Beauty in the Broken

I’m baaack! Sorry for the long hiatus. First the holidays, then the flu, then the craziness of back to school, then vacation…but through all of that things have been happening at the Summit House!

You might remember the Old Lady has some structural issues, mainly in one sinking corner. The more we looked at her, the more we realized this one sinking corner affected the main room, an upstairs bedroom, the front roofline, and the porch column, which someone decided would attempt to hold the whole thing together. (It wasn’t up to the challenge). That’s not even getting into the things we couldn’t see.

Contractor Nathan cane up with a plan that left everything undisturbed but the porch, which will be redone anyway. He poured footings and started jacking, and we couldn’t be completely sure how it would go.

In a 1958 photo, it’s clear the house had already settled into that corner. Even the 1925 photo suggests the house had settled. So she’s been there a long time with those structural deficiencies. Somehow that made me feel better

Since the first of the year, there has been digging, jacking, more digging, more jacking, temporary beams, permanent beams, and everything in between.

And it’s all gone beautifully. The first locations made such a huge and immediate difference that we decided to move out a bit and jack another location.

And the house is straightening out. Nowhere is that more obvious in the daylight between the roofline and the (decorative) column, which never should have been tasked with holding up the house. It’s glorious.

The trade off is cracking plaster. Like…a lot of cracking plaster. But…it’s beautiful. It’s the trade off for structural soundness and it’s beautiful.

Like most things, the plaster can be fixed. And it will be. For now, it’s a beautiful reminder that things are going right and we’re getting where we need to be.

While Asher and his friends “fixed up” the garage room, I had quiet moments in the house. The contractor had just left after another round of jacking and the house was making the most amazing sounds – deep pops and groans – as she settled into her new shape. She’s broken, but it’s so beautiful to know she’s coming around.