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| A Great Looking Restored Iowa Outhouse | |||
Outhouse before restoration Photo by L & J Orr |
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Outhouse After Restoration Photo by L & J Orr |
Really Great View of the Restored Iowa Outhouse Photo by L & J Orr |
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Here is what the owners had to say about their outhouse: "We found our outhouse in the back yard of an old abandoned farmstead. It was run down like the old house, barn and chicken house nearby. Howard and Lucy Freeman of rural Gravity, Iowa were the past owners of the old farmstead and they have long passed on. Their children still remember this outhouse and laughed when told we had renovated it. After three weeks of hard work we finally got it pulled to backyard. The seat was cracked, so it was clamped and glued back together and then sanded and painted to original color. One side of the outhouse had a hole in it and the floor and shingles were completely rotted away. The boards were tongue and groove car siding. The old chicken house nearby had the same kind of boards, so we removed several. Patched side and bottom corner of the door with boards from it. Door latch was broken, took apart, oiled and new spring was replaced to make a working door latch with door knobs. The floor runners are 6x6 treated lumber with floor being old granary tongue and groove boards. We tried to keep everything as original as possible, in doing repairs we used good but old lumber to keep it authentic looking. It did not have a ½ moon cut into it but we wanted one so cut a ½ moon out of thin board and painted black and put on front above the door for the look. Old cast iron hook was put on door to hang a Christmas wreath. Clear sealed the old siding boards, have swept the walls and floor and rafters everywhere. In doing so found 3 names on inside wall, Don, Dick and Wade. Names are three boys who lived there many years ago. Fragment pieces of wallpaper were on the top 2x4’s which we left. After 3 weeks we pulled it to the backyard and made a path to it. Proud of it...you bet we are. All the hard work of loading it up out in the weeds and overgrown brush, ripping the roof and floor off and all the repairs done, makes a person proud of an “Outhouse”." We are proud to post this great Outhouse on our Outhouses of America Tour. [Curator's Comment: I just received an Email about this Outhouse:] "I am the youngest daughter of the Freeman's. When the folks put a bathroom in the house in 1952, dad moved the outhouse out of the backyard to behind the chicken house. He wouldn't use the indoor one unless it was really cold and snowing. They moved to town in the 1970's and we sold the farm in the late 1990's. Vivian F. B." | |
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