale Fentress in front of their house (our house)

In the photo above, Mr. and Mrs. Fentress (the original owners of our new/old house) are standing in front of the far left corner of our house. So, the house that you are seeing behind them is the next door neighbor's house. I am guessing this photo was taken in the 1950s.

 

If we could just pan right we would be able to tell if there was a column in the middle, back then. We don't have one. We have a brick pier in the middle but no column on top. I have no idea if the house ever had one?

 

House with the cream colored vinyl siding removed. And, see? No middle column!

 

I have spent some time in the Circuit Court House in Norfolk where the deeds, wills, marriage licenses, and other such documents are kept. My original goal was to see if I could find out anything about our house ... that didn't happen. 

 

 

Here is what I did discover:

 

• The lot that our house sits on was part of a development by the Westover Company. The lot is in block 21 and is all of lot 3 and 3/5 of lot 4. An original lot was 30 feet wide so by adding part of lot 4 the Fentress' gained another 10 feet of width.  This made it wide enough to build a house and add a driveway.

• Mrs. Fentress was the owner of the lot and she paid $2000. (Our lot assessed for almost 100 times that last year!)

• Eight families have lived here, in our house, since 1922

• The Fentress' purchased the lot in 1919 and apparently they had the house built and then moved in, in 1922.

• The family that lived here the longest was the first, the Fentress' - for 43 years!

• The average years that a family has lived here is 13 1/2.

• The median number of years that families lived here is 5 years.

• We are the 4th owners in the last 11 years.

Can you tell I'm married to a mathematician?

Guess what? In next week's blog posts there will be pictures of the completed bathroom tile!! AND, there will be pictures of the James Hardie siding going up!! Yee Haw!

 



Mystery of the Reclusive Rafter Tails

Our American Foursquare house the day we purchased

In my second blog post, The American Foursquare, I mentioned that Foursquare homes usually have a colonial or craftsman influence. I've even seen some with Spanish colonial elements. Foursquares vary a great deal even in one neighborhood! I am hoping do do a future post about Foursquares in Ghent. But, I digress ...

Back to the mystery at hand!  I said that our house has some Craftsman elements like exposed rafter tails on the dormers.  In the photos above, if you look at the dormer windows on the third floor you can barely see the ends of the rafter tails under the roof eaves. They look like little white decorative blocks from the front.

Well, when we were planning the renovations of our house, we discussed the possibility of there being exposed rafter tails hiding under the vinyl that is covering the soffitt (underneath portion) of the main roof. You can see (above) on the right side that the roof overhangs quite a bit. We were sooooo hoping that we would uncover and restore a treasure under there!

 

And there they are! When the crew began removing the siding we could see that, indeed, there are exposed rafter tails on our house. At least, they exist in the back of the house?

 

 

Then we got a peek at the side overhang and, yes! Mystery solved in the affirmative! Turns out they are in pretty good condition. I think we have to replace one or two on the whole 91 year old house! But, what you might be able to see below is roofing nails that come all the way through the soffit boards - UG-LEE! After some considerable back and forth between owners, contractor and painters here is what we decided.

 

 

 

The nail tips would be snipped off as best they could be. Then the remaining wood would be scraped and sanded, primed and painted, the best it could be. Everyone promised it would look amazing!

 

 And it does! So far, anyway.  This is the right side after scraping, painting, priming and two coats of paint - finished! Now, imagine THAT all the way around against blue-gray siding and pristine white trim. Perfection ... keep viewing Mission: Foursquare to see!

 



 



Confessions from a Construction Zone

A few days ago, Joe, one of the North Shore Construction team, asked if I was tired of living in a construction zone? Hmmm. Not really. But what am I feeling?

One day I counted 10 men working at our house ... that was a tough day, worse because it rained, but that was temporary.  No, having all the workmen here from 8:00am to 5:00pm or so, every single day (sometimes even on Saturday), no that doesn't really bother me.

 

When our dog, Louie, started limping over the weekend we got really worried.  But, we took him to the vet on Monday and she fixed him up.  Turns out it was a bee sting. We think it happened in our new back yard. That was scary and he was pretty pitiful with that "cone of shame" he had to wear.  And though his bee sting was at least partially due to all the construction debris back there, I had faith that he would be OK so no, that was OK too.

 

 

The frequent bad news about the condition of the house is unnerving.  Like when Nate and Joe discovered a large area of old termite damage that had been repaired but not very well ... that was an "Oh, my gosh!" moment for sure.  But we have a very capable crew here, on the premises 8 to 5 everyday and they fixed it in no time! Contractor Chris said their motto is, "Find it, fix it, move on." And they did just that. Take that, termites! And never, never come back!

