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Robert Pearl Antiques
  Southern Antiques and House Restoration
I have spent a lifetime appreciating antiques and historical houses. Having that perfectionist thing going on, I always try to find the best antiques, to do the best job of restoring an antique or house to it's original state, and to be the best in my profession as an antique dealer. I have always tried to surround myself with the best in my quest for reaching perfection. Being able to make a living in the world of antiques and restoration depends on "getting it right". It has been both my profession and passion for thirty years.

So what happens when you are hired to oversee a restoration for an owner who has never even been around antiques? Bob Hansen, College Professor, decided to buy and restore the Michael Hauser House in Bethania, North Carolina, a Moravian community. That's one GIANT first step into the world of "restoration".
First inspection, be sure the roof is secure and water is directed away from the house. Then proceed with removing recent additions that do not fit the Greek Revival period. Each process creates a mess... restoration looks great until the next process of tearing out, which creates another mess. Two steps forward, one step back. New discoveries were taking place as we removed layer after layer of history.
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
I applied for the job of restoring the Michael Hauser House by walking up the street from the Jacob Loesch House and informing Bob Hansen that I can do that job better, cheaper, and faster than anyone else. Is there any better sales pitch than that? Together, we agreed the most accurate period the house could represent was the Greek Revival period, ca. 1850. All the moldings, doors, etc. still remained in the house. Also, discovering what is accurate, proven through research, is paramount and must be preserved. Bob Hansen has it in his blood... he turned out to be a natural at research and restoration. He even hired a botanist to help preserve that twisted Ash tree in the front yard and he has a great sense of humor!
Striving for perfection...
When removing the old cement drive we found an old stone walk.Making progress means making a messLanding of the stairway to the second floor. The wall behind the rail is a later enclosed bathroom which Bill Hartely and Bob Hansen will remove.Bob Hansen and Bill Hartley discovered the hand rail complete with old red paint hidden underneath knotty pine paneling.Four posts of the 1850 renovation were found encased in pine boards.Old foundation rocks were found within the walls of a later porch.Removing layers of walls and ceiling from the old addition, Bob Hansen's future bedroom.Original green painted walls and ceiling are revealed.The old floor looked rough but will finish out nicely.
If you enjoy reading about the restoration process and viewing my photographs, then you will really enjoy "Saving the Hansen House" http://hansenhousefilm.com/ filmed and produced by professional photographers, Will and Deni McIntyre. The film will put you on the scene while we restore the house. You will also get to meet many of the interesting characters of Bethania. 
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
The old HV/AC duct bends around the cellar wall.The crawl space had to be hand dug to meet code.Diablos maybe?No, Camilo and OrlandoDigging the footings.Placing the forms.
Spieler's house, as seen looking thru the hole in Bob Hansen's Ash. Or is it a Boxelder?
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
Kevin Thomas, the "Log Whisperer"    listens to the whispers of the ancient old logs of the Michael Hauser House and then relates to Will McIntyre and his camera. Not much real damage to the logs and I'm sure they were pleased to know that none of them had to be replaced.
Removing the loose plaster.After the dust settles.Chopping down the chimney.Wayne Wall removes the fallen brick as the two chimneys on the roof a cleared of their modern brick.Kevin and his crew get set to level the front plate using a laser and hydraulic jacks.
Clearing out the old HV/AC duct work, digging under the house for proper clearance, removing the old foundation, forming for steel reinforced footings, and preparing for a new addition are all jobs that took place almost simultaneously.
photo courtesy of Will and Deni McIntyre
At this point, I begin thinking about the roof and how to hide the new materials. The end result must be leak proof, of course, but must also show no signs of modern materials. The task at hand is framing the addition so all planes; roof, sides, and floor, meet with the old addition. It also must appear visually as the old addition.
Footings dug and inspected for new addition.With the footings poured, the block is laid and the rock is stacked. Other jobs proceed as well. Repairing the old bathroom floor on the second floor. The replacement flooring is a perfect match, found and delivered to the site by my barber. Reyes makes measurements for laying the chimneys.The brick is from Old Carolina Brick in Salisbury, N.C. I worked there as a teenager.The old rafter tail is used as a pattern for the new rafter tails.Hand planing to size.Rafter tails complete the framing.The framing finished.
