My wife and my bought the property where I grew up last year. After fixing up the main house, we are in the process of moving in. There is also a 130 old farm house on the property that fell into disrepair and has been vacant for over 20 years. The back part of it could not be saved, but I had it inspected and the original 4 rooms were savable. So a year ago I started the long process of clean up the lot around the house, having a new addition and renovations designed. Then waiting for construction to start in April. They are working full blast now and hopefully it will be done by the end of the year. I will be able to ride the Ranger to work (and run some traps on the way)...lol.



This is what it looked like a year ago.

Here's a couple videos I did of the progress:

Nice! Thank you for sharing.

Very cool pass-thru. I always love to see older buildings given a new life!

I like that before picture. My family had one that looked just like it.

Unfortunately, the after picture is that of a pile of ashes. I guess we shouldn't have let the alcoholic uncle live there until the renovation began.

Pretty cool. We live in an old farm house I gutted and redid. I like old houses. Character and style. I do sometimes wonder what it would be like to live in a brand new house and never have anything to fix.

Very cool

I built a brand new house; and I can assure you there is always something to fix!!!

Was that originally a two family rural home or was the house just built in that design? Many of the older farm houses around here were two- family homes but were not built such as the one you have in the photo.

Bryce

Bryce, I think it was originally a one family house, with the front 4 rooms (2 up 2 down). It was added onto. The addition may have happened piece meal. But all of the addition was dilapidated and had to be taken down. The addition was one story and had a breezeway that opened up into several rooms. When it was demolished, turnout to be a root cellar under the breezeway we didn't know about. In the mortar of the stonework was written "1920". So I imagine that's when the addition went on as the original house goes back another 30 years.

There was another very small "grandma" house where a grandmother lived for 20-30 years. That went vacant 50 years ago and torn down about 20, but the chimney's still there. There were a number of delipated out buildings...including outhouse...that were torn down about 20 years ago. The original hand dug well was under roof of the part I had taken down. I think it had been out of service 50 years with a newer well outside.

Nice, hope it goes well for you.

Nice place passthru

History

About 8 or 9 years ago I worked for an outfit that had won the bid to wire houses in a new division down by the lake. These were cookie-cutter models... 3 bedroom, 2 car garage, etc... Same basic floor plan.

I was on the rough-in crew. No sheetrock yet. So I saw how they were framed. Cheap junk with the bare minimum to meet building code requirements. Not much sturdier than a mobile home... for 2-3 times the price.

I decided from that point that if I was ever going to build a house that I would be the one to do the building.

Mike

Wow, that's a massive project. Usually cheaper to tear down and build new but very cool to save the old gal.

did you have a summer kitchen i bet on the back too?

Looks great and nice of you to save her from demise.

What a great story.

What part of Va are you located?

This property looks very much like a place i no of that has just been started to be cleaned up. Is this in bland,Va white gate area? If so would like to meet up sometime im just up the road a piece.

Good for you-and the property! That's a great front porch. I love seeing old farm houses still being taken care of and lived in, especially if there are kids around the place.

I bought some land and an old farmhouse that was build around 1900. Except for one 15 acre field the land is mostly timbered now. There is always something that needs done around the place. It is amazing to see the work that was done with mostly hand tool back when the place was built.

very nice.mine's a 32 foot camper with a slide though.course it sits on the family farm.my youngest lives in the redone farmhouse and we live in one my parents built in the late 70's.am just finishing the pastures and after 3 yrs of work will have it farmin cattle again soon.labor of love as you and the rest here know i'm sure.