 

 

I will admit it is bothersome and somewhat claustrophobic to still have packing boxes everywhere after four weeks, and to be confined to five rooms. But there is nothing we can do about it except wait ... And, THAT'S IT!

 

 

For me, it's not the waiting so much as it is the inability to DO anything. We can't unpack more - nowhere to put it.  We can't paint anything - all those boxes and furniture that we can't put in place are in the way AND the constant traffic in the house causes more and more damage anyway. We dare not clean - before you finish it needs it again.

 

 

Can't decorate - everything is temporary - the living room will get different paint and therefore everything in there will change. The den is just uninhabitable. We will need some new things for the master suite but it is also uninhabitable. Our youngest will be coming home from his first year of college in less than three weeks - his room is storage right now - can't do much there. UGH!

 

 

 

I am sure everyone is different and everyone who has undergone a remodeling project has had frustrations.  But for me, the hardest part is having so much to do and yet not being able to do anything.

 

I once had a pastor who warned us never pray for patience. Because if you need to become more patient, the only way to learn how is to be put to the test.

 

"God, honest, I didn't ask for patience?"





 

What Should Our 1922 Foursquare Look Like?

I drove up to our new/old house recently, and this is what I saw. The house had brown shingles - the original brown shingles. Is this what our house looked like 91 years ago? I tried to imagine it? Well, I think this is as close as we're going to get to seeing the original house but, alas, it only lasted a day or two.

Back when I posted about the siding being removed and about all the layers of construction, I mentioned that our contractor had informed us that we would not be able to restore or paint the original cedar shingle siding.  I had really hoped to paint the old shingles, I knew I did not want a dark brown house.

HGTV Dream Home exterior-NuCedar Shingles

So square one. Then I thought I would like to simulate the original shingles with a vinyl or pvc shingle product. We went down that road and the product that I really, really liked was pvc shingle by NuCedar Mills. It is gorgeous and it looks like the real thing. Unfortunately, it was prohibitively expensive.

House under construction at East Beach sided with Hardie Plank.

 

Contractor Chris recommended using a James Hardie Siding aka Hardie Plank. He said that wood siding would have been an authentic material in 1922 and Hardie Plank looks like wood but is even better than wood. Best of all, the price was in the ball park! Hardie Plank is made primarily of cement. It is great in all kinds of bad weather and it won't burn. It is what they are using to build the new houses at the East Beach neighborhood in Norfolk. Sounds good!

That decision was made and then came the question of color.  Hardie comes in about 20 colors or primed and ready to paint. The pre-painted version won't need to be painted for about 20 years. Painted it is! How did we decide on the color? I eliminated beige, white and cream right away. Our last two houses were beige - don't want the same thing. So, pretty much, our choices boiled down to green, yellow, blue or gray.

Red brick and cream stucco house right next door

So I surveyed the street.  There is a pretty green house diagonally across the intersection from us. There are a couple versions of cream and white nearby, another green and a few red brick.  Also a pretty gray diagonally behind us and a yellow house directly behind us. Blue it is!

James Hardie siding in Boothbay Blue

James Hardie only makes siding in one blue shade and it is barely blue.  Though it looks blue in photos, it is really more gray than blue called, Boothbay Blue. We hear new siding will begin to be applied to our house THIS WEEK!

Stay with me ...

The Question of Windows

Row of houses on our street



Windows are a contentious topic with old house owners. Let's face it, a big part of the charm of an old house is its windows.

So, the purists say keep the old, originial windows, use storm windows if you have to, for efficiency.  Keep the beautiful moldings, the wavy glass, and the far superior buidling materials. Originals are the only way to preserve the historical worth of your home.

Our original windows from the 3rd floor dormers.

The other extreme are the new-tech-is-best folks. These guys say replace those old things for heaven's sake, this is the 21st century.  Add energy efficiency, noise reduction, ease of use, and best of all never have to paint them!

New vinyl window (not in our neighborhood)

 

Then, as you can imagine there are multiple choices in between.

When I first talked to Contractor Chris I wanted to keep all the old windows, repair the old sash cords and weights and add new, prettier, storm windows. Immediately Chris said - in his opinion the storm windows are what makes the windows look bad - why would we want to pay for new ones? And, new storm windows would cost as much as new windows. Ouch!

Windows when we bought the house. The third floor windows would not open and you could hardly see through them. All the other windows including these on the second floor have aluminum storm windows attached.

But, I really want to keep the original look of the windows.  I keep saying to myself, "these windows have lasted 91 years, I can't be the one to get rid of them. I'm a preservationist!" After much thought and discussion, here is where we ended up:

There is a really cool product made by several window manufacturers that only replaces the sashes of the windows. (Sash windows are the type that have framed portions that move up and down.) So, the original window frame and trim remain. They have to be installed either from the inside or the outside so one set of trim has to be removed and replaced, provided it comes off in tact. And you have a choice of materials; vinyl, aluminum wrapped wood or wood. We chose this option, replacing all the sash windows on our house with new wood sashes but leaving the original trim - definitely not the cheapest choice!

