Turning a Two-Story Ranch into Historic Farmhouse

[@tc9148]

Love all the changes. Order, symmetry and classical elements - perfect !

[@BrentHull]

Thanks so much.

[@bestbuilder1st]

Spot on. At least they are asking for help- too many people just go with the original designer's "stuff", thinking it actually looks good.

[@BrentHull]

True. Thx.

[@michaelbissen1946]

Thanks Brent This helps me make design decisions for my 1906 farmhouse. Thanks Mike

[@BrentHull]

Glad to hear it! Good luck.

[@jelsner5077]

I love the changes

[@BrentHull]

Thanks!!

[@Timmakesmusic]

So much better! It's those small details again that make all the difference. I love your approach to windows. Windows are one of the first things I notice that look 'off' on a lot of newer buildings and, thanks in large part to your videos, I'm beginning to understand why.

[@BrentHull]

Glad to hear it. cheers.

[@BrendanPink]

Nailed it again Brent! I find all your videos really inspiring and as a builder in Australia they have provided me with so much guidance in terms of building with beauty and classical pride. Appreciate your videos, podcasts and guidance

[@BrentHull]

So glad to hear it. THx.

[@Always-kSalty]

Love these types of videos from you. Cannot get enough. Really great insight into your thought process and mindset.

[@BrentHull]

I appreciate that! Glad they help.

[@jacobbwalters8133]

I love the comment you made about the porch. My grandparents and great grandmother both had old farm houses from the early 1900s, and both houses had porches that were closed in and today look very similar to the rendering email. The story aspect of home building that you talk about is so important and I think the closed in porch story you are telling with the addition is spot on.

[@BrentHull]

Very nice. Thx.

[@artemioquintero7866]

Great video, the most intriguing part for me was how you played with that soffit and added the classicism into it

[@BrentHull]

Ok. Good to know.

[@mandyb6022]

I've seen several of your videos on proportions of interior moldings, and I know that theoretically, the exterior elements would be proportioned in the same way, but I can't wrap my head around it. Could you do a video (or several) about figuring the correct sizes for freezes, shadowboards, bed molds, gutters, corner boards, etc.? Thank you for all you do, and especially for having the heart of a teacher.

[@BrentHull]

Ok, let me find a good example. Thanks.

[@LorraineCoe]

Great changes! The huge blank space, the window sizes and placements just looked off.

[@BrentHull]

Agreed. THx.

[@dennisdean3925]

I like you approach to correct (and restoring) the proper scale and appearance to homes. Unfortunately today, if you can obtain a Builder's License you can 'build anything'. And, that (apparently) means 'pick and choose' elements, i.e. windows, doors, siding, etc., regardless of the era or style. Keep up the educational videos - I do think they are starting to impact the builders and architects.

[@BrentHull]

Glad to hear it. Cheers.

[@stacyarmstrong8275]

Thanks for mentioning Marianne Cusato's book. It's in my Amazon cart. I wasn't sure if I should buy it. I'll definitely get it now.

[@BrentHull]

Yes. It's great. Thx.

[@ladylyonteeth3952]

Better ❤

[@BrentHull]

Thx.

[@ndothager]

Brent, I want you to know that I redid my trim on my closet with Windsor One Greek Revival and it's made the rest of my house look terrible because now my closet door looks the best. Now I'll have to replace all the trim in my house with Windsor One. You're making a believer out of me.

[@Always-kSalty]

Same brother same

[@BrentHull]

Haha, well sorry, not sorry. Thanks for the feedback.

[@user-steve_wrwoodclassics]

Great instructional video !

[@BrentHull]

Glad it helped

[@Mike-dy8bq]

Night and day difference. Any chance you could do a video or show photos of the actual before and after of some of these changes you make on homes?

[@BrentHull]

Let me look. Thx.

[@cborecky]

There's probably a vinyl siding company guy watching this and designing a 12" J-channel piece to do these things. Ha!

[@BrentHull]

Let's hope not. Ha

[@SymphonicBrandon]

Looks great! When you say you just added a porch cap to the addition off of the side and back, what does that mean? It looks like you have little option now except to have a very low pitch roof there? Same for the front porch? You're suggesting to have a much flatter roof over the porch?

[@BrentHull]

That is correct. Along with better trim and columns.

[@thetubekid]

Much nicer but the front is just too wide for the main mass. Any possibility of adjusting the second story above side door to be different roof pitch? Or maybe some sort gable front roof in the center with 2 wings? It does work but it is just a but off due to that.

[@BrentHull]

Noted. thx.

[@ryansoo4000]

Hi Brent, an interesting video! I’ve noticed that when you’re working on a more rural, “farmhouse” design you seldom use a railing that has the “X” cross-bracing between the posts and top and bottom rails. To me that would seem to be a more informal look for a farmhouse porch railing than traditional vertical balusters but would using that design depend on where the farmhouse was located (for example, in the Ohio valley versus a farm in Pennsylvania)? My other question is, since you are adding flat corner boards to the main house that end at the top with a piece of trim and then the flat frieze board, won’t having pilasters at the corners of the enclosed porch make it look too formal in comparison to the house? Are the pilasters designed to look like classical columns or will they match the flat corner boards and frieze detail on the house?

[@BrentHull]

Hi, I don't find the x railing has a lot of historic precedent. Also, the pilasters on the porch are more formal. Thanks for your questions.

[@jacobtracy7847]

It definitely looks better. Still, my question is, were flat roofs common on porches then? Wouldn't it leak? There's a Victorian/ Greek Revival mashup from the 1880s-early 1900s caddy corner from my house, I think it has a flat porch, and now I'm gonna go outside and look at it. My house, it has a wierd enclosed porch in the back, I think I'll shoot you an email with some pictures and measurements, see what your thoughts are.

[@BrentHull]

There are flat roofs historically. They were often covered with tin or copper sheets that were soldered together.

[@jacobtracy7847]

@@BrentHull I checked that Victorian. Yup. Flat porch roof.

[@miketackabery7521]

Windows so close to the corner put a lot less light into a room.

[@BrentHull]

Agreed. thx.

[@jacobtracy7847]

Brent, what's a good email for you?

[@BrentHull]

[e-mail] Thx.

[@gingermonette7455]

When you hire an architect, isn't he/she supposed to know those kinds of things??

[@Always-kSalty]

always what I thought too…

[@miketackabery7521]

That'll teach us to be thinking

[@BrentHull]

You would think. But sadly most are not trained in traditional details.

[@jrbullock87]

Yeah I can't stand it when builders put windows in the corners of rooms like that, looks horrible from the outside, can make the trim funky on the inside. Like you always say most houses are designed from the inside out, and little consideration is given to the outside appearance. Two windows together in a corner everyone knows is almost always over a jacuzzi tub in a bathroom.

[@BrentHull]

Haha, true.

[@RobertHornaday]

A ranch by definition is one story. “Two story ranch” is oxymoronic.

[@BrentHull]

There are ranch style elements on this home. And it is 2 story. Weird but true.

[@Darrida]

There is no two-story buildings in Classical Order. Building with more than one floor are all ugly. And stairs inside house is a type of torture mechanism from Middle Ages Europe.

[@jelsner5077]

?????

[@silvananivis9867]

The hell are you on about?

[@BrentHull]

hmmm. ok.