Preservation Trades Inc February, 2002

An Ott Story: Reviving a Handmade Home

-Christopher Alexander

HISTORY

It was 1832 when the lure of America and a new prosperity beckoned the Ott family of Baldenheim, Alsace. Father Johann Jacob Ott, 48 and his wife Marie assembled their children and possessions and set sail from a European port of call in which was to become a 40-day trans-Atlantic voyage. When they disembarked on the shores of the eastern seaboard of the "colonies," parents and children Jacob, Caspar, Christian, Lorenz, Philip, Magdalena and Salome retrieved their hay wagon, rack and trunks from the ship's hold and set out for Warren, Pennsylvania. The immigrants settled there near the Allegheny River.

In 1836 (some 50 years after DuSable organized the first trading post in Chicago), the oldest son, Jacob was directed to go westward and ultimately the Deerfield, Illinois area (Cadwell's Corner). There he found a proverbial "Garden of Eden" of tall oak trees, fertile land, wild game aplenty and few white settlers. It was only a year after news of this discovery reached the family that the rest of the Ott's continued their journey in the footsteps of their "family scout." Not long after arriving did they proceed to construct five of the ten log houses that went up along what is now Saunders Road, about seven miles west of the shores of Lake Michigan in the metro Chicago area.

After decades of industrial and technological progress that invited a pattern of social change the homes were either abandoned, remodeled beyond recognition from their original features or destroyed. Such was the fate of one of the log homes originally built by Caspar Ott, that which was shrouded in modern dress and imminently slated for the wrecking ball in the spring of 1970. It was only due to its timely discovery under the plaster of the dining room in the old Siljerstrom farm house, one week prior to demolition, that this historic and pertinent structure was rescued.

Directly acquired by the Deerfield Area Historical Society and subsequently moved to the Deerfield Historic Village, the Ott house was integral in the Village's development which was created as a "dramatic illustration of its goal to preserve, record and promote the history of the area." Caspar Ott, a journeyman tailor, and his wife Mary Elizabetha raised their seven children in this one-room log house, the oldest standing building in Lake County, Illinois.

But, this happy ending was only a beginning- a long and arduous task lay ahead in reclaiming a building blighted by the jaws of time that caused irrecoverable damage. Upon inspection, the structure had much dry rot and was compromised (due to lack of restoration funds) in its placement at the new site. The original eleven-high log walls were reduced to eight, being that the sills, plates and several of the hewn, half-dovetailed oak logs had deteriorated beyond any structural capacity. This basically created the look of a "cabin," a log structure that was more rudimentary and for short-term occupancy. A log "house" was constructed with permanent residency in mind and among other criteria had at least a partially finished second floor accessible by a stairway. One of the original doorways was "remodeled" and a stone fireplace was inserted in its place (not historically authentic for that structure), while the roof pitch was modified from an 8:12 to a flatter 4:12 slope. The building was placed on a concrete slab with a modern nominal 3/4" wood floor over it. This was a time when historic preservation funding resources and guidelines were modest at best.

THE PLAN

Enter the 1990s. With revived interest, research and input the Historical Society began a campaign to raise funds for the restoration of the Ott building, as well as moving it to a new site and higher ground within the Village. It was determined that a restoration rather than a reconstruction was the course of action to follow in its rebuilding. To restore was to return it to its original appearance, function, and furnishings- to construct it as it would have been built using materials that would have been available to Ott. A reconstruction is a methodical imitation of the original that might use new materials or modern utilities if not obviously apparent. Because a restoration is done with old materials and expertise, the Historical Society contracted the services of Preservation Trades, experienced designers and builders in the art of historic building preservation and preservation development. With drawings and specifications by Historical Society member architects Tom Roth and Don Wrobleski in hand, the project commenced in September, 2001, together with two other historic building projects in the Village: the 1847 George Luther House and the 1854 Bartle Sacker Farm House.

In completing a Historic Structure Survey principal Bob Przewlocki determined that the existing conditions merited the dismantling of the entire structure, rather than moving the entire structure to the new site and foundation. This would provide for adequate inspection of each individual log and ascertain treatment or modification. As-built drawings were created and an identification system was used to mark the drawings as well as the logs. Because the building would be re-erected with a 180 degree about-face, the tagging would have to reflect that ultimate direction change. In other words, what was then the south wall would become the north wall (and vice versa), and the west would become east (and conversely). Therefore the tag would read as follows with the inside and outside of the log being marked:

Joists were marked in the same manner and all of the rafters were to be replaced. Two inch square tags were made out of flashing and marked with an indelible permanent paint marker and tacked to each log on the 9-12 inch hewn faces near the corners.

The 17ft x 22ft building was then carefully disassembled. A repair assessment was written for each log needing restoration and so specified on the master drawing. A drawknife was used to clean all the wane edges of the top and bottom of the logs for preparation of daubing. When dovetail ends were beyond repair, a scarf joint (pinned with handcrafted restoration oak pegs) was implemented and a new corner fashioned to match the old. Wood epoxy modified with recycled oak log sawdust made for a natural looking corner when only a minimum of restoration was needed. Of special note was the discovery of one of the original plates which had been re-configured as the ridge beam when the roof was reconstructed back in 1970. This was to be converted back as an original plate and used as a template for the opposite plate. By observing imbedded peg remnants, it was determined that the rafters were on 32" centers.