One of  Marvin Windows and Doors' sash replacement options.

Definitely not the most expensive choice either! That would probably be to replace the old windows with new/old sashes with sash cords and whatnot.  My brother and his wife own a 1925 Craftsman in Portland, Oregon.  They have chosen this, as-original-as-possible route, replacing one window at a time and their most expensive to date was about $2000! Yikes!

My brother and sister-in-law's house

So, we're in the mid-ground.  We are getting wood windows with the original wood trim unobstructed by ugly storm windows. But we're also getting thermal panes, easy up and down, tilt out for  cleaning.  Yes, we will have to paint them but they will look like the originals.  Can't wait to show them to you when they are all finished ...

One of the new windows in the bathroom

We are making a few exceptions where the windows are not sash windows or where they are completely new due to the remodeling. In the master bath we have all new sash windows and they are wood and they are wonderful! On the third floor we have all new windows that are the awning type (they crank open from the bottom). We also chose to keep the grids, or muntins, in those because that is what the house originally had (windows with six lights separated by muntins). They are so beautiful and so clean! There are two other windows on the first floor that are also not sash windows and therefore those are getting new wood replacements.

New third floor dormer windows

 

Whew! Trying to do "the right thing" is tough!

The Original Owners, part 3, The Children

Louise Gale Fentress, 1921

When I last wrote about the original owners of our new/old house in Norfolk I had come across a family tree on ancestry.com that belonged to the granddaughter-in-law of the Fentress couple who first lived here.  Well, the granddaughter-in-law is Kathy and her husband Andy (Jr.) is the son of Louise above.  I have been in touch with them through ancestry and by email and they have been most gracious to help me out with their family information. They are super excited to be in touch with us, the people who own Andy's grandparent's house. We are hoping they will plan to visit us!

 

Both the Fentress children, Louise and William Kilby, Jr., grew up in our house and their children came to visit their grandparents here.  The senior Fentress' lived here from 1922 until their deaths in 1961 (39 years).  Because Andy is the son of Louise Gale Fentress (pictured above), the little girl who lived here, I have more information about her than her brother, William Kilby, Jr. Here is what I know about WK, Jr.: 

He was born in 1914 which means he was about eight years old when the family moved into this house.  He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in engineering. He worked for Texaco, Virginia Electric & Power (VEP the predecessor of Dominion Virginia Power - my Mom worked for them too), and Westinghouse.  He lived  most of his adult life in Pennsylvania and he was married with three children.

 



 

Lou was born in 1920 and she was two when she moved into our house.  According to the 1940 Federal Census, she completed at least two years of college. When she was 23, Lou met and married a Navy pilot named Andy (Sr.).  Not long after they were married Andy (Sr.) was shipped out and served on aircraft carriers in both the Atlantic and Pacific during WWII. Andy ultimately became a Rear Admiral and he has a biography as deep and wide as, well, the ocean.

 

 



Back to Lou.  I have recently discovered that Andy and Lou were married right here, IN OUR HOUSE! There was a photo in the newspaper of the two of them at their wedding and I think it was taken in front of our fireplace.  Sadly, the quality is terrible so I can't reproduce it.  Lou was much loved and admired by her family. Here is what Kathy, her granddaughter-in-law, had to say about her: 

When my husband was about 3 years old, his mother, Lou became very ill. She had to be hospitalized for some time and was eventually diagnosed with MS. During her recovery period of about 6 months, her two boys went to live with their grandparents at the house (our new/old house in West Ghent). They have many fond memories of being there. Their mother, Lou was a very strong woman and refused to be confined to a wheel chair. She instead used a walker and developed some very strong arms to support herself on the walker since she had such limited use of her legs. I've never met anyone like her before. She was always the perfect southern belle! She believed in dressing formally for dinner and was always perfect in her hospitality and manners. And, she was always impeccably dressed. In spite of the fact that she was often in pain, Lou never complained and she never spoke ill of anyone. Lou also had a great sense of adventure and humor and we all loved her dearly.
 

Wow.

Mission: Connection
Still in pursuit of a connection between these Fentress' who were the original owners of our house in 1922 and the Fentress' in my family tree ...

 

 

 

 

Mission: Full Steam Ahead!



Oh my gosh! So much has happened this week with the renovation projects.

Yes, projects with an "S". I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves (mostly).



This is where we started 24 days ago

 





Most of the two layers of siding removed, glass block removed and windows removed from back of the house.  That is Nate and Joe with the North Shore Construction crew on the deck.

