Village Squire, 1980-10, Page 19Goderich pair says
renovation is
a way of life
BY ALICE GIBB
Renovating an historic Goderich home
and nearby barn has been more than
bricks, mortar and long hours for
partners Bill Wedlock and Brian Dunlop,
In Bill's words, to renovate an older
building, you have to love the process
since "you almost have to go at it heart
and soul."
Both Brian Dunlop and his partner
have been fascinated by the process for
some time. Brian spent three years in
Victoria, B.C. using his carpentry skills
working on renovation projects, before
returning east to live.
Bill Wedlock, who studied carpentry at
George Brown College, lived in the
Cabbagetown section of Toronto for some
time, an area of the city which has
undergone a drastic facelift in the last few
years.
When the partners established their
renovation business in Goderich, they
started by converting the basement of a
doctor's office into apartments. Then
they worked on other projects for local
residents, before deciding to find their
own building and restore it, almost
literally, from the ground up.
The property they chose was a house
and barn at 95 Britannia Street - which
Bill Wedlock said was "a dilapidated
building" when they first spotted it and
one of the cheaper pieces of property that
could be bought in Goderich. At first, it
was questionable whether the partners
would even attempt the renovation or
would demolish the buildings and start
again.
The deciding factor, Bill said, was that
some people, who could see the
property's potential, provided the two
partners with financial support. Even
then, the pair aren't likely to make their
fortunes on the project. "We'd never
been able to put a figure on how much our
time is worth," Bill said. Once the
restoration process had begun, the two
men were "engulfed in it", which makes
it almost impossible to put a financial
value on their time.
DECISION TO SAVE
Once it was decided to save the
buildings, the two partners, who would
drop by the house on evenings after
they'd finished their other job, sit down,
and in Bill's words, think "where do you
want to see the light come in."
The house, they estimated, is between
120 and 130 years old. Some of the
interesting facets of the home's
construction undercovered during
renovations were square nails, which
were used in the walls and floors; the
floorboards, made of elm boards 11/4 to
11/2 inches thick, and the traditional root
cellar found in many older homes.
When the partners decided they'd have
to gut both buildings completely, and
start again, Bill Wedlock said they
decided to rebuild an "energy-efficient"
house. The old newspapers, which were
the buildings only insulation, were
thrown out. Then the house was
completely insulated. and windows and
doors were installed that would keep the
heat in. The upstairs bedrooms of the
house feature overhead skylights which
let in a generous amount of sunlight to
these rooms.
Bill said when they started the project,
they took crowbars and ripped out the old
lathing plaster inside, and started re-
placing the old mortar and loose bricks on
the exterior of the house. Since an old
porch had left rather distinctive markings
on the bricks at the front of the home,
the men decided to sandblast the front of
the house.
Bill said the partners weren't
concerned that sandblasting would
damage the bricks - they'd been there for
130 years already, and the face of the
bricks is three inches thick.
When it came to the barn, the men
gutted it down to the bare frame, then
reframed it for the double window effect,
next they built a brand new roof and put a
board and batten rough cut hemlock
exterior on the building.
Since the property the house and barn
are on is now zoned for residential use,
the barn can't be used as a residence.
However, the partners do envision it as
an artist's studio, since the loft is framed
in, and light streams in the double
windows. Brian and ' Bill are also con-
sidering an application to Goderich
council to rezone the property to re-
stricted commercial use, since the house
would also provide attractive office space
situated on a major intersection leading
to the downtown area.
This home, at 95 Britannia Road In
Goderich, was restored by partners Bill
Wedlock and Brian Dunlop over a
period of several months. Special
features include skylight -type windows
In the roof, a loft -like upstairs and
exposed beams (Photo by Gibb)
After the barn was restored, it formed
an attractive adjunct to the house.
In crea ting "the design feature we
wanted", Bill said the partners
"basically took a derelict piece of
property and gutted the building." While
the exterior is completely renovated, the
interior, including the loft-styi(
bedrooms, has been restored more
simply, so that the home's buyer can
carry out their own ideas in decorating.
Before returning to Goderich to live, Bill
said he spent two years renovating
another old building - a Rockwood mill -
into a home, and "it was a very enjoyable
two years."
Now, restoration work is "my chosen
career" and Bill added, "I can't see
another way (of life) but to renovate."
And there's that matter of heart and
soul.
VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1980 PG. 17