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❏ Page 4 Saturday, Sept. 10, 2005 The Quincy Herald-Whig

HOME IMPROVEMENT On the Web at: www.whig.com

Maintenance can be a bit of

a problem, but three couples
have a real attachment to

Quincy is known for its many beautiful old hous-

es. But keeping these historic treasures maintained is
Story and photos by Bill Schlegl

Fran and Bob Cook

not easy.
Three homeowners share the story of the older
houses they love and the repairs those houses need.
Bettie and Emery Kaufmann
The Kaufmanns own a bed and breakfast at 1641 Hampshire
housed in a building constructed in 1886.
They bought the house in 1986. The couple had lived in a ranch
home behind the Quincy Mall since 1960.
“I don’t think I ever felt at home in our other house,” Bettie
Kaufmann said. “I guess it was home because our kids were there
and that’s where we did things. But it had these low ceilings. I like
the feeling of space.”
The Kaufmanns both grew up in older farm homes.
“To us it was like
coming home or coming
back to what we were
used to. We wanted to
make this old house
alive again. We wanted
to take care of it and it
was kind of a fun thing
to do,” she said of the
bed and breakfast. “Not
that we didn’t work
hard. But if you enjoy it,
then it’s different.”
They first worked on
getting the rooms back
in decent condition.
That included a lot of
plaster work and floor
sanding.
The first six months
they worked on the
house, the Kaufmanns
The Kaufmanns bought an antique were both employed
screen door for an addition to the during the day. They’d
home, helping to keep the period feel
even in the new construction. come home at night and
put on coveralls.
“We didn’t know we could work that hard. We put in 16-hour
days, eight hours at work and eight hours here,” Bettie Kaufmann
said. “By now we’ve touched every inch of the house in some way.”
They’ve added a bathroom and put showers in all the guest
rooms. They also added central air downstairs and 200 amp electri-
cal service.
“A lot of times the fuse would blow. It’s circuit breakers now,”
Emery Kaufmann said.
The upstairs has individual air conditioning units for each guest
room.
“It also uses radiator heat upstairs. Since there’s no air blowing,
there’s not a problem with dust everywhere. And the radiator does-
n’t break down much,” Bettie Kaufmann said.
“Everything was well made. Today they make something and
they want it to break down in 10 years so you have to buy some-
thing different,” she said.
The house has been painted three times since the Kaufmanns
have lived there.
“Painting is probably one of the major things you have to do,”
Bettie Kaufmann said. “Exterior painting and roof work are some-
thing we’ve always hired out.”
As they get older, they’ve hired people to do some of the jobs
that they used to do.
“Finding people who can do good work for you is one of the
major things in maintaining the big things in a house,” Bettie Kauf-
mann said.
They built an addition about seven years ago to have a breakfast
area downstairs and a bathroom and bedroom upstairs. The couple
made sure the woodwork on the addition matched the rest of the
house.
In spite of all the work, the Kaufmanns finally feel at home.
“Working on the house is one of the most enjoyable things
we’ve done together,” Bettie Kaufmann said. “Because we’re able to
share the house with one another, with family and with guests. So
you’re building something that’s not just yours, but to share with
everybody.”
Houses ◆
These Old
Herald-Whig Staff
They also changed the house from 60 to 200 amp service. Some
light switches still have the older, style-push buttons.
“We haven’t had too many problems with electricity. It’s some-
times a little bit of a challenge,” Bob Cook said. “There were addi-
tions made to (the house) over the years. Sometimes the electrician
scratches his head quite a bit trying to figure out what to do next.”
“We try to keep up. When it needs it, we take care of it rather
than let it go,” Fran Cook said.
“But we love it. I wouldn’t trade it for a new one for anything.”
Sandy and Ron Frillman
The Frillmans bought their house at 1443 Maine in 1981. The
house was built in 1857 and had spindle wiring, lead drain pipes
and galvanized water pipes.
“What you don’t see in an old house when you’re looking at
one is the wiring, the plumbing and the furnace,” Ron Frillman
said.
In the early 1980s, when Frillman got a job in Quincy, there
weren’t a lot of older houses available.
“We wanted to move to Quincy so the kids could start school
An oval window is one of the special features of the Cooks’ here. We didn’t want to wait to try and find something. We were
home at 310 S. 16th.
going to take it short term and then move,” Frillman said.
But because the house was close to the junior high and a grade
