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Lucerne
Main House - pre 1932
Helen
and Brian purchased Lucerne in early 2005 and moved in immediately.
Within
a month of our arrival the Paddington area was struck by a severe
hail storm. We spent a stressful evening shoveling ice out of
the rear entrance of the main house, positioning buckets under
the many leaks in the roof and mopping up flooded areas.
Much of the rear of the house was damp, exacerbated by undermining
of the stone foundations by roots from a Camphor Laurel tree.
The verandahs and about two-thirds of the rear brick wall had
partially collapsed. In addition, weatherboards and structural
timbers had been badly damaged by termites.
And
so began our restoration!
The
main house is primarily brick, with stone foundations, dry packed
on top of a shale surface. The brick walls were mortared onto
the foundation stone; however, the softness of the mortar suggested
a lack of cement.
We
removed the camphor laurel, rebuilt the verandahs and excavated
and underpinned the foundations of the rear wall with concrete,
focusing on the need to waterproof and stabilize the brick walls.
The
top one metre of the front wall was particularly challenging.
It had a 15o outward lean, which we discovered resulted from a
termite eaten, timber barge board on which the bricks had been
laid. We dismantled the brick wall, replaced the barge board,
cleaned the bricks and re-assembled the wall (without the lean!).
In
2006 we replaced the iron roof and gutters of the main house and
refurbished the interior of the coach-house. During the re-roofing
process we discovered a patch of the original shingles, which
we intend to reassemble and place on public display, together
with a brick imprinted with the paw of (we think) a possum.
The
major outstanding issue with the main house is the extent of termite
damage to internal floors and walls, particularly in the upstairs
attic area.
The
history of Lucerne is detailed in the links below:
Until
recently we were not aware that Helen is related to Emma Adsett,
the wife of James Young, the original owner and builder of Lucerne.
Hopefully
our stewardship of Lucerne will see the house (eventually!) pass
to our daughter and remain in the "family" for many years to come.
Newspaper
clippings on "Lucerne" - click for larger image:
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