My first experience in rehabbing an old house back to it's original splendor happenned in Cambridge, Mass. back in the 1970's. I had just completed a four year apprenticeship in the carpenter's union in Washington, DC and thereby became a Journeyman carpenter, and I decided to do just that (journey). I picked Boston, since that was where both of my parents had come from and because I had an architect friend there who was remodeling homes and was looking for someone to help him. Donald Lang was buying old Victorian properties in Cambridge and turning them into condos. He was also remodelling a home for his new family. Donald's foreman was Bob Allen- a cranky old new-englander with a strong Boston accent. I learned more in the 6 months working with Bob than I did in the whole four years of apprenticing. One of the most exciting things that Bob taught me was how to remove a bearing wall on the first floor of a three storie wooden structure, without having the house fall down. Bob was a great teacher for me. His crankiness was, I believe, only a shell, and I think he really enjoyed having a willing student to take under his wing.
      My next phase of remodeling came in the 1980's in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY . I worked there with a Jewish developer named Nadav Ben-Eliezer and Philip Loneragan. They would by brownstones at the city auction and we would turn them into 6 or 8 unit condos also. this is probably where I picked up my love for designing and installing kitchens.
       the next chunk of rehabs came in 2006 when my friend Bart Tucker invited me to come to Biloxi Miss. after hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Some of the homes that we would be rehabbing were of questionable integrity even before they were hit with a wall of 8 foot water from the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the homes in Biloxi were 80 years old, built just on concrete block piers as foundations with nothing holding them down except for gravity. When the waters of the gulf came in and up 8 feet in three hours that Sunday morning, many of the homes simply turned into boats and went floating down the street into someone else's yard. Bart raised all of the funds for the homes that we would work on (we spent roughly $40 k on each total gut rehab) and early on, when he would take me to see one of the projects that had been caseworked and approved, my first reaction was, we need to get a bulldozer and knock this thing down . However, as time went on (I was there 2 1/2 years and got about 70 families back into their homes) and I heard the stories from the homeowners how their dad had built the home, they raised their ten kids in it, etc., my thinking gradually changed to, who am I to say we should knock this down? and I set about fixing them up. A new house in the old box. Gut rehab. Strip it down to the bones and start again. Some of the homes we used a house mover to level up the foundations. Lisa's home was 13" aout of level front to back. Rehabbing takes a little, no, alot, more finesse than building a new home. You gotta know when to stop demo-ing and what's good enough.
     Tommorrow begins my doing rehabs here in Tuscaloosa. In the year and a half that I've been here, I have participated in the construction of 32 brand new homes, all but two of which were for families that were affected by the April 2011 tornado that hit here.
     New work is clean and nice. All new materials. Nice level foundations . Easy.
     Mr. Bishop's home was built by his family 65 years ago. He has been living in a home where the gas hot water heater doesn't have a flue connected to it, and is venting into the house. The kitchen floor is about to fall through. Needs a new bathroom, windows, metal roof. No bulldozer here. We're gonna fix it. Better than new. Oh and guess what? The firemen from Tuscaloosa are coming to help. Many of them helped us blitz build a house last year. 4 1/2 days start to finish. Thsese guys are serious.   someone said that firemen are either on or off. We'll keep you posted throughout the week on Facebook with pictures of the progress. Wanna learn how to rehab a house?   Come on back and see us! 
      P.S. Farewell to Jim and Betty Spencer of the RV Care-A-Vanners who left today for NJ. Jim was here for a month working with us.