Love is Building a House Together: A Tribute to My Parents, Part II

Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Blog Post #55

by Tonya Graham McQuade

The old house we moved into on Minta Lane in April 1980;

my room was on the front left, with two large windows and minimal wall space.

In my previous post, I wrote about the early stages of my family building a house together back when I was in junior high. My parents made the decision to purchase property in Antioch back in 1979 on which they could build a passive solar house. The one third acre property already had an old house on it, but their plan was to build behind it, then tear down the old house.

For a while, as they began clearing the construction site and building the foundation, they rented out the old house to another family. However, in April of 1980, during my eighth grade year, we made the move to Minta Lane so my parents could focus on the next stage of construction: framing the house. We ended up moving on my parents' 15th anniversary, and that night - when they were completely exhausted - their friends Grace and Ed threw them a surprise anniversary party.

We arrive at Grace and Ed's house for a surprise anniversary party.

Happy Moving Day ... and Happy 15th Anniversary!

Some of the same friends who had helped with moving were there at the party, so I'm sure they were exhausted as well. My parents, though, really appreciated the effort Grace and Ed made to celebrate them. On my 15th anniversary with Mike, they gave me that same plate they received as a gift.

Moving did not require me to change schools, but it did require me to now walk one mile to school every day instead of taking the bus. Since everyone else on Minta Lane attended our school rival, Park Junior High, it was a rather lonely walk to and from school every day. Still, our new street had lots of young people my age, so it quickly became a very fun neighborhood to live in as we got to know the Telfords, Fernaus, and Hoppers.

Tonya, Andrea (aka. Andy, one of our new neighbors), Cam, and Andy

As you can see, the neighbors also got put to work! LOL.

The old house that we moved into, though, definitely left much to be desired. I don’t think there was any corner of the house that was actually at a right angle. My mom recalled that her friend Mary Weaver would get vertigo every time she visited the house! The floor sloped in many places, especially in the “laundry room” that led from the kitchen to the backyard (where my mom would catch the laundry water to use in the yard). There was a small dining room between the living room and kitchen area with just enough room for a table and chairs. There was also a rather strange little storage area off the dining room, as I recall - some sort of late, poorly built addition to the house. I just remember we kept our vacuum and other boxes of stuff in there.

The captions say, "Happy Anniversary / Never again - Why are we doing this?

Note moving blouse / Making adjustments / Laundry Water"

The kitchen was extremely narrow, with very old appliances – and you had to use a match to light the pilot for the oven. We kids were not supposed to do this, but once, I needed to bake cookies for a school event at the end of my eighth grade year and no one was home, so I tried this myself. In the process, I burnt off most of my eyelashes and singed one of my eyebrows. Fortunately, my hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Needless to say, I did not try that again and attempted to hide my burnt eyelashes from my parents. I don't remember them ever saying anything, so I don't think they ever even noticed. 

This afternoon during a visit, I had the chance to ask my parents a few questions about the old house and the building process for the new house - things I didn't remember, or perhaps I never knew. When I mentioned the oven, my dad said that another issue was, there was no electrical outlet in the kitchen, so he rigged something to come from the ceiling. I'm sure that would not have passed an inspection! He also recalled that the kitchen sink leaked, so he had to rig that somehow as well.

I got the downstairs bedroom that was at the very front of the house, right off the living room (with its old shag carpet that my dad got used at Good Will). One of the walls of my room was covered with 12x12 or 14x14 square mirrors, with golden squiggly designs, but they were angled so that they were in diamond shapes, with just their corners touching (so the wall also showed out in a diamond pattern). The “closet” was about two feet wide with no door or curtain on it. If I remember right, my bed had to go in front of it, so I had to stand on my bed to reach into the closet.

Here I am, painting the doorway to the old house -

we at least tried to make it somewhat better to live in.

My parents and brothers had the two upstairs bedrooms which, as I recall, did not have a proper wall between them - just a space for a door that did not exist. The floor would creak loudly when they were up there. You also had to duck your head as you walked up the stairs or you would hit your head on the ceiling. This was even true for me, measuring only 5' 2" at the time (not that I got much taller after that!).

I heard two stories today from my parents that I hadn't remembered. One, my mom said she never once vacuumed upstairs while we lived there. And two, my dad said my brothers punched holes in their wall (since they knew we would be demolishing the old house soon), and Andy (six at the time) would sometimes not want to walk downstairs to use the bathroom, so he would pee through one of the holes. Oh, my!

There was only one bathroom in the house, downstairs, with only a bathtub, and the bathroom did not have a lock. After enough complaining about that on my part, my dad finally put one in. I definitely missed being able to take a regular shower - I had to get used to using a shower hose to rinse my hair. My dad also said that the floor under the toilet was so rotten, he was afraid the toilet would fall through, so he braced it with extra plywood and did something to the pipe so it would be the right height. I think some things I have blocked from my mind.

Of course, while we were living there, construction was always going on in the backyard. There was framing of the house, walls, and stairs; roofing and tile work; plumbing and electrical wiring; papering, stuccoing, and painting the house; cabinetry; doors and windows; insulation; and more – and not necessarily in that order. Here are some photos from my parents’ album that depict the process:

At some point, my dad's dad, "Grandpa Graham," came for a visit

and helped my dad with some of the framing; my grandpa had done some

house construction in the past, and my dad had helped him with some tasks

(my dad's first project was building an outhouse in fourth grade).

On March 10, 1980, the first of many loads of lumber arrived;

soon, the first wall went up.

Stairs, South Wall, Box Window - "One Board at a Time"

Cam supervised from his tree fort as my dad and Steve Ortega,

a carpenter, worked on framing the "third story" windows - 

an important part of the passive solar design.

