Owner’s Restoration Story – Brookeville Woolen Mill Worker’s House c.1800

House

The core of this early 19th century stone dwelling was fully restored, repointed, and adapted to modern living in 1998 -to- 2000 as a 21⁄2 story historic home surrounded by a 25–acre farmland property. A modern kitchen, first floor bedroom, and a sun room were added to the core during restoration. 

This 2,600 sq. ft main house, adjacent 600 sq. ft. separate–structure addition built in 2004, and its farmland setting are 300 yards west of the Brookeville Woolen Mill which is listed as an historic property at the National level. An aerial photo from the 1940s shows a dirt road connecting our property with the Brookeville Woolen Mill. 

Restored main house was designed by Miche Booz Architects of Brookeville to incorporate the original multi–story stone core structure built in the early 1800s and its attached single–story kitchen. We believe the kitchen was a stand–alone log cabin built as the first structure at this site and composed of a field stone knee wall and 1 story stone fireplace and its chimney in the 1700s. There is evidence acquired during restoration that the multistory stone core of the main house was built up against one wall of the log–cabin. 

Restoration to the Miche Booz design which incorporated the original stone walls and kitchen fire place was led by Oak Grove Restoration under the leadership of Barry Van–Riper 18–inch thick stone walls of the main house are stable and plumb to better than one degree attesting to the highest quality stone masonry characteristic of the Quaker community from Pennsylvania who settled in the Sandy Spring, MD area. These original stone walls were augmented during restoration with new construction of poured concrete supporting slabs in all foundation corners and connected with new concrete slabs over thick gravel bases. These walls only required and did receive repointing. 

The original core structure of the main house had an exterior stone stairway whose structure and raw stone material, composed primarily of gray mica schist and field quartz, was removed and used during restoration to finish off the third story low walls to support the roof, construct a chimney above the dining room fireplace, and serve as base layers for the first–floor kitchen and extension of the first–floor kitchen chimney to a second–floor bathroom chimney. Note that all roof material for the main house, the addition, and the exterior carport employ standing seam, red sheet metal. 

The second floor of the main house has a bedroom, full bathroom, and attic storage room. 

The third floor of the main house is a 1⁄2 story bedroom.

A 600 sq ft. single story addition was built in 2004 as a fully separate structure with its own living room with propane fireplace, kitchen with all utilities, bathroom with shower, and bed room with closets. This addition was also designed by Miche Booz architects. It is directly adjacent to the main house with only a small gap of about 15 inches between walls. This addition shares common water, sewer, electricity and back–up generator, network connections, and a propane connection through the main house. It was built as a separate, small apartment for family members. This addition has unique poured concrete walls using large, hollow, expanded polystyrene (EPS), bricks to contain the concrete and serve as base structure for exterior wall layers of stucco and stone trim. Interior walls of this addition attach to the concrete wall structure with conventional metal and wooden studs, insulation, and wall boards. 

Carport 

A 24 ft. by 32 ft. two vehicle timber–frame carport was added as a separate structure off to one side of the paved driveway and the pavement soon after the main house was finished and occupied in early year 2000. Driveway payment was continued into the first 16 ft. of the two 12 ft. lanes through the open entrance of this carport. Wood for the timber frame was rough cut with a Wood–Mizer from pine tree trunks obtained in clearing the front pasture. A 24 ft long oak beam of 12 by10 inch cross section obtained from demolition of a local barn spans and dominates the front of the carport. Note that all wood beams at ground level rest on a network of 3 ft. diameter concrete posts for carport structural support. The carport was built up from these posts and beams using thick, copper plate sheet strips over the lowest layers of pine plates and posts for protection against insects and wood rotting. 

A back room of this carport serves as a workshop and storage area. The roof–covered but open end of the right–hand side of the Carport (when facing into it) could be finished to compensate for slope of terrain under this slanted, low–roof side of the carport. There is a stairway about 20 ft. into the carport that provides access to a storage room loft above the back room of the carport. Both back room and loft can serve for storage or workshop. 

Electrical and Propane Utilities 

The main house and addition are being operated as an all–electric home derived from grid–tie to 400A of BGE electricity single–phase 240V and up to 100A of grid–tie electricity generated on site as produced by two solar arrays. Twin inverters located at the solar arrays deliver their on–site production of electricity through 500 ft. of buried 4-0 cable to the carport and hence to the BGE net meter at main house. The net meter keeps track of real–time kwh (kilo–Watt hours) of electricity being used and can run forward or backwards dependent on load demand and solar panel generation. We are capable of supplying electricity to BG&E on bright sunny days. Two separate solar panels consisting of a total of 36 panels in the first array producing up to 335W per panel and 16 panels of rated 347W electrical power per panel in the second array are located in the back field of this property. They were installed by Celestial Solar Innovations, led by CEO Jim Reilly and now head–quartered in Eldersburg. The first solar array was activated in December 2019 and the second array was activated in August 2021. Together they produce and use or sell mid–20 Mega–Watt hours per year at a value of about $200 per Mega–Watt hour.