The new addition will house the closet, washer/dryer, hot water heater, walk-in shower, large bath tub, commode, and sink with cabinet. We sheath the roof and exterior walls and we are ready to begin work on the roof. I already had in my mind how things would go. We saved the reconfigured rafters from an earlier period and added new rafters at standard widths to meet the sheathing and for finishing the interior of the attic space. The old rafters were very crooked but preserved the old character of the roof, including the kicker at the bottom end.

New rafters in the attic to meet the sheeting and for finishing off the attic. The sheeting is laid in place.New rafters were installed on the back porch, underlayment and a nylon mesh for air circulation are laid down. Then the shingles are trimmed to fit and nailed. The worlds largest open granite quarry, North Carolina Granite Corporation, Mt. Airy, N.C. They had our steps ready within a week.While the roof was being worked, the front steps were put in place. The rock work underpinning the porch is different, indicating a later period. Granite steps were typically used in the Greek Revival style.Moving to the front. I always want to start in the back, work out the kinks (if any) and then do the front. The most important view. We were slowed by eight days of rain.The roof finished.
We began restoration the end of January, 2008 and in May, 2008 we took a break. Bob Hansen had a sale pending on his present house and I needed the rest. Ten hour plus days take their toll. So, I used the four month break to visit my mother, finalize plans for my oldest son's upcoming wedding and prepare my house for the tour and study group from MESDA.  I presented a lecture at MESDA on James Gheen and his overwhelming influence on Piedmont North Carolina furniture. I also measured for the front and back porch flooring which we had milled from cypress.
Break time is over and its back to work as usual. Our primary concern was taking care of the exterior while electrician, plumber, and HVAC do their jobs inside. It is challenging to keep up with it all. We removed and numbered each piece of siding, sanded it and primed both sides, kicking out pieces that are too warped or rotten. The whole exterior was sanded, repairs made to moldings and windows, new windows installed and the new addition trimmed out. Insulation was stuffed between the logs, screened and chinked. Then the siding went up using period nails I had bought at an auction many years ago. We worked around the house, siding the front last, placing each piece in it's original place by number. Winter had set in and so had dark cold mornings with ice and snow.
All the trim is painted, logs chinked and ready for the siding.6:40 am, turn on the lights.The house waits, stripped naked down to its' log frame. It's a beautiful house as a log structure.Ice falls as cars go streaming by. Some of the friendly local folks beep their horns and so it is an honor to be called a honker.The siding starts and already we are looking forward to the next job.There is a six inch difference in height from one side of the house to the other. A slight adjustment at each line. Don't forget to keep the siding lines equal with the lines on each side of the house at the corners, the line under the windows must be equal distance and look level, there is a drop in the sill at the front door. Level is an illusion.
Break time...
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
Driving home through a late winter storm.Sunsets early and makes keeping your eye on the road difficult.I had to pull over and enjoy the view. The spectatular colors of sunset are matched by the black beauty of early morning.
On those really nasty days, we worked inside laying flooring, building stud walls and finishing the cellar. The cellar, like the attic, was one of those spaces that didn't seem all that important at first, but later turns into a really interesting place.
Studded inside walls for the new addition. Plumbing and wiring.Back porch. This house has such a variety of space, all of it inviting.The guest bathroom on the second floor, framed wired and plumbing installed.Halogen lights in the attic filtered down through the exposed lathing on the cieling and created these dramatic effects in the early morning.Insulating the attic floor. The floor boards you see here are from the mid eighteenth century period when the house was a story and a half.We found a rotten floor joist log spanning the length of the cellar.We hewed a log into a floor joist.We slid the log into the cellar.Lifted it into place.Rebuilt the stairs, and tore out the support beams to the rotten log.
After laying the floor on the front porch and back porch, we continued on outside by reproducing the front porch according to evidence found on the columns, old photographic history and documented research of the Greek Revival architecture. I certainly would not have believed this post and rail system could be from this ca. 1850 period.
