The products and services we review may not be right for your individual circumstances. For Residential buildings choose Other to get started. Evidence that the Lustron had captured the public imagination is surprising: in one city, for instance, nearly $200,000 remained waiting in escrow for production orders to be filled, while continued mail and telephone inquiries throughout its distribution areas overwhelmed the company. The assumption is that the original porcelain coating on the gutters will, for the most part, prevent any interaction between the steel originals and the aluminum covering. Sigh. If you do not have an Ask the Experts forum user account, The volunteers are expected to pay careful attention to a propertys unique needs, have all work approved ahead of time, and follow exacting preservation standards. Unfortunately, some of Zeigers house parts arent covered in the manual. Zounds! Alternate floor plans were eventually an option for the two-bedroom models. The Enduring Luster Of Lustron Homes. Depending on the size of the leak, a leak could be patched in just 20 to 30 minutes. The hopes for the Lustron Homes success were fueled by a postwar political climate in which mass production efforts of private companies had played an important part in helping to win the war; with such successes in mind, the U.S. government poured $37.5 million in loans into the Lustron Corporation. But maybe, maybe, some crazy nut (with money!) . ABOVE: The Emporia Lustron is in remarkable condition. We connect to generations past as every tale is preserved and retold. Contact Us . . There is an old gas station, now used as a used car dealership in our town. Thats because all those Lustron components were engineered to piece together in one specific sequence, and they only come apart the same way. Definitely post-war machine-age. Wood shakes, or wood shingles, are made from cedar or other evergreen trees. It turns out that the Lustron home was too good to be true. There just weren't enough houses. is your house facing the road, i would take the panels off the rear of the house and repair the front to look nice and do your patches in the back of the house instead. . The walls and ceiling are all metal in a Lustron home, a prefab house made from steel built in 1950 by the Lustron Corp. of Columbus, photographed on Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, in Canton, Ohio . It contains 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. ABOVE: The master bedroom with built-ins galore! And restoring a Lustron is also MUCH easier by having the original erection manuals easily on hand, here. New Shingle Roof $7,500 Average price. Depending on the type of repair, roof repair costs can run anywhere from $150 to $400 for minor repairs, and up to $7,000 for major repairs. The two-bedroom, one-bath Lustron home at 836 N. Dunton Ave. -- with its steel enamel panels for exterior walls and a steel shingle roof -- fell victim to the wrecking ball this month due to. Our kids have magnetic games they use on the walls, and it keeps them busy for hours. Not surprisingly, the whole house has a similar effect on Zeiger, but hes not complaining. To your life. The panels open to reveal plumbing (the bathroom is on the other side of the wall) and telephone connections. They spun off Lustron as it was Government funded. [/caption] Its owners donated the house to the Society in 2003 so that a garage could be built in its place, adjacent to their . I agree that the old floor tiles cannot be salvaged and reused. Both the 02 and 03 standard designs were Westchester models. Initially, Zeigers challenge was to find a leaser-savior for the house, a Westchester deluxe three-bedroom model in dove grey. I have many fond memories of the house and back building. Despite this history, the Lustron offers an abundance of useful experience, including some important successes, regarding the opportunities and pitfalls of architectural prefabrication. Lustron established builder-dealers, which in turn sold and erected the house package on a concrete foundation. Common repairs: Replacing missing or damaged shingles, fixing curled corners and repairing cracked shingles with roof sealant. As architect Carl Koch recalled of his efforts to redesign the Lustron shortly before the companys closure, a reduction in the number of dissimilar components, an increase in interchangeability, and a reduction of total component weight all would have reduced production costs and assembly time in the field.4 While the company did not last long enough to integrate his redesign strategies, the intended reduction from 3,000 dissimilar parts to 37 would likely have dramatically affected the Lustrons prospects for success. ABOVE: If you ordered a Lustron, it arrived on a huge trailer. While raising the price to $10,500 helped the company make more money, their losses of over $500,000 a year were too much to overcome. The Lustron Home: Fascination with a Prefabricated Modern House, Zero Net Carbon Mandatory Continuing Education, White Paper: Climate Action in Design Awards. New Metal Roof $14,500 . Lustron homes were factory-built, made completely of metal from their roof tiles to their interior walls and were marketed as low-maintenance ads stated the home could keep . Thanks, Denise. Had this happened a year ago, before I purchased the Cross House, I would have snapped it up! The houses were all steel: the roofing shingles, exterior wall cladding, interior walls and ceilings, and