# Mid-1800s Fabric and Wall Paper!



## Robby Raccoon (Aug 14, 2020)

As we tear open the walls and rip down the plaster put up starting in the 1870s, we keep finding fabric shoved in the walls-- used as chinking in the cabin-- and behind the wall paper (with a penned in date of February 1862 on one seam) which is itself behind 1860s and 1870s newspapers and journals/magazines used as further insulation before they began plastering. So it was used to both join pieces of wall paper and to fill in gaps in the walls and floors. 
But its one problem is, most of it is too fragile to even get a picture of before it unravels. This is the best sample I have of this variety. But I can't even open it up fully. If I try, it will end up like the prior sample I had pulled out-- unraveling to where the designs disappear. Is there anything that can be done to keep it from unraveling so I can open it up and frame it?




Since the fabric is behind 1860s wall paper, 1870s plaster, and 1920s siding, we know it must be very old (as it's sandwiched between very old layers and was stretched over some of the gaps behind the wall paper). 



Here's two types of wall paper from the 19th century. Behind one layer is still yet another layer. On the seam shown was the 1862 date. Thus, that there is an entire wall of other paper papered over with this suggests the other paper is even older. 



The journals and such put up before the plaster helped preserve the wall paper. 



Here is the oldest layer of wall paper. The entire stairway is lined with this on one wall. The stairs aren't original. Originally it was just a ladder to a loft, so at some point this was a room in the center of the house where the fireplace was. The construction of the house is more like that of a barn. Vertical planks up to 20 feet tall (and over 2 inches thick and over 2 feet wide at times) are nailed into beams of large timbers. There are no 2x4's. It's a primitive plank construction 3/4 Cape Cod. As such, no bottles in the walls because there is no frame to set them on. Hah hah.


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## hemihampton (Aug 14, 2020)

Very Interesting. Did you ever look for the Privy yet? let me know if you need help with that. LEON.


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## Robby Raccoon (Aug 14, 2020)

I haven't even run my metal detector over the yard yet. Hoping to do so before the snow flies. I figure I know where a couple might be, though.


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## DlPsocialcirclega (Aug 16, 2020)

Robby Raccoon said:


> I haven't even run my metal detector over the yard yet. Hoping to do so before the snow flies. I figure I know where a couple might be, though.


It amazes me that places like this are still around.


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## Robby Raccoon (Aug 16, 2020)

DlPsocialcirclega said:


> It amazes me that places like this are still around.


It amazes me what survived 3 house fires and ten years of sitting abandoned and vandalized. Just pulled out a whole lot more fabric today from under a 1930s window.


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## DlPsocialcirclega (Aug 16, 2020)

Robby Raccoon said:


> It amazes me what survived 3 house fires and ten years of sitting abandoned and vandalized. Just pulled out a whole lot more fabric today from under a 1930s window.


Man i like stuff like that till you looktjrow a hole inthe celing an see a baby barn owl an you go wheres the mom ya that happened to me once in a old house biggiest owl ever saw
 an scary


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## hemihampton (Aug 16, 2020)

how about seeing one of these. I mean seeing 2, 2 in the corner. Upstairs in the attic.


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## DlPsocialcirclega (Aug 16, 2020)

hemihampton said:


> how about seeing one of these. I mean seeing 2, 2 in the corner. Upstairs in the attic.View attachment 210908


Thats pretty good paint Job. If it were dark an did not know it was there. I can feel ya on that One.


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## hemihampton (Aug 16, 2020)

I'm not talking about the painted skull, I'm talking about the 2 live living monter's at bottom of Pic, do you see them? I can tell you they made a loud horrible screetching sound, scare the hell out of you. You'd hear them before you seen them.


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## DlPsocialcirclega (Aug 17, 2020)

hemihampton said:


> I'm not talking about the painted skull, I'm talking about the 2 live living monter's at bottom of Pic, do you see them? I can tell you they made a loud horrible screetching sound, scare the hell out of you. You'd hear them before you seen them.


O hell I do now man I remember getting off that chair I was thinking if the baby is that big an about that time out the window I could see mom flying off from the roof we were on the second floor. That place must have been held up by termites holding hands it was a week later the house collapsed I'll swear on robby raccoons best can of trash that's a true story.


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## yacorie (Aug 17, 2020)

Looks like two baby vultures.

For the fabric - is there anyway you could use a sawZ-all and cut out a piece of the wall without pulling anything apart?  If so, then maybe you could slowly remove layers or at least have time to get more feedback on how to preserve it....I think that’s what I would do


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## Robby Raccoon (Aug 18, 2020)

yacorie said:


> For the fabric - is there anyway you could use a sawZ-all and cut out a piece of the wall without pulling anything apart?  If so, then maybe you could slowly remove layers or at least have time to get more feedback on how to preserve it....I think that’s what I would do



The problem is the walls are all structural. There is no framework. The walls attach to beams and are themselves what keeps the house standing. I can get most stuff out. I'm just having a difficulty time preserving the fabric. Lol


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## Robby Raccoon (Aug 18, 2020)

hemihampton said:


> I'm not talking about the painted skull, I'm talking about the 2 live living monter's at bottom of Pic, do you see them? I can tell you they made a loud horrible screetching sound, scare the hell out of you. You'd hear them before you seen them.


Go over and pet them.


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## Huntindog (Aug 19, 2020)

Maybe try starching a patch and see if that holds it together long enough to get it mounted.


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## LalaGirl (Aug 19, 2020)

DlPsocialcirclega said:


> It amazes me that places like this are still around.


Me, too! Gives me a little hope of finding a treasure someday... =)


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## Robby Raccoon (Aug 19, 2020)

Huntindog said:


> Maybe try starching a patch and see if that holds it together long enough to get it mounted.


What do you mean by starching patch? Will starch bind it long enough to do sumthin like sewing a strip around the fibers like a frame to try and keep them together?


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## MaineMtnDigger (Aug 20, 2020)

Robby Raccoon said:


> As we tear open the walls and rip down the plaster put up starting in the 1870s, we keep finding fabric shoved in the walls-- used as chinking in the cabin-- and behind the wall paper (with a penned in date of February 1862 on one seam) which is itself behind 1860s and 1870s newspapers and journals/magazines used as further insulation before they began plastering. So it was used to both join pieces of wall paper and to fill in gaps in the walls and floors.
> But its one problem is, most of it is too fragile to even get a picture of before it unravels. This is the best sample I have of this variety. But I can't even open it up fully. If I try, it will end up like the prior sample I had pulled out-- unraveling to where the designs disappear. Is there anything that can be done to keep it from unraveling so I can open it up and frame it?
> View attachment 210797
> Since the fabric is behind 1860s wall paper, 1870s plaster, and 1920s siding, we know it must be very old (as it's sandwiched between very old layers and was stretched over some of the gaps behind the wall paper).
> ...


Can you post a photo of the house from the outside? I'm just curious as to what it looks like.


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## Robby Raccoon (Aug 21, 2020)

MaineMtnDigger said:


> Can you post a photo of the house from the outside? I'm just curious as to what it looks like.


Right now, it looks terrible.  We've stripped back up to four layers of siding in some places. Chimney not finished in pic. Original exterior exposed after being covered since between 1925 and 1928 due to what I found behind the siding.


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