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
With the exterior in good shape, it's time to focus on the interior. Building mantels and doors, making sure we have all "rough in" inspections cleared for the plaster and sheet rock crew. Their job is made harder because each sheet of gypsum board must be cut to fit, following the uneven, out of square lines of the original walls. Sanding the paint on the interior woodwork and stripping the mantels down to their original paint, we discover original colors and decorations which will be restored. Also, repainting is done by brush and hand. No taped straight lines. Colors are reproduced and patina is added to simulate age and wear. Imperfection is perfect in restoration.
We built this small mantel for the dinning room which matches the other two. Repairing old doors and we built new doors to match.Livingroom mantel before cleaning down to original paintBehind the blue panel is old wallpaper. Under the paint on this mantel is faux marbleing.Deni McIntyre had a great idea, peel back the layers of time represented by layers of wallpaper. The earliest layer, ca. 1870, hangs on the wall like a piece of art.
Ron Hash, electrician, helps with a beam cover. An exposed beam in the kitchen had been replaced, so we made a cover which matches the others.Beam in place. The kitchen had been stripped, so we finished it in the style of the 18th century, reproducing beams and moldings found in the house.Bill Hunt, sheet rock and plaster, makes his entrance. Now see through areas become walls.The new addition becomes a bathroom and closet space.
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
Will & Deni
The sheet rock and plaster work had the quickest and most dramatic change on the interior of the house. Walls visually divided spaces. The sheet rock was finished to match the plaster, which it did perfectly. Someone told me "if you bang on the walls, you can tell the difference because the sheet rock will sound hollow". If you bang on those walls, the hollow sound you hear won't be coming from the sheet rock!
The walk-in shower pan is finished and tile is ready to be set.The porch is trimmed and ready for paint.Kitchen walls are finished.After painting, the floors are cleaned, sealed and waxed.The kitchen steps headed up to the second floor.The stairwell and The stairwell and steps which are finished showing their natural wear.Second floor landind, the steps in front of the window lead up to the attic.There were always some wierd vibrations coming from the attic!
As the plaster and sheet rock are finished, we clean up the mess. If you have noticed, not much attention was paid to protecting the floors. I knew the floors would clean and finish beautifully using the timed tested technique I learned over the years. The tile is ready to set in the bathroom and the walls and trim are ready to paint. Now everything comes together even faster.
The back porch which is part of the original back porch.The kitchen with its 18th century blue painted moldings and lambs tongue champhered beams. Which beam is new?The Marble room.The living room.What a great walk in shower and large tub. The tile work sets the stage.Looking from the old addition into the house, the logs are left exposed and chinked with red clay.Easily the nicest cellar in Bethania and a perfect example of dry stacked rock.Early morning.Bob Hansen at 6:40 am, relaxing on his day off. He's usually gone to work by the time I arrive.
The tool shed looks like an iron clad from the Civil War or a bunker at Normandy. Little does it know it's going to loose its rugged good looks for something a little more refined.The rafter tails match those of the additions.Looking sharp, like an original out building.The well is a masterpiece of stone work, 26 feet deep. The well house takes shape, a copy from the 18th century. Picture perfect!
The marbled mantel (ca. 1850) with its unusual pastel colors, was probably painted by Naaman Benjamin Riech who was an artist/muralist living across the street at the Cornwallis House. The new mantel was painted to commemorate Bethania's bicentennial by Beth Spieler, artist/muralist now living across the street.
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
All the paint is dry and the floors are finished. Final inspections are posted. Bob Hansen has moved in and it is no longer my house. Now, I look in from the outside.
The first impression greeting a visitor are the hand rails. So they should be forged correctly, like this pair made by Frank Naples of Lewisville, NC. It really adds so much to the front porch and lets everyone know that every detail has been attended to in your restoration.
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
Oh yeah, I almost forgot the tool shed and the well house!
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
Welcome...
Farewell...
Michael Hauser House 1775 or earlier - Bethania, N.C.
Michael Hauser House, Bethania, North Carolina
Bob Hansen (right) hands over the pay  with a smile!  I  told  you he had a good sense of humor.