You Gotta Be Kidding Me.
Dynamite would help on this phase of work.

This is a collection of photographs of work we completed or started on Victorian house. Most of these are from late July to August 2006.

There were two annoying design problems that we took a instant dislike to the
Victorian House.

One was the front steps which were made of concrete. It looked horrible out front! A huge 10 by ten slab. Mary and I hated it.

The second was the original bay window was removed and a set of low end french doors were installed. The goal was to turn that west side into another apartment and so they punched out the bay window, stole the side windows for the veranda apartment, cut a bunch of stuff out and installed this crummy door.

To add insult to injury, they poured a large pad of concrete, cemented some of the original black iron fencing and built a lean to roof against the tower. Even my son, at 10 years old, thought it was a stupid idea.

Ray, the poor chap we hired in the photo above looks like a line backer for the Steelers and he struggle all day trying to bring these front steps down.

So we start to break the structure down. At first with sledges which bounce off the concrete like a rubber mallet. Plan "B" was to hoof off to the rental center and get a electric jack hammer. After a day, we gave up on that. The jack hammer made very little impact. We toss out plan "B" and look to Plan "C". Kiss my budget goodbye.

Plan "C' was to rent a breaker for the front of my Skid steer. Expensive yes, but I figure it would break the pads down fast. Well, I was wrong on that one. It took six hours to break the front steps down.

We hired another poor guy to help remove the sand, bricks and garbage. Yes, there were pots and pans and all kinds of house ware items as fill.
The only bright news that my 10 year old found a 1942 silver half dollar in the sand. I was surprised I hadn't scooped it up and pitch it.

We specified the replacement of the bay window. It appears it was the same dimensions at the parlor window. We have to rebuild the small roof that wraps around the tower skirt. It not a bad problem, just annoying how the stole everything off the house to build that silly porch. We only had one or two bats come into the house. I think they sneak in through the gap in the roof above the bay window.

Part of the complaint against this house that push it to condemned status was the thousands of bats living it. We'll I invited my health department to review the house from top to bottom They welcomed the invite and found no evidence of anything living in the home. Zip. Not even a bug. They did discover that the majority of the bats in the neighborhood are living next door.

The print above is the original design from George Barber in 1891. Our floor plan is just a little different then the one presented. The bay window is to your far left floorplan. We have a pocket door dividing the parlor from the hall. I was told by the Knoxville Historical Society that it was common to write George Barber and express your desires to change the floor plan. He would draft an unique print to your specifications. Regretfully, the chances of finding those original prints are slim. We're going to put the call out and maybe someday, we'll find something.

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We would welcome any additional information about this house. If you know anything about this house, the neighborhood, or photographs,
please email us at:



victorian house@efadgroup.com