Accomplishments & Progress in 2001
2001 Progress on the John Bushman Home, Joseph City, Arizona (by Richard J Turley)
In 2001 I arranged with my employer, American Express, to work longer days and have every other Friday off. I often took off the prior Thursday, leaving Wednesday afternoon after work to drive to Joseph City. I would then work Thursday, Friday and Saturday and then drive home. I did this several times. I also took two different weeks off of work as vacation time at the John Bushman home. In all I made 12 trips to Joseph City in 2001 for a total of 42 days spent working on rehabilitating the house.
Many people donated their time and money in support of this effort. Those donating money (or professional services) were Orvil and Louise Bushman, Deon Whipple, Bob & Zelda Turley, Steve & Ginny (Richard's sister) Miller, Hartley Turley (Richard's cousin), Nellie Bushman, Peter & Virnell Wright, Virgil (Junior) and Kari Bushman, Russell & Evelyn Walker, Mike & Shirlene (Richard's cousin) Lee, the Lon Bushman Family, Eleanor Hansen, and Gus & Ruth Palmer.
Those donating their time were the Richard Turley family (Richard, Susie, Laura and Jared), Bob & Zelda Turley, Rob Turley (Richard's brother) and his son Andrew, Dan, J.C. and Larry Bushman (Virgil & Kari's sons), D.J. (Larry's friend), Mark Walker (Evelyn's son), Boy Scout troop of Joseph City 2nd Ward, Jay Turley (Richard's uncle),
I hope I haven't forgotten anybody. Your support is greatly appreciated!!!
Here is a list of accomplishments that happened during 2001:
* Created web-site. www.jbhome.org
* Bladed the entire lot (1 1/4 acres) to remove weeds, trash, etc. and to make more level
* Purchased / acquired tools / supplies for use at JBHome: drill, circular saw, misc. hand tools, lime, Portland cement, clay bricks, bits, blades, sander, weed spray, locks, hasps, pry bar, wheel barrow, paint, Homeowner's (commercial) insurance, masonry tools, etc., etc.
* Removed built-in bedroom closets and kitchen counter & cabinets
* Had a Port-A-John put in place for mid-March thru mid-October
* The lot was surveyed in preparation for designing a drainage plan to drain water away from the house
* Applied for and received a building permit from Navajo County
* Broken windows were replaced (about 15 - 20)... by Hartley Turley (Richard's Cousin... with Heritage Glass in Joseph City)
* Transom window over front entry was fixed and installed
* Electrician installed two duplex waterproof GFI outlets under breaker box (to allow use of power tools while working on the house). No power is actually live within the house. Existing wiring not usable.
* Phone line installed for use while at the house
* Repaired some brickwork on the "ice house", made a lockable door, fixed trim, and painted
* Painted fence on the north and west side of house. Required two coats about 7 gallons of paint.
* Painted the first floor level of the front porch.
* Sprayed and chopped weeds numerous times (remember, this is Joe City land of weeds)
* Arranged for a Civil Engineer to do a structural review of the house, providing findings and recommendations. (This was mandated by the County for a re-modeling permit but very useful)
* Removed floor joists in SE corner of house (old bathroom area). All were rotten on the end that attached to the exterior walls due to water exposure from both inside and out.
* Cleared out old water pipes and sewer lines from the old bathroom.
* Spent a lot of time repairing / replacing brickwork inside of SE corner of house. Decades of water runoff down the bricks and into the walls caused extensive damage. There were a few places where you could easily see through holes and gaps among broken bricks and washed out adobe in the walls.
* Spent a lot of time replacing and repairing brickwork on the exterior of the SE corner of the house. * All of the old lime mortar had been washed away in a large area, with all of the old bricks collapsed and broken.
* Harvested old brick from the lean-to kitchen area of the house, which will eventually be completely rebuilt with either a stone or siding exterior. The brick we harvested was used to replace / repair broken or washed away bricks on the main portion of the home.
* Tuckpointed all of the brick around the house from the windowsills down. (Tuckpointing is the process of removing the old mortar to a depth of about 3/4 of an inch and then replacing it with new mortar. We used a hand-made lime mortar which should match the original consistency and color as much as possible. The old hand-made bricks are very soft / fragile and the mortar should not be harder than the bricks otherwise during freeze / thaw periods the bricks will break rather than the mortar giving a little.) The formula is (in case it gets lost): 20 cups sand, washed / rinsed twice (from Joseph City wash); 6 cups Lime (Type S mfg by Chemstar); 1/2 cup of white Portland cement (mfg by TXI- "Riverside"); 1/2 cup of gray Portland cement
* Captured the very pregnant skunk that was living under the floor in the old lean-to kitchen area
* Began process of acquiring piece of property (5' x 68') from Eleanor Hansen that is in her name and adjoins the John Bushman property by 68' but only adjoins hers by 5' and is useless to her. The acquisition was in the form of a Quit Claim deed (gift deed). This property is directly to the south of the Tuckfield property, which used to be Uncle Harold's. I believe this property was chopped off for Power Company right-of-way when electricity came to town.
* Still in process of putting the property on the National Register of Historic Places.
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