Roff Home Foundation Repair

Foundations are meant to be deep. Unfortunately, when the Roff family built their home in 1868, they only dug a one-foot foundation under the front parlor. In 2016, as the owner of Roff Home, I suffered the consequences of that decision — an unanticipated $53,000 in expenses to build a new, deeper foundation and to repair the damage that a weak foundation had caused.

The goal of this GoFundMe campaign is to raise $10,000 by January 2, 2017, to help offset the cost of the foundation repairs.

(Scroll down for photos.)

By early 2016, the front walls of this Victorian Italianate home were at risk of collapsing because the foundation was sinking. The mortar had completely cracked and disintegrated. Bricks were falling out of the walls. No contractor would work on the foundation with the walls still in place.

In the summer of 2016, contractors ran steel beams under the house and built temporary walls inside. They then pulled down a wall and a half, dug a new foundation, and rebuilt the walls with concrete block and covered it with a facade of original brick.

Thanks to the diligent work of multiple contractors, this old house had been saved. Without their work, the front walls of the house would have collapsed and the house would have been lost. 

This unexpected major repair has increased the total restoration cost for the home by 60%. The owner is requesting donations to help offset this cost so he can continue to afford to keep the home and complete restoration work on the home. Currently, the cost of the renovation, with the foundation repair added to it, have become a terrible financial burden. I am looking to offset some of this extra cost through this campaign, as well as by opening the house to the public again in 2017.

I purchased this home ten years ago because I believed that what this home meant to the Watseka area and to fans of the Watseka Wonder story around the world was important. I believed that historic architecture is too often lost because no one is willing to take the time and effort to keep it standing. Lastly, I believe that when people care enough about something, that they can make anything happen.

Throughout the years when I had Roff Home open to the public, so many people came through the home and thanked me for working to save the home. The story of the home meant something to them, and my work was helping to keep that memory alive for them. Now, years later, end is in site in terms of completing restoration work on the house. I should be able to complete it over the next year. However, the repair of the foundation tested the limits of how much financial pressure I could withstand in my efforts to bring this home back to its former glory.

Any funding provided will go directly to support renovation work to save and restore this Victorian Italianate gem.

Thank you,

John Whitman
Owner, Roff Home
Watseka, IL
http://www.roffhome.com

DURING THE FOUNDATION REPAIR






AFTER THE WALLS WERE REBUILT...



For those of you who don't know about Roff Home, it is where "America's First Case of Documented Spiritual Possession" took place in 1878. You can read more about it at http://roffhome.com. 

This home is an impressive Victorian Italianate home built between 1865 and 1868. It was the first brick residence in the small, rural Watseka, IL. Over the past 150 years, several prominent personalities with amazing stories have lived in the home. The current owner is working on restoring the home to its original condition, bringing out architectural details that have been buried under past renovations. He was working toward completing renovation work on the home when the foundation damage was repaired.

Donations to this campaign will help bring down the cost of the foundation repair, making it more feasible that work can continue on the home and the renovation can be completed.

RESTORATION WORK THAT'S BEEN COMPLETED
(The floors are a little dusty because I took these photos as the work was going on with the walls and foundation.)