Repairs and Upgrades to the Family Lake Cottage

It is fairly certain that anything that was first built in 1948 will need some work and repair after awhile. And so it is with the cottage on Maidstone Lake that my Grandfather and my Uncles built as a fishing camp back in '48. The original (and very rustic) camp evolved over the years into a finished and comfortable cottage. So far, five generations of Clarence and Jennie Robinson's well-extended family have enjoyed the Maidstone experience at Lot 108!

Over the years, the original underpinning of the camp has given way to rot, decay, and soil erosion. The rear sill (road side) sank into the ground to the point where the first floor joist was held up by a large rock, preventing the complete collapse of the rear wall! The attached shed (which also houses the bathroom and laundry facility) had also pulled away from the main building. Several additions to the shed along with many built-upon concrete pours created a situation whereby the shed's entire support system had completely failed as well.

Although it looks fairly good in this 2019 picture of the rear entry, this entire section of the camp was about ready to collapse totally! The sill under the living room window was completely rotted, and the cement floor just inside the entry door had failed and was no longer supporting that inside corner! Old memories and the Grace of God was the only thing holding this area up!

We have also noted over the past five years or so, a major sag in the main camp floor, which caused a real "uphill battle" to get from the kitchen, through the living room, and up to the front porch!

Uncle Barney said we needed to "jack the camp up" and fix the problems. I started looking for someone who had the knowledge and experience ... and found a contractor whom I knew and trusted. The only problem was, at that time he was booked out for over two years!

Well, we finally got started last month., May of 2021. We began by opening up the floor in the living room to access the underpinning below. Years ago, the camp was high enough for skinnier versions of Uncles and Cousins to crawl under the camp, jack it up, and repair the supports. We found several failed supports, and a lot of muddy, swampy ground below! Gravel was hauled in by hand and tamped into the soggy ground. Pressure Treated 4x4 beams were used to support the floor joists between the main center beam and the gable sills.

Bunks were constructed from pressure-treated 6x6 timbers to support the new beams as well as the original center beam. Over 26 tons of gravel was used to build up the ground under the camp!

A similar opening was made in the kitchen into Nana's bedroom to support that side, in the same manner as the living room. The boathouse floor was also opened to allow for the placement of gravel and bunks along the "Sullivan" side of the camp.

The sill on the back side from the driveway to behind the stove was also replaced using pressure treated beams.

By this time, the main camp had been raised enough so that some of the sill from the corner to the driveway side living room window could also be replaced. But, we discovered yet another major problem!

This photo to the left shows where the old chimney was located, along with the inside view of the corner between the shed and the rear wall shown in the picture above. See the daylight? Yep, that's a real support problem! Since that entire entry-side wall was resting on failed concrete (the result of adding on to the shed and building over sidewalks) we needed to replace the entire entry wall from the main camp to the road-side corner!

So, here it is ... the wall is gone and the remaining concrete is about to be removed. A new door and window will be incorporated into the new wall.

I will keep you all up to date and follow up with more pictures as we progress.

We are planning on having the "Pennsylvania Robinsons" (Kenny, Nancy, Kenn, and AJ) at camp from July 9th to the 11th! Work will be mostly completed by then, and the place will be ready to rock and roll!

Peace!