Bygone era back to life
When Mike Post took his first drive by 703 Mitchell Ave. in Kendallville, one word came to mind.
“Tara!” he says.
The house’s resemblance to the fictional pre-Civil War plantation mansion that Scarlett O’Hara called home in “Gone with the Wind” is undeniable.
After all, how many times do you see roof-to-ground white columns flanking a massive wooden front door set off by a flagstone-floored porch in a small town in northern Indiana?
It was only after Post and his partner, Michael Nelaborige, bought the house and did a little research that they understood why the house exuded Southern charm.
Although built in 1928 for Elmer E. McCray, who grew up in Kendallville, amassing a fortune by being a major early manufacturer of refrigerators, the house’s design was largely influenced by McCray’s wife, Lena, who hailed from Georgia.
“When you look at the house, you can tell from the details she wanted that Southern charm brought north to Indiana,” Nelaborige says.
Today, what’s still known as the McCray Mansion has retained not only the graciousness of a bygone era but also touches that were decidedly modern at the time of its birth.
The entry door leads to an eye-popping circular staircase – reinforced, Post notes, with modern steel I-beams.
In the basement, there’s what may be the region’s earliest home theater room – designed to show what were then called “motion pictures,” with auditorium-like seating and a giant silver screen.
In the kitchen, there’s a built-in, top-of-the-line McCray refrigerator.
Post, 49, and Nelaborige, 48, say longtime heating and air conditioning repairman Dick Krull of J.O. Mory in Fort Wayne spent about a year and half getting the unit working again. They now use it as their everyday icebox.
“The big joke now is we forget which door we put things behind,” Post says. “The thing has eight doors!”
When Post and Nelaborige bought the mansion in early 2004, the property had been in foreclosure for three years and had been neglected.
“The weeds were this high,” recalls Nelaborige of the home’s formal gardens, indicating a spot just below his waist. “We spent the first year just on the yard.”
But the two were amazed, they say, that so much of the 10,000-square-foot, six-bedroom interior was original and in good shape, and they weren’t eager to change much.
Tile Over Linoleum - News
One major change Post and Nelaborige made was finding a modern replication of old-style linoleum tile for the kitchen. The 10000-square-foot mansion was built in 1928 for Elmer E. McCray and his wife, Lena, whose Georgia upbringing influenced its
Works best on doors next to wood, tile or linoleum floors. The cloth-covered foamguard slides back and forth with the door over the floor. This may wear down carpeting over time - or the guard may stick on the carpet and keep the door from opening
But behind the front doors at 115 N. First St., Brown has excavated skylights throughout the ground floor, pealed away layers of linoleum to uncover original tile flooring and painstakingly pulled cast-iron pipes and other aging utility lines from the
pointing to the hand-laid mosaic tile underfoot. An unexpected discovery during renovations, the original marble flooring was tediously unearthed from layers of carpet, linoleum, concrete and "a lot of nasty mastic," or, sticky resin.
Franchisees generally offer linoleum, vinyl, laminate and tile and grout cleaning as well. Many defer hardwood, stone and marble maintenance to specialists in those areas. Starnet members who operate cleaning programs implement a similar “big picture”
is it possible to lay or apply- ceramic tile over an linoleum ...
You can put a “cement board” or “backer board” right on top of the linoleum it will add about 1/2 inch to your floor then you can ceramic tile on it and that will add another 1/4 inch SO make sure you can tie the new floor height into the floor it attaches to. They make trim to blend the two different floor heights!
Good Luck
When a floor has a crack in it and you want to put tile over it you use a product called an isolation membrane. this allows the cracking force not to transfer through to the tile. The isolation membrane happens to be Linoleum.
You can in fat put the tile floor over the linoleum with good results you just need to follow this procedure.
1- Find perforated steel mesh this is a common material at flooring places. You apply this to the floor by laying it covering the entire floor and use a hammer tacker/ staple gun which looks like a hammer, use staples every 4-6″ throughout the field, this is your connection to the sub floor. Be careful to apply the mesh smoothly since you already have a smooth surface it will make it easier for placing the tiles.
before you rip the linoleum up you had better check it to be sure the linoleum and the adhesive doesn’t contain asbestos!! if your house and flooring are from the 70′s or earlier it could and probably does contain it. in that case it is better to bury it with cement or plywood underlayment and then tile over it. that will be cheaper than hiring a pro to remove it properly, and is safe since it won’t be disturbed.
Tile Over Linoleum - Bookshelf
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Many people have no trouble installing a full room of ceramic tile without ... Before you begin to install your tile flooring over linoleum, be sure to open a window or ...