RAA - REHAB ADDICTS ANONYMOUS

"Hello, my name is Ron and I am a Rehab Addict!"

One of my very favorite TV shows is "Rehab Addict," staring Nicole Curtis. It is a favorite because one of my hobbies has been renovating houses. I have renovated three houses, and my present condo, on the same street I now live on. I even bought the house next door, sold mine, moved into it and "rehabbed" it! I have "rehabbed" houses in Wayne County and Meade County (see below). This does not count three churches, two rectories and an old school. I have sworn off "rehabbing" for now, but that does not mean that I am not tempted almost monthly. I even thought about buying the condo next door when it came open, but went to "counseling" to "get over it." There are few old houses I don't feel sorry for! I should start a recovery program for rehab addicts. 

Rehab Addict

THE TV SHOW 

Nicole Curtis is an addict, but she certainly doesn't see it as a problem. Curtis' passion lies in the home-restoration business, specifically historic structures in Michigan and Minnesota that have been neglected for years. Curtis buys the properties and brings them back to life, or more accurately, back to their former life, taking pains to restore the homes' original appearances. And the hands-on Curtis doesn't just sit back and watch contractors do all the work -- "Rehab Addict" follows the do-it-yourselfer as she takes on much of the manual labor herself, with a goal to salvage and restore as much as possible.

Lumber and building materials are in my DNA. My grandfather was a logger, my father started a building supply business which my youngest brother now owns. This brother is an addict too. He has expanded  the business a hundred times over at least. My other brother bought and sold logs and worked in lumber his whole life. He is an addict too. He keeps leaving retirement and going back into it. We can't help ourselves. We are powerless over lumber! 

A FEW PROJECTS FROM MY ALBUM

I will give you only one example of my work. The old 1852 home, not far from where I grew up, was scheduled to be torn down by my brother when he bought the farm several years back. When I heard that, I asked if I could buy it. He told me he would give it to me if I bought six acres around it. With the help of some wonder Mennonite carpenters, we saved the building by putting a foundation under it, gutting it, replacing the windows, wiring, plumbing and adding a new heating system. I added a huge deck on the back, dug a pond and planted trees. Like other projects, I got bored with it once it was done and sold it. 

BEFORE

AFTER (almost done)

BEFORE 

AFTER

My brother remodeled the old bar across the road. It, too, was about to fall down. 

The reason I wanted to save this old house was that it was part of an old apple and peach brandy distillery operation before "prohibition." Another reason the distillery ceased operation was the boiler exploded killing and hurting some people. The old house was used as a hospital for those who survived. The Rhodes family who owned it, would also take in neighbors temporarily in times of disaster. It was too much part of local history to be torn down! 

This is the first small house that I "rehabbed" for a place to house youth volunteers when I was in Wayne County, Kentucky, 1975-1980. It was called Vreden House. I bought this house and six acres of ground for $7,500. 

I sold that house when I  left Wayne County and moved to Marion County. A friend of mine and I built this house on Hurricane Lake near Boston, Kentucky back in the early 1980s. There were several priests with cabins on the same lake. We would meet on our day off every Tuesday for years. 

We sold that house on the lake and I bought this house and "rehabbed" it when I first moved to Louisville. It was the first of three houses and a condo I have "rehabbed" on Eastern Parkway in Louisville. 

This house came up for sale for less than I paid for the previous house which was much smaller. I sold the smaller house, bought this house next door and  I "rehabbed" it. I added a full basement apartment.

I sold that big red brick house above because it was too big and put me into too much debt so I sold it (at a profit, of course) and bought this smaller one, "rehabbed" it and built on. When I started working at St. Meinrad, I came home every week-end to mow grass and rake leaves (and I was also broken into once when I was not there), so I sold it and bought my present condo just down the street. 

I now live in this condo complex which works out just fine for now. I don't have to do outside maintenance, I can lock the door and leave it in safety and it is convenient located to Bellarmine, downtown, the airport and all the major interstate highways. 

"Rehabbing" has been a great outlet for my creative energy, kept me in touch with my roots in the building material business, but most of all, made it possible for me to own my own place in my old age by cleverly buying bargains, fixing them up and then selling them for a profit over a forty-year span. 

If you can't be rich, be clever! 

IF YOU EVER SEE ME STARING AT AN OLD HOUSE, CALL THE POLICE AND HAVE ME COMMITTED!