We Need To Talk About Hick House

After two weeks of unofficial ownership (money has changed hands, deed hasn't been recorded at the county courthouse yet), Hick House has now eaten $5540 of Thevictorian bread. That's an estimate. Hick is the record-keeper. I figure he's pretty accurate, since he's spending cash out of his own Storage Unit Store fortune, hoping to be reimbursed when Hick House sells, or swing a loan through Val's knotted purse strings when the tax refund arrives.

Hick House will be bare-bones livable. Money spent so far includes small tickets for screws and electric boxes, framing lumber, kitchen cabinets/counter/sink, paint, and electric wire. I'd say Hick has gotten quite a lot for his $540. Let's not forget that he has also contributed a toilet, bathtub, shower, many windows, wire, and assorted hardware from his hoard over by the BARn. Just last night, he scored an under-counter microwave for $2.50 at the auction, and also a medicine cabinet for $5.00.

Last week, Hick and HOS (Hick's Oldest Son, the possible future owner of this manor) finished replacing all the downstairs windows, some of which the city had cited for repair.

Some of the removed windows were not broken, and will be used to replace broken ones upstairs. HOS has vinyl siding that will replace this asphalt brick-print siding if the wood underneath is not in a condition to be painted.

You can see the door to the basement here. It's completely dry, no issues. Not a full basement, but about 400 square feet, Hick says. Also, that the basement will make it easy to do the plumbing and electric, since they won't have to crawl around under the house. Hick says you step down into the basement, and the ceiling is plenty high enough for HOS to stand up. He's over 6 feet tall.

There's a gas meter, but Hick told HOS he'd be smart to put in a wood stove down there and blow heat through the ducts, since HOS doesn't want a gas furnace. HOS has an electric furnace, though, so they might use that.

The back porch might be completely torn off, because the city had issues with part of it. Hick says they'll hook up SilverRedO and pull the porch down, then build a deck half the size of the porch. HOS has lumber for that. OR, he might leave the porch on, and fix the corner that has issues, and use the area as a storage room.

That concrete structure at the left is what Hick calls a "Model A garage." It has four good walls, and an opening in front. I suppose HOS could put a roof on it and use it for a storage shed.

Look away if you're squeamish, if you're the type who can't watch Hoarders. I'm about to show you why the back porch is being trashed: the old bathroom.

NOTHING in here is being saved or salvaged, unless possibly the window if it's unbroken. And the original floor, perhaps. Hick said it was common for bathrooms to be added to a house back then. HOS has researched Hick House, and says it was built in the early 1900s. Hick says they would have used an outhouse back then. In fact, my own $17,000 house (a virtual MANSION compared to this one) just up the street, had a bathroom built onto the back of the original structure.

Also like my old house, Hick House has a concrete cistern. Hick says it is currently dry, and if he was HOS, he'd make it into a storm shelter. Tornadoes are nothing to sneeze at!

I asked Hick if that toilet was full of poop. He said, "One time, maybe. Now it's dry and hardened. I ain't worried about it. HOS is the one going to carry out that toilet."

Sorry to end on this note, but that's all I've got today. I'll be sharing more of Hick House through the week. So consider that something to look forward to. Or a warning to stay away!