Coming along in the frozen north……brrrrrrr

It's cold in Michigan….. colder than normal and a lot of snow! But they still managed to get a lot finished with the exterior. Durable Restoration had the house covered in tarps with heaters going so that they could work on the exterior. The finishing touches will be put on soon. Such as the bronze colored edging that will be going on as soon as the weather warms  little. That will take care of the roof project! Three new skylights, an inch and a half of insulating board, and a lot of rubber!
Matt from Durable Restoration did a fantastic job of sanding and refinishing the exterior wood. That goes for finishing the new mahogany that had to be put on as well.
It is looking like the interior may not get finished. Budget for the exterior was well over $100,000. The new wood in the ceiling of the "general purpose" along with the new wood for the back terrace over hang and reconstruction of the side terrace over hang was a staggering $58,000.
But, it was worth it as the exterior is very well done and the roof doesn't leak.
The interior will actually take less to do. We already have estimates for a plywood ceiling for the GP room that is $2,500. There are some plaster ceiling repairs that need to be made, such as in both bathrooms and the master bedroom. Floors need to be cleaned and all wood needs to be washed down.
Kitchen was redone but needs appliances and some tweaking. The hall floors and bedroom floors are in need of some patching as well. The cement is cracked but livable as is. The current owner removed the carpet that was there so carpet could always be put back down. Ideally it would be best to repair them though. The main boiler is new but the GP room needs new base board heaters. There is a boiler in the basement under it but it is non working. The Fonken house is having a new one installed soon that is running about $6,000.

The Eppstein residence is almost back to life! It is still listed at just $475,000. which makes it the cheapest Frank Lloyd Write home for sale in the entire US by over $200,000. Someone could buy this home, put far lesss than that into it and have a completely restored FLW home that is also listed on the National Register Of Historical Places! It is also located in the only Frank Lloyd Wright community of it's kind and all 5 homes are on the registry. Each home is on a 1 acre circular lot with access to 70 acres and a private pond. The 5 homes are the Eppstein, Weisblat, Pratt, Meyer and Fonken. The Fonken was designed by Francis Willsey, Franks student. All remaining lots are owned by the association and will not be sold. This has preserved The Acres for more than 55 years.

Here are a few iPhone 5s pics.

The back terrace off of the "General Purpose" room.
This overhang was being supported by poles on each end,
Durable Restoration replaced all of the beams and new plaster.

Master bedroom windows

Side terrace with MBR windows and living room door.
The overhang here was also reconstructed.

New plaster

Side terrace

New mahogany

The rubber overhanging from the roof will be covered with
the bronze edging and trimmed up. This is from the corner of
the back terrace off of the GP room

The front living room doors completely re finished on the exterior

The ceiling of the GP room. All yellow wood is new

The natural wood beams are the supports of the back terrace overhang.
These are all new.

The main problem for this project was the leaking skylight.
This is the new skylight.

New wood here too. This spot on the wall was where the skylight leak
was coming in and running down the wall. Nice and dry!

A panoramic from the front terrace.

The Roof...The Roof Is On And It's Firestone!

 So the Firestone roof is on! Some finishing touches are left but it's minor stuff. The 3 new skylights are looking good and letting in lots of natural light too. It won't be long now and the exterior will be finished.

Finishing touches are all that is needed

New General Purpose Room Skylight

Firestone Roof is on!

New Bathroom Skylight

You can see the light coming in thru the new skylight. Above the door at the upper left corner

Restoration Update.... Into The Roof We Go.....

Things are moving right along. Here are some update photos showing the removed ceiling in the general purpose room.... aka the back living room. It is getting exciting to see so much going on. It won't be long now......

All covered up for the storm

Under the overhang 

Carport 

The Great Debate of The East Terrace

So it is understood that although the east terrace is original, the obtrusive covering is not. It was installed in a rather shoddy way which has caused problems for the restoration crew.
When it was pulled off it was found that just about the only thing holding it all up were a few nails. Boards were cut short and did not extend far enough in to offer proper support and rotting wood was found. In the picture of where the covering is removed you will see a red metal post. The crew put that there to support the corner while they work on that portion of the restoration. It is great to see it off.

In case you are wondering, there is a drain in the floor for water.

You will note the blue tarp.... from that corner back along the north face of that overhang it was closed off. Furthering issues with rain water pooling up and seeping in. That will be restored to it's original condition as well.

The stacks on the roof are insulation sheets. They are putting down 2 layers to increase the R value then covering with the Firestone roof.

 

Restoration Is Well Underway

Here is a glimpse of the restoration work being done. I will be there soon to take updated photos and I do know that the roof will soon be coming off. As mentioned all windows and doors will be refinished inside and out. The tall windows and door on the face of the home are now sanded on the exterior. The interior has not been worked on yet. As you can see the door is open, that is probably the first time in at least 5 years that it has been opened. 

More work has been completed since these pics were taken several days ago. 

As you can see in the kitchen photo there are 2 outlets on the wall in the lower right of the pic. The first outlet looking in is where the refrigerator was plugged in and it would have covered it. You will also notice the cabinet that looks like the refrigerator would go inside. Well that is the intent anyway. This is however where the stove was located. The counter was extended to cover where the refrigerator was along with the wall mounted shelving. (More photos of the kitchen will be posted later) The counters are cement and are newer. They were done several years ago and to the best of my knowledge have never been used. 

The covering on the face

The face has been sanded down. Windows and the door

This is the first time the door has been open in years

Aerial shot showing the repairing of the terrace wall (about 2 years ago)

The first outlet is where the refrigerator was plugged in. The counter has been extended.

The Durable Restoration Company

After a very long process of finding a qualified company to work on the Eppstein House the Durable Restoration Company was chosen and the contracts have been signed. The DRC did restoration work on another FLW designed home in Oh, the Westcott House as well as other historical buildings in the US.
 The began work on Monday Oct. 7th and with the upcoming tour on Oct. 18th they could only work on a few things. They did not want the major work going on, which consists of the removing of the entire roof, during the tour.

The DRC has a long history of award winning work. I tallied up 26 awards that they have received over the years for restoration work.
They do a number of specialty roofing projects that include copper, slate, clay tile and tin coated iron.
Definitely check them out at DurableRestoration.com

So what does the DRC have on the restoration agenda? Well, it will include the roof, 3 of the 4 skylights, all of the mahogany facia, windows and doors and trim inside and out, block repair, removing of the roof/screened in terrace covering, and repairing any damage found once the roof is off. They are not replacing the windows or doors just repairing and refinishing.  I do not think that there are any plans to return the home to 5 bedrooms so it will most likely stay as 3. A new owner could easily have it put back to 5 though. Here is the original floor plan. Take note that when I mentioned removing the roof/screened in terrace covering I am referring to the the small side terrace off the back corner of the living room. The 2nd owner put a roof on it with screens and aluminum windows. It was never part of the original plan and is therefore being removed. To be honest it was rather hideous anyway.

Stay tuned for more info on the restoration. This is a work in process and the home is currently listed for sale based on the the amount of restoration work that has been contracted to be done. With a list price of $475,000 it makes it the lowest priced Frank Lloyd Wright home available. (that we know of)