Of all the things made to last, this has got to be one of the best!
Sears has been experiencing their ups and downs lately. They have just reported that they’ll be shutting down some of the stores they own throughout the country as a result of a steady decline in sales. It’s sad to see these companies that once offered so much now slowly dying. Stores such as Sears, G.E., Ford, and more are struggling against retail giants like Amazon and Google.
While Sears may not be the same as it used to be, its legacy will live on. Their mail order business sold a little bit of everything through the 1900s ranging from appliances to home goods, and even whole houses.
Reddit user RealHotSauceBoss recently announced that he is renovating his grandfather’s home that was bought from a Sears catalog in 1916. At the time it was purchased, it sold for just over $1,000. Not bad considering how much a house costs these days.
There were several models available for purchase. All a person needed was a plot of land to build it on. The house was shipped to the customer in pieces with a set of blueprints. It was then the purchasers’ job to build it piece by piece.
RealHotSauceBoss wrote on Reddit that the house is still in good shape:
It has held up remarkably well all things considered. Obviously the wood wasn’t treated back then so the exterior was in rough shape, but the house was structurally sound. To preserve the interior we essentially had to build a shell of HardiePlank over the old exterior, then we put storm windows over the original windows. The original roof was unrecoverable due to wear and leakage, so it was completely replaced. The basement is in unbelievably good shape considering that cement is a century old! It continues to be a really interesting project.
He is now working on fixing up the inside of the house, which he says is a tricky undertaking.
“We’re going to start working on the oven as soon as we can figure out how to get it back in the kitchen,” he wrote. “It’s cast iron and weighs several hundred pounds. The staircase to the basement is very narrow and we have no clue how it got down there.”
Response on Reddit to the project and the historical house has been “awesome,” according to REalHotSauceBoss, and he will continue to track his progress online as he renovates the house. We’re excited to see what new discoveries he’ll undoubtedly make!
Sources: OpposingViews, Atlas Obscura, Little Things, reddit