Old House Demolition

[mangled]

We were approached about a year ago by a lady who takes down old houses. She offered us a sum of money, and said she'd take our old house down. We poiltely declined, as we knew nothing about it, and began researching things.

Well, long story short, she was trying to rip us off, LOL, and the couple that is taking the house down is giving us almost triple her original offer, and is taking the barn stone as well. They will remove all rubble and leave the ground smooth, filling in the basement and everything.

Here's a picture of what I woke up to this morning:

It must have been a beautiful old place. Don't you wonder why people just up and leave a house like that?

And, while digging through the sandstones at the egde of the driveway, my daughter discovered her first salamander. Cute, huh?

I haven't seen one since I was a kid. She wants to keep it as a pet.

Anyone know what salamanders eat?

Em

 

[Kanchii]

Cool old house, it'll be sad to see it go bye bye!
And very cute little salamader! I'm sure you can google salamader pets and find out.

 

[Guitartists]

Bugs

I never had much luck keeping the small ones.

 

[ChickenWing]

Quote:
Tell her Little girls. LOL

j/k That should keep her from keeping it as a pet.

 

[Southern Gardener]

I love old houses -Do you know how old it is and the history?

 

[chicknmania]

They eat worms, for one thing. Probably mealworms, too.

 

[mangled]

We know it was built in 1884, it's on the corner barnstone. We've asked around, and the farmer we bought our new tractor off of is 87, and said he had just been married when it went abandonded, but couldn't tell me why.

He was married in 1941, so it hasn't been lived in since the 40's. Crazy, huh?

We pulled what we could out of it before they came up to tear it down. I guess the beams are chestnut and are pretty valuable. The planking is oak, as are the beams at the base of the foundation. The mantles on all four fireplaces are intact, as are the frames around the windows and doors.

It isn't even listed on any of the deeds we've been able to research for our land. The deeds the courthouse has copies of only goes back to the first land-transfer or record, in 1948. It was from a man with the last name of Spryler, which isn't even in our local phone book.

I thought it was junk, and we even considered having the local fire department come burn it down as a test-burn or something.

Good thing we didn't!
Em

 

[rufus]

It looks like it was a really nice place at one time. Too bad you didn't get around to fixing it up.

And for what it is worth, the salamander is considered the guardian of the house. They are supposed to prevent fires.

In some really old houses, they would carve a salamander into the wood work for good luck.

I first noticed this in Craigdarroch Castle in BC. Since then, I have seen it in other old homes.

Rufus

 

[Peeps]

We have tons of salamanders around here. My step son has never been able to keep one alive, it is best she let it go. I think part of the problem is they don't like heat, their water & environment needs to be pretty cold.

 

[Adri]

It is a shame about that house, it does look like it was once a beautiful family home. So are they re-using the materials they take away? If so, that's fantastic.

As for the salamander, I'm with everybody else, let it free. My boys have tried to keep salamanders with no luck. I remember I googled about them at the time and there is something about us handling them that is not good for them. W

e now have a strict catch, observe and release program in place for all salamanders and frogs on our property.