Elgin Architectural Rehabilitation Grant

Paul and I bought our house knowing it needed major work. The most pressing concern was a roof with - I kid you not - seven layers of shingles. Combine an ancient roof with non-working gutters and you get a rotten porch. Here's the original version.

Our neighbor happens to be in the business of restoring old houses. His house is absolutely perfect - which makes ours look even a bit more dilapidated. We had talked to him about our plans to fix up the exterior, and he encouraged us to apply for a 50/50 grant through the City of Elgin. We filled out the paperwork back in 2013, got several quotes (including one from our neighbor) and submitted our proposal - new roof, new porch and gutters. Total cost = $40,000.00

We learned at the end of 2013 that our house had "ranked." I don't know all the details, but my understanding is that the grant committee reviews all the submissions and applies a ranking system to determine which houses are most in need of the grant money. This my friends, is a picture of one of those winners.  

Now there are conditions on the 50/50 grant money. The first - and most important - is that the homeowner pays all the money up front. Ouch! Once we found out we were awarded a grant, we had to start another round of paperwork to get a loan for the repairs. The second - and which later became a big deal - is that your exterior must be code compliant before any funds will be released. More on that for another post.

I didn't do a good job taking progress photos. Paul and Edy painted the front of the house after our neighbor had already ripped off the old porch and re-built the base. You can see the new gutters along the roof-line of the porch. The railing hasn't been installed yet at this stage. The first picture is the patched and primed version.

Now look down. The last photo is the finished porch.

Isn't it pretty? Notice the tiny pieces of wood at the top of the beam painted the amber color? That's an architectural detail called dental. I'm guessing it got that name because it looks like teeth. Watching Paul and Edy prep, paint and install those teeth reminded me how fussy Victorian architecture is. It's eye-catching, but oh, so labor-intensive. Also, please admire the beautiful railing that our neighbor created, painted and installed.

The ground is frozen and covered in snow right now. It's refreshing to look back on these summer photos and think about enjoying this new porch in a few more months.

Some have asked about the painting plans for the rest of the house. The plan is to eliminate the pink at the top and finish the house out in this paint color scheme. For now, only the lower front of the house is "finished." We've had some issues with the paint bubbling - so we might end up having to re-do the painting. But I'm not going to think about that right now. Instead, I'm going to look at this photo and think about summer.