of Chillicothe, Ross County & South-Central Ohio
of Chillicothe, Ross County & South-Central Ohio January 2007Its been a busy year for Harley's House in the Earl H. Barnhart Buzzard's Roost Nature Preserve.
I reported on the work we've done on the building in April 2006 ("Harley's House Progress") and December of 2005 ("Harley's House Progresses"). Here's a summary of what we've done so far.
The back porch has ben reopened, to let the house look the way it did after remodelling about 1910 until the porch was enclosed about 1960. We have temporary steps made of concrete blocks, but are looking for old cut stone to build more authentic steps.
The cracks in the plaster of the two rooms are now gone.
White paint will later cover the patches and look like the plaster that was probably exposed for a few decades.
We left one opening in the plaster where we will put a sheet of plexiglass over it to display the hand-spit lath underneath.
We put metal patching over the hole for the rear chimney that was removed earlier, and a metal cap over the center chimney to keep the plaster on it dry.
The back door now closes! We shaved it down so it would shut, and so can now keep the house closed up and secure.
We transplanted a door from the interior to the side of the back porch so we could help close up the house. There's a gap under it, but it serves its purpose.
We scrubbed down the three original 1850 doors, and two are waiting to be rehung.
The west door had been covered with plywood. We opened it up, rebuilt the door, repainted it, and now its waiting to be rehung.
The upper panels of the back window were broken, and we replaced the glass.