Framing the roof was quite a challenge -

captions say, "It ain't fun" and "Pound two, bend one"

Not sure these are OSHA-approved methods - and I think

that might be one of my brothers on top of the roof!

Then came the tile for the roof - all 27,000 pounds of it;

my dad hired some former students to help with this part.

Cam is also seen here working with his friends on a fort.

My dad also had the solar water tanks installed on the roof.

Once the framing and roof were done, we moved on to windows and insulation. I clearly remember how itchy the insulation was - I helped put it into the walls upstairs and had to learn to cut it properly. Our cat Figgy, shown below, enjoyed sleeping on it. I wondered if she felt itchy afterwards.

My parents used a lot of insulation and all double-paned windows

to improve the house's energy efficiency.

Above, you can see the house "wrapped" and ready for stucco.

"Those sheet rockers and tapers were fast" - 

my dad paid to have that part done.

Here you can see my dad working on putting in the oak-paneled ceiling.

Besides the "solar drier" and the "happy content look" my mother is wearing,

you can see the south-facing windows all along the south wall - an important part

of the passive solar design; eventually, they were lined with short water tanks inside.

Captions: Cam working for bike parts;

hours later - recently added hand brake and red tires

Eventually, the focus shifted to building, sanding, and staining

and/or painting interior cabinetry and bedroom furniture.

The new kitchen and the old kitchen (you can see the old oven

on the left that burned my eyelashes!)

I'm not sure about the timeline of these photos. I can't remember (and I don't see dates listed) for when each step of the process occurred. I do know that, on Jan. 30, 1981, we were "finished enough" to move into the new house. There was still work to do, as my freshmen dance photo can attest. You can see me walking down the stairs in my "fancy dress," then getting my corsage, with the incomplete stairs in the background. 

Making my "entrance" down the framed stairs

My date, John, putting on my corsage for the freshmen dance,

the unfinished stairs in the background

Still, we were all happy to be out of the "old house" - and the day that we knocked it down was certainly one to remember.  Lots of friends and neighbors showed up to help with "demolition day," then later, to help with the clean up. Our neighbor across the street, Joe, showed up with his tractor, which was a HUGE help in busting up the old driveway. He had also helped my dad earlier with digging the sewer line. People that drove by in the morning were surprised to drive by later in the day and see an entirely new house standing there.  

My dad discovered four layers of shingles on the old house;

my mom, bottom right, is "saving flowers," according to the caption.

Demolishing a house certainly goes faster than building one!

I recognize Carl Weaver, Bobby Weaver, and Ed Reyes helping out here; 

and album notes also mention Pete Billeci and Glen Jolivette being there.

By 3 p.m. Saturday, March 21, 1981, the "old house" was no more.

Removing the old driveway

Lots of clean up to do - and more help from friends 

(I recognize Don Winter in the front right photo)

Grace Reyes arriving with a welcome dinner.

Clearly, lots of friends stepped up to help our family with this endeavor! Some brought expertise and specialized construction equipment, but most just brought a willingness to help out in whatever way was needed. I’m sure many of them suffered sore muscles afterward! Others, like Grace in the photo above, helped by showing up with dinner when my parents needed some “food assistance.” She and her husband Ed are also the ones who threw them the anniversary party mentioned earlier. My parents both also recall fondly the day their friends Bob and Louise Casey showed up on a really hot day with a pitcher of margaritas!

So, where was I on demolition day? I can’t remember what I had going on that day, but it was something - probably a school event of some sort. I helped with cleanup afterward, but I don’t recall swinging a hammer at the walls of the old house. When I complained later about not showing up in very many of the photos during these latter stages, my dad responded with this:

As the caption here says, "Tonya helped on painting and insulation,

but Tonya, this is why there aren't more pictures of you."

This was a board from my old closet where I wrote down the names of my various "romances" during my 8th and 9th grade years. LOL. You know, Tonya + So-and-So. You can see the many scribbles, so perhaps I was a bit "boy crazy." All these years later, though, I still think it’s a rather unfair assessment.

As a freshman at Antioch Junior High, I was a student body officer, newspaper staffer, and member of various student clubs; was on the Gymnastics team and Track and Field team; sold LOTS of candy bars so I could go on a school trip to the East Coast; and participated in a fashion show for which I had to sew my dress. Outside of school, I took piano lessons; played the piano every week for our church choir; was in our church youth group; and often babysat to earn money, so I think I had plenty on my plate. Plus, I liked to hang out with my friends, go to school football games, see movies at the local theater, shop at the mall ... you know, all the normal 14-year-old girl stuff.

How many freshmen girls do you know who helped dig up and level construction sites; piled bricks to help create a foundation; built fences; nailed frames; installed insulation; learned to put on doorknobs; painted walls, base boards, and furniture; hung wallpaper, and ... whatever else I'm forgetting? I didn't help at every stage of house building, but I helped quite a bit, learned a lot in the process, and certainly appreciated the finished product. 

I was actually happy to find my mom's house building journal from June/July 1979 (see my previous post) where she talked about some of the work I did. A bit of validation! I remember many years later when my dad was watching me clean a paint roller at my house, he asked - somewhat surprised - how I knew to do it that way. Um, because I had to do it before on Minta Lane?

The almost finished house, as viewed from the back yard.

There was still more work to do, though - especially when it came to landscaping the large front and back yard now that the old house was gone. In my next post, I'll describe the "outdoor projects" that soon became my parents' focus and share some of the news articles related to the house on Minta Lane.

Stay tuned ...