Home for the Holidays

 
This past Thanksgiving and Christmas, just about the entire Renshaw family gathered at the old family home in Gap to eat and to celebrate the joy of being all together under one roof.  Lillian Renshaw, the 79 year-old matriarch of the clan, presided over the festivities, sure to include her ten children, most likely 16 of her 18 grandchildren, and her 10 great-grandchildren.  Missing would have been  two grandsons in the military - one stationed in Japan and the other in Korea.  Sadly, Lillian’s husband of fifty years, William Edward Renshaw, died of Parkinson’s Disease five years ago.  Rounding out the holiday gatherings, no doubt running around in search of scraps of turkey or crumbs of stuffing, were the two pure-bred Boston terriers who reside full-time at the house with Lillian:  nine year-old Bugsy and the more energetic and very affectionate 15 month-old puppy Sheila.

Thanks to the Lancaster County Redevelopment Authority’s Home Improvement Program (HIP), this holiday season was warmer, brighter and certainly safer for the Renshaws.

Lillian and her late husband moved into this house in November of 1959, when it was already almost 100 years old, having  been built sometime around the 1860’s or so.  William Renshaw did a lot of work on the house over the years, including building the stone front, adding  a rear sun porch and even adding a third story to the structure for the growing Renshaw family.  The years Lillian and William spent in that house together are marked by the framed high school graduation photos of their ten children, neatly hung on the wall beside the staircase that leads from the first story to the second story.

When William was stricken with Parkinson’s, Lillian found she couldn’t take care of him by herself, so her bachelor son Michael (twin to brother Patrick) moved back into the family home.  After William died in 1999, Michael stayed on with his mother.  The house itself was not aging well, especially after a  severe wind storm in 2003.  So a number of the Renshaw offspring pitched in and reconfigured the house by lowering the roof and eliminating the damaged third floor.

However, Lillian couldn’t afford to make all the repairs needed to the house, the cost for which far exceeded the insurance settlement from the wind storm.  That’s when one of her sons phoned the Authority to find out if she qualified for assistance from HIP.  As a low- or moderate-income homeowner whose name is on the deed and who resides in the house year-round, Lillian was indeed eligible for HIP.

Lillian’s 0% interest loan was approved in March of 2005.  She even received additional funding from a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program.  The rehabilitation work on the house to bring everything up to code was completed in early May of last year.

The worst of the storm damage was in the second-floor bathroom, which was deteriorating.  So the existing interior of the bathroom was completely gutted.  The bathroom was then re-built, replacing all the electrical wiring and installing new tub/shower stall, toilet, vanity and linen closet.  Since there had previously been no heat in the room, a 1.0 kw recessed electric wall heater was installed with fan and thermostat.  In addition, a combination exhaust fan/light fixture was installed for proper ventilation.

Other interior work was done in the left rear and right rear bedrooms, the first floor bathroom, and in the kitchen.  Some window replacement had to be done, as well, to reduce air infiltration.  Exterior doors needed to be replaced for this same reason.

The rear enclosed porch had also suffered extensive water and storm damage.

The first thing that had to be done was removal of all trim, paneling, plaster/dry wall and all insulation and disposal of these materials in a code legal dump.  New solid vinyl casement-type replacement windows with fully welded frames and sash, and double pane, sealed insulated glass were installed.  A new insulated steel door with trim and lockset was also installed on the porch.  Porch renovation work also included a three-coat exterior stucco finish, new ½” drywall in the interior, a new ceiling light fixture, and a new exterior light fixture.

Finally, a new entry stoop with framed stairs and a pine wood hand rail and guardrail system was constructed for safety, along the side of the house at the kitchen entry where none existed before.

When asked if she was satisfied with the work done through HIP, Lillian was very enthusiastic in her praise of both the results and the construction workers themselves:  “They knew what they were doing and their work was good.  They cleaned up - took their refuse away, got spray on the car and washed it. . . They cleaned the stone, pressure-washed the house and put on two coats of white, one sealer and one primer.”

 As for the nearly 150 year-old house that Lillian Renshaw now shares with her son Michael and her two Boston terriers, she says, “Everybody in town keeps telling me how wonderful it looks.”