All electric lines are buried to and from transformers, one of which converts 7,500 Volt 4–wire input run along the driveway from BGE trunk line transformer on Riggs Hill way. 

Propane serves as a back–up utility and source utility for the various fireplaces and could be connected for a kitchen stove or oven. These functions are electrical only, now but multiple propane lines for kitchen and fireplace use are available and valved off inside a kitchen cabinet. Two owned (not leased) 375–gallon liquid propane tanks buried just outside the house near a retaining wall are connected in parallel. Propane gas lines from these tanks fan out to multiple propane lines which run to fireplaces in the main house, one fireplace in the addition, and the Generac 15 kW back–up generator located on a pad outside and behind the addition. The Generac supports the well pump and some critical and minimal electric input for the main house and addition. 

A Verizon FIOS fiber optical line from Riggs Hill Ways brings 5G connectivity to the main house fulfilling the promise of fiber–to–the–home for all IT connectivity. 

Heating and Cooling Utilities 

The main house and addition depend for living–space heating and cooling on modern all–electric heat–pump technology. The main house has a split, ground–source heat pump that is based on 600 ft. horizontal long runs in a grid of buried PVC tubes containing low pressure 50/50 water & polypropylene antifreeze mix. This grid dumps heat underground in the summer and picks–up heat underground in the winter. Pumps located in the main house utility room are connected to a Water Furnace, Inc. compressor that also has a second stage loop to an air handler in the main house attic delivering heated air in the winter and cool air–conditioned air in the summer. Winter heating is supplemented by heating–wire loops rated at 1.5KW each per loop. One loop is embedded in the floor of the kitchen, one in the first–floor bedroom, and one in the dining room. Warm floors are independently controlled by a separate wall–mounted thermostat and switch in each of the three rooms so equipped. 

Summer air cooling is the most efficient process time for the ground–source heat pump and also the most productive period of time for solar panel electricity production. Our experience has en free air–conditioning all summer. 

A new water heater was installed in the main House in June 2024. 

Radon mitigation is active with vacuum pumps drawing air from gravel beneath concrete pads and exhausting in exterior PVC chimneys for both the main house and the addition. Our experience is radon testing levels below 1 pico–Currie per liter in all living areas all times. 

Well and Septic Utilities 

The main house and addition have a common, filtered, and soda–ash treated well–water supply from a submersible pump in a 200 ft well installed and maintained by Easterday of Mt. Airy. This well is accessible in the front–field fenced area near the driveway connection to Riggs Hill Way. The submersible well pump is controlled from the main house where water filtering and treatment are located. Filtering for human consumption is controlled by passing the whole cold–water supply for the property through a commercial 5 micron DGD 5005 filter cartridge. Untreated well water is teed off before the filter and sent outdoors to a hydrant for washing and agricultural use. Twin septic tanks located near the gravel driveway adjacent to the addition serve as basins for solids and liquids with a submersible pump located in the overflow tank to pump liquids uphill to a 15 ft. deep drain field near Riggs Hill Way. 

Special Features

Two fenced–in, gated grazing animal pastures each with run–in roofed sheds and feeding areas. Each pasture is about 3 acres and has established, mowed, large open areas of field grasses. and Each pasture contains several mature trees and some borders of bushes and volunteer trees along the 4 ft. tall galvanized field fencing that surround each field. 

One sheep and one alpaca grazing in the front field. These beautiful animals are remnants of larger flocks we had for years which served as 4H projects for our children and sources of fiber for sale at Maryland Sheep and Wool festivals. 

Four white oak trees. Three of which are 30–year old acorn–first–generation–descendants of Maryland’s, famous Wye Oak tree. The Wye Oak was the largest white oak in the United States and the State Tree of Maryland from 1941 until its demise in 2002. This revered tree stood for more than 400 years in the town of Wye Mills, Maryland where in its youth it greeted the first Europeans to stay in Maryland in the early 1600s. Two Wye Oak descendants are growing in the front field, and the largest one is growing in the front yard of the main house. The fourth Wye Oak is a second- generation descendant of the Wye Oak and was also raised as a seedling by the Maryland Forestry Department and subsequently purchased and planted in the front yard of the main house. Certificates to this effect are available. These wye oaks deserve to be admired and protected in perpetuity. 

Empty chicken coop and fenced–in chicken compound near the main house, addition, and driveway.