Facts

Property  

The property is a combination of two parts of land and dwelling plus one outbuilding (garage; see below).
 

House /Dwelling  

The exact date when the house was built is unknown. The year 1880 is probably very close.
The representative front side of the house is facing the waters of Ritcey's Cove, from where the house must have been built when streets to other communities did not exist.
Two brothers, both sea captains, from the Wentzell family, have built it in an almost perfect left-right symmetry with the looks of a side-by-side duplex.
A close look at the original division wall through the center of the building leaves no doubt that the wall had been incorporated from a very early building-stage on. Since both house-halves finally ended up in the hands of one owner, most of this wall has been removed in the process of renovations.
Major renovations have taken place between 1992 and 2005. The intention was to restore the building to it's original state, respecting the original architectural design and combine the restauration efforts with some modern achievements, like electricity, in-door plumbing, central automatic heating system, energy conservation and comfort.
Wooden construction. Originally, the walls and ceilings had wooden laths (like strapping) and plaster covering them.
When renovating, the walls received new electrical wiring, followed by insulation material (mainly fiber glass), vapor barrier and gypsum drywall instead of the plaster and the proper surface finishing.

Basement

Original and traditional "Rock-wall" basement.

Windows

   

Restauration of the house included the exchange of all original single-pane windows with modern double-pane, argon-filled, vinyl-profile window inserts, made by Kohler in Nova Scotia.
Special care was taken to keep the looks of the original vertical-slider windows.

Heating System

The main heating system consists of an oil-burning water-boiler that distributes the heat throughout the house through six separate heating-zones and their baseboard radiators. The zones can be controlled individually.

One additional wood-burning stove in the living room of the first floor can be used to give additional heat with the comfort of radiant heat. It helps to reduce heating costs and also works when no power is available.

Domestic Hot Water
Domestic water is heated in a separate oil-fired water boiler. This allows for independent availability year-round, even when the water boiler for house heating is turned off in the summer time.
An electrical water heater is also available with the flick of a switch.

Chimney

The house had originally four single-flue chimneys, that needed to be replaced. The solution was to replace them with one double-flue brick chimney, with clay liners, built in 1994/5 from ground up from a new cement foundation in the basement.
Total length is approx. 40 feet. Stainless-steel chimney cap.

 

Water Supply

There is one "old" rock-wall, dug well with very soft water. Its location is on the South side of the building, right in the center. The new veranda/sun-room is covering part of the well. The other part received a safe cover in the form of a bench, made of wood and fiberglass, which is on top hinged to the house and can be opened to have access to the well.



The second source of water is from a drilled well. This well is about 135 feet deep; drilled in 1995, and never run dry. The water from this well contains more minerals and some iron, but not enough to justify a water purifying system.

Sewer

There is no sewer, waste treatment or holding tank system installed on the property.
Up to now, a direct underground pipe from the house to the waters in front of the property and across the street is used to discard any gray water and waste from kitchen, washing, wash and bath rooms.
 

Garage

Built in the 1940s. Cement slab/foundation. Dimensions: 14 ft. in width and 21 ft. (31 ft. with extension) in length.
Upgraded in mid-1990s with new double-wall 2-part door with extra height and new roof.