Thanks for the pictures. I grew up in North Dakota. I still like to look at/in old houses and other buildings. But several years ago the hantevirus became known and I can still hear my father warning about that. I can still smell the mouse crap and piss as well!
And what you didn't see...A Jack Nicholson (sp) looking character, dressed in his mamma's clothing, peeking out from a closet door behind your back.
...here's another old house that's been empty for as long as I can remember. The newer part in the rear was mostly a garage and one room that was lived in while the old part rotted away.
Notice the lack of 2x4 studding for stifness and fire blocks. I had a 1909 Victorian in SF built much the same way. Old houses are neat but they aren't necessarily better made.
That technique is called balloon framing and yeah, it's very fire prone. But you can always change it, right? I mean, a Model T frame won't take any torque, but that doesn't prevent us from stuffing a 401 Nailhead in one, you've just gotta make some improvements. Rennovation is like hot rodding an old house. -Dave
This was my holiday home in France when we bought it, hadn't been lived in for years and the local farner that owned it had started renovations but then abandoned them half done, roof was only half done, no windows, the original front door that sat straight into the stonework with no frame, no electricity, plumbing, stairs or road (4x4 access only!). This is it three years later, new roof, stairs, windows and doors, plumbed and wired, a bathroomand a proper access road. My house in the UK (built 1903 as a Methodist Ministers house) was also derelict when we bought it, had been empty for about 10 years and had been used as a drug den and so on. Haven't got any picture of it on my PC though.
This old place has been around a long time. Has been abandoned...maybe 25-30 years. Not too bad on the inside. All kinds of out buildings filled with various parts and furniture. Best score out of this place (which we used to own) was a set of 55-Chevy fenders and bumpers. Also some mysterious intake, good tire/wheel, some wheels off of a '60s chevy, and a tailight for a packard or something. Used to be alot more stuff, but buildings collapsed on it.
Kansas has a crap load, actually a town jsut north of Moran is mostly abandoned. There is a turn of the century cement factory in shambles back in some wood just of Highway 59. Very cool to see but watch out for snakes, holes, and landowners with 12 gauges.
Here's one you might like, it's a local mental hospital built during the civil war and recently torn down to build a Walmart. It was like a little town with it's own post office, stores, power plant, farm morgue and cemetery. Some believe the spirits are unhappy and sabotaged the Walmart build by causing a massive landslide that closed a major highway and cost walmart a fortune.http://gallery.subterfusion.net/2002/2002_06_30_dixmont_hospital.html Here's another linkhttp://www.hoursofdarkness.com/Dixmont/State_Hospital.htm
The Jalopy Journal
