The Rural Voice, 1992-11, Page 42lX \SSY XIC A
r'
THE EXCITING NEW
CLOTHING STORE
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Featuring brand name
clothing for kids with class
order early
for Christmas
from 18 seconds
to 18 years
Hours 9:30 - 5:30
Friday 9:30 - 9:00
Sundays 12:00 - 4:00 until Xmas
166 The Courthouse Square
GODERICH
519-524-5970
Come to the Country
ONE STOP SHOPPING
For that
NEW KITCHEN OR
NEW FLOORING
You've been looking
So hard to find.
Personal Consultation & Design
in your home by: Sylvia or Ross
Ross' Country
Carpets & Kitchens
Dungannon 529-7551
38 THE RURAL VOICE
enough so that even with two beds in
one of the children's rooms, there is
still plenty of room. In each of the
rooms a dormer with a large window
is centred in the room, lending
perfect balance as well as adding
extra headroom and plenty of light.
At the rear of the house, the
master bedroom is even larger at
about 14 by 18 feet, leaving room
enough for it to be a living area as
well as sleeping area.
There's also a large bathroom at
the rear of the upstairs and perhaps
the house's most unique feature: a
second -floor laundry room. Having
laundry facilities near bathroom and
bedroom where most of the dirty
laundry is created saves a lot of
carting, Sharon says. Fear of the
washing machine overflowing and
leaking down to ruin ceilings of
rooms underneath is what normally
causes laundry rooms to be located
on the main floor or basement, Dave
says. He solved the problem by
creating a special containment area
under the washer that will catch any
water and funnel it through a drain
that is located in the wall, to the
basement.
The couple moved into an
unfinished house in 1980 after their
marriage. The house has grown over
the years since, but nothing has been
"added on", Dave says. It was
always part of the original plan. It
just took him 12 years to find the
time to finish the project. "We built
the size we needed rather than adding
on later," Dave says.
First, in 1981, came the two -car
garage. To harmonize with the rest
of the house it too has dormers and
the style of the garage doors recalls
times past rather than today's mass-
produced look.
In 1989 came the front verandah.
The spindles in the railing and the
verandah posts were salvaged from
other buildings. The porch manages
to match the look of the rest of the
house: traditional, yet modern.
Last year came the final touch: the
sun -room at the rear of the house.
Large windows pick up the south sun
and, with skylights, allow plenty of
light for growing plants. Large
beams hold the roof, salvaged from a
factory Dave tore down. The room is
finished with a soft -grey -coloured
tile. Again the room balances a
feeling of new and old: the old wood
of the beams and the modern
convenience of a large whirlpool.
The sun -room brings the building
of the house to a finish, Dave says.
The temporary wooden decks have
now all been replaced with perma-
nent structures. They have tried to
create a low -maintenance house,
Sharon says. With the long days
Dave can spend at work, they need
to.
His work takes him anywhere in
Southwestern Ontario within a 100 -
mile radius of Brussels demolishing
buildings.
When a building is coming down
everything that can be salvaged is
saved: bricks, old beams and wood,
old plumbing and electrical fixtures,
woodwork. At one time Total
Demolition retailed many of the
items through its large building
located southeast of the house but the
problems of running a retail outlet
when Dave was on the road so much
led them to discontinue the process.
They still retail reclaimed brick but
most of the materials they salvage are
now marketed through a St. Jacobs
retail outlet that specializes in
providing materials for people
wanting to use authentic parts in
renovating homes. Items like
gingerbread and verandah and
staircase spindles are particularly in
demand.
Most of his company's work in
recent years has been in demolishing
old factories rather than houses. In
hard times factories stand empty and
people want them removed to save
maintenance and taxes, while old
houses tend to get fixed up.
The house has become a valuable
advertisement for the practicality and
beauty of reclaimed materials. It's
easier for people to judge the beauty
of old brick by looking at it in a
fireplace, rather than just stacked on a
skid, Sharon says.
"It's probably the best investment
we've ever made," says Dave of the
house that is hard evidence of what
can be done with the materials he
salvages. But they weren't setting
out to do anything so farsighted.
"We were just working with the
materials we had and the resources
we had to stay on budget." They
have turned those practical intentions
into a tribute to the century -old
buildings that live on in a spacious
modern house.0