Hoosier Rehabbing
If you look at the first post on this blog you will see the front porch of my childhood home here in TGS. Here it is again, how it looked as of two years ago.
(
The bricklaying bond on the face of the porch is called Stretcher.)
The address numbers were framed behind the beveled glass above the mail box and original to the house. The front porch used to have a wood swing where I reclined and read The Post as a teenager. It was also a great hiding place while playing hide and seek. A perfect view of the whole block, the portal to the Outside. Incredible face brick!
A shrine to my childhood. 3964 McDonald Avenue. Home!
Recently a rash of hoosier contractors have bought homes in the neighborhood including my old house. I noticed the tell tale rehabbing dumpster out front one day so I introduced myself to the dipshit idiot who is rehabbing my old house and asked for a tour.
I braced myself as we walked in. The walls remain and the addition my Dad added is there. The basement was stripped of everything my parents built down there in the 60's (outdated, I was told by the 'rehabber'). I gasped. The framed walls, the built-in closets and desks were all gone. It was a bare basement.
He had pulled out the grape vines (my dad made wine), removed the three fruit trees (we canned) and yanked out my mom's iris in the back yard.
The worst was the stupidly placed new address plaque and, what I call, hoosier wrapping (this is a new fad in rehabbing, covering rotting wood with metal instead of scraping and repainting or even replacing wood).
New address plaque:
I commented that the metal seams hadn't been caulked which of course will lead to a larger problem for the new home owner.
And what's up with this inane black ornament above the porch?
