No Post Yesterday

I had another plan.

I've been keeping tabs on the Petch House project.  I wanted to be there when the roof came off.

It  was expected  yesterday morning around ten. I didn't get the call  to say it was a-go.

At twelve I went to see what was up...or down.The roof  was still on.

Puffs of dust and ribbons of rubbish  sporadically came out the door.

The site is tightly surrounded by a wire  fence. Walls are strapped together to keep them from falling apart. The floor of the attic had already been removed.Work has proceeded without obstacle since it started.

I planned to park the car where it would not be in the way and simply watch.

Peter Van Nostrand of Vandorf saw me and came to introduce himself.I know Peter's family. His Uncle David was a good friend of my son Frank in high school. His Aunt Betty was a Councillor in the Township of Whitchurch  when Stew Burnett was Reeve.

Because we shared a high school many Vandorf families were in friendly contact withAurorans

When I could afford a fresh turkey, it came from Van Nostrand's farm.

Peter is the skilled artisan dismantling the Petch House. He has already taken apart it's twin and rebuilt it in Collingwood with pride of place on private property.

We chatted  and I learned something about him ,while we waited for the permit to arrive.

Two artifacts were found when the attic floor was removed. A bottle of whiskey, circa  1950,with a couple of inches left, was stashed in the rafters. An English butter knife had slid down between the floor and the wall.

The roof has several layers to be removed. First the plastic sheets,then a layer of ashpalt shingles fastened to plywood sheathing, then cedar shingles and sheathing , then original roofing boards fastened to the beams below.

Peter, of my older grandson's generation, and I  talked about how farmers had to be masters of a dozen trades, They felled the lumber,dressed it with axes and  built their homes, barns and drive sheds. They came together to help each other with the tricky bits. Like raising a barn.

They fashioned their own equipment, dug wells, sometimes  built a little house of worship and created  burial grounds on their own farms . Because there wasn't anyone else to do it.

The Van Nostrands were United Empire Loyalists. They first  farmed  in York Mills before moving
 further  north to  Vandorf. They have a proud heritage. Now Peter  is  makes a living in a labour of love., salvaging and restoring  structures built by his great- great- grandfather's generation.

We chatted for three hours while waiting for the permit.It was the first stoppage since the work began.

It seems the Chief Building Official has an option of requiring a permit or not. She did not chose the option of not.

An engineer experienced in the work, has already attended the site. Examined the  building, it's material condition and  plans for  the  dismantlement and restoration. It has  already been made more secure than it was during the years pf rotting by the roadside. He has given the work his stamp of approval.

There's a consideration of regular engineer visits and inspections. The need  is not obvious. . The cost will undermine the budget.The engineer sees no purpose.

There's concern about damage to the  road in transportation of the building. The building is not being transported. A less than average load of  lumber will be moved on  a tractor trailer  and carried one mile down the road  to Peter's yard  by the Vandorf Bridge, where  restoration  will be carried out.

Yesterday one town employee spent time,measured in hours, with another employee,  transferring  $250. from the parks department budget to the building department's budget,  the piddling amount charged to pay for the licence. The  transfer could possibly have cost more.

The town's web site apparently cites $100. for a demolition permit.

Yesterday a building inspector visited the site for an inspection.

Can't for the life of me see what he inspected. There are four walls ,with a floor at the base  a roof at the top. He didn't know the difference between barn board and axe-hewn logs.

He asked if the barn board cladding was being removed and if the building was being moved in one piece. I mean no disrespect. No modern building inspector should  be expected to be familiar with a structure of that age.

No plumbing needs to be disengaged,  no electricity, no telephone wires. no television antennae. none of the appendages of  a modern facility.

There would be a chimney.

This primitive structure  of walls, floor and roof ,without frills or fancies, was put together by a farmer, to shelter his family from the heat,the cold,the wind and the rain and maybe wolves and bears , a hundred  and a half years ago

Before there was a National ,  Provincial , or  Municipal Building Code

Before  building inspectors, chief building officials, engineers were with the  army opening roads. No town staff to spend time at substantial expense to  transfer a piddling sum to pay for a  demolition permit before  work can proceed.

It's  two months since council authorised  the project ..I  proposed  it. I have  a personal interest in its progress..

Since then, various obstacles and obstructions have been trotted out to inhibit the process. Until yesterday, without success.

I went there  at mid-day  for the seminal event of  roof removal.

By 3 p.m.it hadn't happened.

The permit had not been issued .