Last week, my buddy Milton saw an episode of “Barn Builders” (DIY TV, Season 2, Episode 9), which featured a short bit on a Sears Home. According to the episode guide that accompanied the program, “the guys restore an 1856 log cabin.”
The log cabin sat on a spacious old family farm. The “Barn Builders” did a fine job with that 1856 cabin, but it all went off the rails when they decided to do a snippet on another structure on the land, sitting a few hundred feet away. The house in question was a very primitive house, probably built in the late 1800s, and on the cusp of collapse.
As one of the crew members wandered over to the badly dilapidated structure, he said, “this looks like a Sears kit house.” Thus began a four-minute segment on Sears Kit Homes, replete with quick shots of Sears Modern Home catalogs from the early 1920s and house plans and other imagery.
Next, the Barn Builder walked into the old house and made several comments affirming his remarkable find of a kit house from Sears.
The entire four-minutes worth of shenanigans left me shaking my head in disbelief. The show probably has a wide-spread audience, which means that “Barn Builders” has now disseminated a whole slew of bad information about kit homes to a whole new audience.
It’s mighty frustrating and even more so when you think about the fact that this house wasn’t even built in the right CENTURY to be a Sears kit house.
Enjoy the pictures below and if you happen to know anyone involved in the production of “Barn Builders,” ask them to give me a call.
Did you enjoy this blog? Please share this link with your friends on Facebook!
Read about another unfortunate use of the airwaves and old houses, click here.
To read about a bona fide Sears House in West Virginia, click here.
*
This tired wooden house sits on an old family farm in West Virginia, and was featured on a recent episode of "Barn Builders." Its condition is very poor.
*
After working on the 1856 cabin for a time, one of the workers leaves the project and strolls over to the old farmhouse for a closer look. As he's walking toward the old house, he says that it's "probably a Sears kit house." That's when the real fun begins.
*
There are many reasons as to why this is not a Sears kit house, but let's start with the "low-hanging fruit." First, it was probably built in the late 1800s. Sears started selling their "Modern Homes" in 1908. The house shown here is supported with what's known as "rubble stone" piers or "dry stacked stone" piers. While this type of foundation remained in use into the early 1900s, it was more common in the mid-to-late 1800s. And a rubble-stone foundation would not have been considered acceptable for a Sears kit home. And there's this: The house had no exterior sheathing. Those clapboards were nailed right to the studs. This is not a good way to build a house, and it's certainly not a kit house.
*
It's rather amazing that this old house is still upright.
*
There are no windows on the side of the house and there are two unusually long windows on the rear. This was a house designed and built by a novice. In short, it was the cheapest way to cover air in the 1800s.
*
Inside the house, the man rambles on about the fact that the kits came with nails and paint and everything else. If you look at the trim in the house, you'll notice that it's also extremely primitive. Again, it's pretty clear, no architects and no professional builders were consulted in the building of this house.
*
These fellows should stick to building barns.
*
Read about another unfortunate use of the airwaves and old houses, click here.
*
All of those years of research and hard work down the cistern.
You ever wonder why we continue doing what we do?
One of these days people will listen and believe. Maybe. Just maybe.
This makes me glad I’m not a TV watcher!
As Charles Darwin observed, “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.”
Or as my old boss used to say, ” I don’t know what I am talking about, but I am confident about what I am talking about.”
The sad thing is even if you convinced them that the information they gave was wrong, I bet they would not make an on-air correction.
Maybe the best you could hope for is they highlighting a REAL Sears Home and giving accurate info.
Maybe they need a guest expert to interview.