Dorothy Ainsworth

[Larry Caldwell]

The thread about log houses reminded me of Dorothy Ainsworth. If you haven't seen her web site, take a look. DorothyAinsworth.com

Many of the articles and photos were published in Backwoods Home Magazine.

 

[WayneB]

Interesting site Larry. Wondering how you came across it?

Wayne

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I'm sort of local, and heard about the house from the Jackson County Building Official.

 

[WayneB]

Larry all I can say is she has a whole bunch of energy.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Larry all I can say is she has a whole bunch of energy.

And determination. I built my first house myself, cash out of pocket, in the late '70s, so I KNOW how hard she had to work to do that. The house I built was nowhere near that much work either, since I bought the materials at the lumber yard. All I had to do was put them together. Of course, I was making $13 an hour as a carpenter foreman in 1976, the equivalent of about $150 an hour today. I remember the gravel for the driveway was $2.75 a yard delivered. The septic system cost me $1300, which was expensive because I hired a septic contractor to install it.

At least Dorothy had a hunky boyfriend to help with the heavy lifting. My first wife, who ended up with the house, was just about worthless.

Anyway, Dorothy Ainsworth is a real object lesson in how far determination and creativity will take you. I'm a big fan.

 

[tommu56]

I remember her article in BHM it was awesome

tom

 

[Loren49]

Thanks for the website - lots of interesting info.

Loren

 

[Egon]

Some real words of wisdom from Dorthy Ainsworth's site!

A long shower can use 50 gallons. You'll know it was too long when you run out of hot water. You'll know it was way too long when you run out of COLD water!

 

[jayste]

I'm about half way through the site and very impressed! I think she's a product of her raising and then some!:thumbsup:

 

[Mousefield]

I remember her article in BHM it was awesome

tom

We got BHM for a number of years, they did a couple of good stories on her building project. As I recall her house burn down and she had to rebuild it. What she did was amazing. :thumbsup:

 

[looknlearn]

Six years had passed since I started this project. I rented scaffolding again, but this time for the outside, to caulk every crack and apply a beautiful protective stain to the entire house. Night and day, up and down the rungs and ladders I climbed, buttering the logs with my linseed oil concoction, until they glowed like the sunset. I wiped the baseboards with a tiny cotton T-shirt and laid it out to dry.On June 29th, 1995, the rag spontaneously combusted and burned the house down in two hours. I put the fire out with tears.

End of story ...... back to log one.

That would about kill me. I don't know if I would have the energy to rebuild.

I just read about her first build the burning and the start of the second build.
Phenomenal!!!
Tucker