The Cooks bought their house at 310 S. 16th, which was built
school, the family stayed a little longer.
in 1917, in 1980. The signature feature of the house is an oval win-
“When the kids got through with junior high, we’d already been
dow in the front porch.
through the pain of fixing an old house,” Ron Frillman said.
The man who had the house built had seen an oval window in a
A big issue with most older homes is keeping the wood painted
house in St. Louis.
so it won’t rot. Frillman estimates that it takes 16 gallons of paint
The Cooks both grew up in Quincy but had moved away. They
to do the shutters, 15 gallons to do the front porch and 10 gallons
moved back in 1970 and first bought an older home on York Street
to paint the rest of the house. Paint has cost him as much as $36
before moving to South 16th.
dollars a gallon.
“Bob and I both grew up in older homes and we wanted an
He even rented a lift the last time he painted so he wouldn’t
older home. We couldn’t find a Realtor that was willing to show us
have to move ladders all the time.
an older house in those days,” Fran Cook said.
The house had been vacant for eight years when the Cooks
bought it. The first job was replacing the wool carpeting that had
been eaten by moths.
Bob Cook said the biggest maintenance issue is painting.
“When it starts to peel in certain areas we’ll call the painter.
They come out and patch that area so that we can run this paint
job a lot longer then we normally could,” Fran Cook said.
“That’s another thing with maintenance, you can either let it go
or you can keep up with it. But sometimes it’s hard to get (the
painters) to come for a small job.”
The entire house has only been painted twice in 20 years.
Another exterior problem was the limestone steps that deterio-
rated over the years from being hit by water coming off the roof.
The Cooks thought about putting in concrete steps.
“We thought about that for a very long time. Because they were
original stone steps and we didn’t want to ruin the integrity, we had
stone steps put in, which is a rather expensive proposition,” Fran
Cook said.
Keeping the exterior wood of their Maine Street home paint-
They also had some repair work done on the stiff shingle roof, ed is a constant battle for the Frillmans.
which is made of asbestos tiles.
“We found a gentlemen who would work on that. That’s the
Another issue is the box gutters built into the roof.
other thing, finding people who will work on something like that,’’
“You have to go up and maintain them or else they’ll leak
Fran Cook said. “One of the big problems that we’ve had is that
through the soffit of the house,” he said. “Every spring we walk
new construction takes precedence over old houses. It’s sometimes
around the house and inspect it. When you see something happen-
very difficult to find somebody that will come and work on your
ing, you can’t let it go or it grows into a nightmare. When you get
older home.”
deteriorating wood on an old house you can’t go to Home Depot
The yard was overgrown when the Cooks bought the house.
and buy molding.”
“We didn’t know where the walk went. I was digging it out and
He has to have molding specially cut, and he usually orders lot
discovering,” Bob Cook said.
of extra pieces and stores them.
He found a five-foot section of
The inside of the house also needed a lot of work because it had
the walkway where the stones
been vacant for 15 years when the Frillmans bought it.
had been taken out. Several
And the fixtures were not appropriate to the period of the
weeks later he figured it out.
house.
“The people had picked up the
Sandy Frillman tried to decorate the house in the original style.
stones and made a little walkway
“The other problem is you’re always trying to do things to peri-
between the garages. So I moved
od,” Ron Frillman said. “Everything you do you have to special
that back,” he said.
order.”
On the inside, the house had a
They get parts from antique dealers or buy them on Internet
water-cooled air conditioner that
auction sites. Ron Frillman got some doors from an architecture
continually sent water down the Some of the light switches
firm in St. Louis that had torn down several old houses.
drain. “It was very efficient, until in the Cook home still fea-
“The upsides are you have a lot of living space with high ceil-
the water tax bill came,” Fran ture push buttons.
ings. It’s very comfortable,” Ron Frillman said. “We’ve had the
Cook said.
conversation about selling it several times. We’ll probably have to
The Cooks replaced it with a forced cooling system for the
eventually just because I do all the maintenance. At some point in
downstairs.
time, I’m not going to want to be doing that.”

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(217) 222-5643
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