THE FOUNDATION

The corner foundation stones of a log building typically carry the load of the structure. The infill between corners served as a screen to prevent wind penetration or animals from trespassing under the building. It was this justification for pouring a 42" cast-in-place continuous concrete foundation with 15" of native rubble fieldstone facing on top of a ledge that disappeared about 3" below grade. Mortar was mixed using white portland cement, mason's lime and rough torpedo sand. This gave the look of a weathered brown color, almost like the hue of the logs. A continuous aluminum flashing was placed over the 8" wall to act as a moisture barrier for the sill logs. After it was trimmed, it was not discernable.

Original cellars were rare for these buildings and is why one was omitted. Foundation vents were strategically placed to prevent dry rot of the sills and joists and are to be masked with plantings when weather permits. Visquine was placed in this crawl space as a further vapor barrier.

EXTERIOR WALL RESTORATION

It took the better part of a year to line up the replacement and additional hewn 6" x 9" to 12" oak logs for the house. It was the 24+ footers and sill beams that posed the biggest hurdle. They had to be long enough so that new notches could be cut. The salvaged 1830s era logs arrived from Kentucky in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon . As with the rest of our country work proceeded, albeit in a bit of a fog. Surely the Otts had their impasses to overcome, and to their experience were just as traumatic.

The sill beams were bolted onto the foundation wall over 3/4" anchored threaded rod protruding up and through the beam. This was no easy task but was a building code requirement. Had the sills been perfectly straight there would have been less of a struggle, but these were antique, petrified logs and came with 165 years of "baggage." Finally, up went the home log by log, piece by piece, notch by notch. The next hurdle was the #7 logs over the doors which had blind mortises cut into them for the ceiling joists (upstairs floor joists). The west 22ft log had a crook in it not dissimilar to a banana's, and it took several days in leveling the joists so that the loft would not take on the appearance of an amusement park roller coaster. Several of those 7x7 hand hewn joists had to be replaced as well because the extant materials were non-original and inappropriate for the frame. An east rough door opening was once again created where the original opening was replaced by a fireplace and chimney in 1970.

The upper six courses were set in place by creating a ramp system outside of the building, soaping up the surfaces well and using dual come-alongs, held fast onto the interior, to pull and slide the logs along the timber ramping. Logs were first transported to the ramp base by a series of log rollers placed under the massive, dense, old growth pieces. This proved to be very effective and lent to the hand-built atmosphere of the project. The crowning achievement was when the plates were pegged in place: they were within 1/8" of level.

CHINKING AND DAUBING

Chinking was the wood or stone chip filling in the gaps between the logs, or today it could be the misnomer applied to the clay or mortar daubing filling those spaces also. Avoiding the new latex products for these applications was essential so a historically accurate lime mortar was used with a small percentage of portland cement in the mix. That mix was 1:4:12 - white portland cement:mason's lime: fine river sand. This mortar is "self-healing" or "autonomous" in that if cracks appear, they will close when air moisture is absorbed by the lime in the mix. The unusually mild early December weather was a blessing for this phase.

So that the daubing would adhere properly, continuous hand-rived wood chinking was wedged and installed in the spaces. One half inch x 1" blind holes drilled into the chinking provided for "keying," together with 4d galvanized nails that were set about 8" apart and 1" from the edge where the daubing flushed out with the log. The daubing was recessed slightly from the log above and beveled to that flushed point to prevent water from migrating from the top of each course.

ROOFING, SIDING AND CHIMNEY

A restored roof included 6-8" diameter recycled pole rafters, hewn on one side with half-lapped and hand- crafted pegged joinery at the ridge. Gable studs used were 4-6" hardwood poles from a log barn, joined and pinned to the top gable wall log and pinned to the rafters. Rough-sawn oak recycled sheathing was nailed to the studs and antique beveled siding reminiscent of the period was nailed with common siding cut nails. Collar ties were also joined and pinned to the rafter sets with pegs made from original log remnants. Salvaged 1" by up to 20" wide wany-edged sheathing was applied to the rafters as decking. Hand-split cedar shakes, averaging 1" at the butt end, were used as roofing material. The roof was not capped at the ridge: the shakes on the weather side (west) were installed to protrude above the ridge line. Unfortunately there was no evidence of an original fireplace or chimney. It was decided that a small brick chimney was fitted between a pair of rafters and joists and a cast iron stove was used for cooking and heating.

WINDOWS, DOORS, HARDWARE, FLOORS

The final board was secured a week before Christmas when the winter season finally looked its part. The three buildings were now ready for the influx of school groups and the curious public when the historic structures will be re-dedicated in the spring of 2002. The Ott legacy has endured, true to its mold.

As there is evidence of whitewash on the logs, this may be the next step for a Historical Society volunteer workday. Site programming cannot run smoothly without the contributions of these devoted educators and workers.

For more about the Deerfield Historic Village or directions to the site, please write to Deerfield Area Historical Society, PO Box 520, 450 Kipling Court, Deerfield, IL 60015.

For more information about barns, recycled barn and log homes, and custom recycled timber buildings please peruse our Preservation Trades web site.

Bob Przewlocki,
Preservation Trades, Inc.,
P.O. Box 1102
Wayne, IL
USA 60184
630/443-0411

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