 

 

Both layers of siding completely removed from back.  House wrapped (yay, 'cause there's rain coming!).

AND new windows installed.  Wow!

 

Great picture of all the layers. The dark brown is the original layer of cedar shingles. I have seen this pattern elsewhere in Ghent, alternating rows of a small reveal then a large reveal of shingle siding.  Can you imagine the time and care it took to put each little shingle on creating a pattern? So sad we can't preserve them but they are riddled with nail holes from the layer of vinyl siding (the cream colored row) and they are very brittle.

 

Under the original layer of shingles was a layer of paper.  Nate and Joe said the paper was only to help keep air from flowing through the boards but basically that was it for insulation in 1922.  From the inside to the outside the layers were: plaster, wood lath, the framing studs, the exterior horizontal sheathing boards (no plywood), building paper then shingles.

 

Then sometime after the shingles were put on but before the vinyl siding was added, holes were drilled in the siding and insulation was put between the sheathing boards and the wood lath.  (See the line of circles above the window?) We know it was done in that order because the bottom layer of shingles had the drill holes.  So, the top shingle was removed, the hole drilled, the top shingle replaced.  If the insulation had been done originally there would be no drill holes in the shingles. But regardless, it saved us from having to add insulation!

 

 

Now for the other project.  That is the duct for the new heating and AC in the bathroom and closet.  There was that long skinny room all the way across the back that used to be a porch, later made a laundry room and master bathroom.  But neither of those rooms had heat or air!

 

This is southeastern Virginia - I just cannot imagine our 90 degree days in August with no air conditioning in the bathroom? Is it just me? The previous owners were troopers, what else can I say?

 

 

Windows in the bathroom!

The dumpster was delivered. Nate is supervising!

 

Joe with Elliott, the dumpster delivery guy with

Bay Disposal & Recycling.  OK, I might have

promised Elliott his picture would go viral?

 

 





Welcome to our neighborhood, West Ghent

After almost two weeks in our new/old house, here are some impressions I have of the neighborhood.

We live in an urban neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia called West Ghent. As you might imagine there is also a Ghent neighborhood or "Ghent proper." There is also an East Ghent and a Ghent Square - don't want to leave anyone out! The original Ghent neighborhood began being developed in about 1890 for Norfolk's upper class.  Many business owners, heads of industry, veterans of the Civil War, lawyers, doctors, ministers, folks like that built the homes there. It is a beautiful neighborhood and still has mostly original homes that were built between 1890 and about 1910.  When we were looking at homes to buy many that we looked at were built in 1908 - that must have been a boom year for building in Ghent!

 

West Ghent, as you might have surmised, is to the west of Ghent proper and it was built a little later. I'm guessing between 1910 and about 1940 with the occasional newer house thrown in.  Both neighborhoods have homes next to apartments next to old apartments that have been turned into condos.  In some cases huge old houses have been turned into condos.  But what is also great is that it has streets that are primarily commercial areas. 

 



The north-south artery that divides West Ghent from Ghent is Colley Avenue.  Colley Avenue has multiple restaurants, bars, coffee shops, a running store, a bike store, an antique shop, a pottery making studio and an historic theatre, etc, etc.  All of that is a 14 minute walk from our front door.  And, to say that Colley Avenue has energy is probably its most accurate description.

 



                               

Another north-south artery, one that runs through West Ghent is Hampton Boulevard.  Hampton Boulevard gets all the traffic (not a great thing) - I don't think trucks are permitted to drive on some of the other main roads.  But also Hampton Boulevard runs north through the Old Dominion University campus and on to the Norfolk Naval Air Station.  Old Dominion has been around since 1930.  My Dad attended ODU for a time in the late 50's when it was still an extension campus of the College of William and Mary. ODU has grown like crazy in the last 10 years.  They used to have a top women's basketball team and they're still very good. They have added football team in recent years that seems to get better and better each year and they have a huge conference center that draws all kinds a great concerts. ODU is a 5 minute drive!

Alex Palmer's Natural History Notes and Thoughts
 



Also there is this cool walking and biking trail (one of the Rails to Trails Conservancy projects), the Elizabeth River Trail that runs along the perimeter of our neighborhood (maybe a block from our house) all the way to ODU and beyond. If you go the other direction on the Elizabeth River Trail you go through downtown Norfolk along the river and on to Harbor Park where the Norfolk Tides baseball team plays.

How could you possibly NOT love living here!

For more information about Ghent, West Ghent & Norfolk you might enjoy some of these:
Ghent Business Association
West Ghent Civic League
Ghent Neighborhood League
altdaily.com
City of Norfolk
Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce - Norfolk
Insider's Passport Norfolk Blog