The Friends of the D.D. Collins House repairs . . .

OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS REGARDING

THE D.D. COLLINS HOUSE

House Repair

August, 2021

The Friends of the D.D. Collins House looks forward to resuming regular visitor hours on Saturdays at the Collins House after having to be closed for such a long time due to the pandemic. During this down-time, the organization has made several observations regarding the house and would like to offer assistance to curing a few of the issues.

The Collinsville Parks and Recreation Department, under whose purview the Collins House now rests, and after reviewing the list of observations and suggestions, has given permission to proceed with the project.

The work will begin during the month of September. Watch for it! The images below show the details about the project.

The Friends of the D.D. Collins House will be responsible for the work and services and has made arrangements to pay for same as an in-kind donation to the City.

Observations:

House Exterior:

West Side:

Upper Windows:

Repair

Caulk

Exterior:

Scrape, Prime, Paint

The west side of the house pictures show the deteriorating paint.

East Side:

Upper Exterior Wall:

The paint is peeling:

Scrape, Prime, Paint

The east side of the house shows quite a bit of peeling on the upper exterior wall.

Basement Scuttle:

The hinge is broken on the basement scuttle and appears to be bent. It also looks corroded. The screws are pulled out and the wood appears to be damaged.

The wood needs to be repaired and the broken hinge replaced.

North Side (Rear):

Ramp:

All of the screws on the ramp of the north side (back) of the house have rusted.

The paint is peeling.

Replace the screws with the appropriate type screws and repaint the ramp.

South Side (Front):

A light cleaning is needed on the front of the house, including wiping down the exterior siding, washing the windows, cleaning the lamps, and replacing burned out light bulbs, if any.

Porch Steps:

The screws in the steps are rusting and staining the steps.

Need to replace the screws with the appropriate screws.

The paint on some of the risers is peeling and needs to be repainted.

The steps on the south side (front) of the house have peeling paint and rusted screws in the risers.

House Interior:

Cabinets:

The Friends of the D.D. Collins House arranged for and funded the construction of the vertical display cabinet located in the front entryway. The cabinet, built by John Galvin and Joe Hutton, has two glass doors and several glass shelves, which allows for the display of more antique items collected for the house. Old doors, original to the Collins House, were repurposed and used to create the backside of the cabinet.

The cabinet replaces a display table, which was impairing the access through the hallway.

For those of you who have visited the house, you can see the new cabinet as well as the wall where the former display table was located.

One additional improvement needs to be made to the cabinet; and that is interior lighting.

In order to utilize the building more effectively, it would be appropriate to add interior lighting by adding “inconspicuous ceiling pot lights” in each room. The “pot lights” would utilize energy efficient LED type lights and would be safe for antique/ historical artifacts.

It had limited display space and it took up quite a bit of space in the entryway.

Your membership and generous donations have made it possible for the Friends of the D.D. Collins House to continue to be active in the preservation of this important piece of our community’s past.

Thank you for your past and continuing support.