even the numerous built-in cabinets. Sorry I cannot be of more help. I just put one under contract in St. Louis. The first time Todd Zeiger heard of a Lustron house he was in college, where one of his historic-preservation classes focused on post-World War II homes designed to assuage housing shortages for returning GIs. Whoee! However, the cost of repairing a roof depends on a number of factors, including materials required, scale of the repair and whether or not you hire a professional. [/caption] If you install a new roof, I would suggest solid decking and then an aluminum or steel roof. This is because these homes aren't as air-tight as newly-built . Its bungalow-style layout attracted conventional devotees of the single family home; meanwhile, it offered the unusual convenience of fully integrated modern appliances, included in its base price. Roof repair costs depend a great deal on the type of roofing material you have. Embed this data How We Get This Data . Lustron houses are unique examples of the nation's response to housing shortages following World War II. 617 is the only Lustron I know of in Emporia. Oh, the luster of Lustron. ABOVE: In the linen closet is the original flooring. ABOVE: The smaller bedroom. A huge screened porch, original to his house but not standard to Lustrons, has been a real problem area, thanks to the unforgiving Indiana lakeshore winters.The porch had leaked for a long time,says Zeiger. Get a Quote. Are you referring to a locking mechanism that secures the door closed? I dont think Ive ever seen the original fixtures, tub and toilet in a Lustron like this before! More UFO than cookie cutter house. log in. Its just not architectural enough for me. Inside one of the 22 remaining Lustron homes in Minnesota, open shelves and punches of burnt orange enhance the casual vibe of the living space. The steel structurevertical steel studs and roof-ceiling trusses to which the interior and exterior panels are attachedwas in excellent condition, as was the original insulation. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Common repairs: Leaks, mold growth, pooled water and sagging in old roofs. Buckminister Fuller had a similar (but far more exotic) idea with his Dymaxion house. Many homeowners didnt request a basement because it required an engineer or architect to build the structure. . I would work really hard to find matching tiles to recreate the original flooring. Leon Brothers Roofing 69 Roofers Serving Oakland and the Surrounding Area Open Now Request a Quote Northbay Roofing & Gutters 23 Roofers, Roof Inspectors, Gutter Services Serving San Rafael and the Surrounding Area Closes in 16 minutes Saber Roofing 361 Roofers, Gutter Services, Waterproofing Serving Woodside and the Surrounding Area Open Now * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A roof with little to no damage can last more than 30 years. . Lustron houses are prefabricated enameled steel houses developed in the post-World War II era United States in response to the shortage of homes for returning GIs. Ive been nuts about them for years and have decided to become a Lustron hoarder. Invented by Carl Strandlund, the Lustron Corporation built a factory in 1947 in Columbus, Ohio, to respond to the housing shortage after the end of World War II. The need for a replacement roof was a result of storm damage and not normal wear and tear. A flat roof is a roof designed to have few or no angles, typically found on large commercial or industrial buildings. If your roof is older than 20 years and has experienced significant or recurring damage, it may be necessary to replace the roof entirely. Roof repairs are typically classified into minor and major repairs. The original, 31 x 35 (990 sq. The enameled-steel design was promoted as a structure that didnt require painting and would: Lustron Homes made use of mass manufacturing, with a steel framing system that allowed for: Strandlund wanted to construct gas stations initially, but due to regulations on steel, the Truman administration would only allow the builder to obtain steel if they agreed to build residential units. I have a mild aversion to it and could never live in one. The Lustron Corp. began to design houses in 1947 and marketed them to GIs returning from World War II. I even like the colors (green roof, gray walls with a green hue, and cream accents also with a green hue). 3 Fetters, p. 7. Lustron Homes was envisioned and brought to life by Carl Strandlund. ABOVE: The aluminum windows are WAY cool. ). Common repairs: Moss growth and insect damage, debris removal, adding coats of preservative and sealing and water damage. First, we provide paid placements to advertisers to present their offers. As long as they look from the era (the ones we have are reddish brown), they would look at home. Although it had not previously produced an all-metal single family home, the company was politically astute enough to exploit the governments shifting priorities. This house was purchased and built originally for my grandparents C.S and Hazel Worley. In retrospect, the significant losses that followed the failure of the Lustron Home left a peculiar and scandal-ridden legacy. Wonderful! Im not sure this thread is active. AEsquire Lustron in Emporia. Please advise if you have any advise. Run water over the low side of the penetration for several minutes while the helper watches for any water droplets. I cannot imagine how in, say, 1980 one would have been able to properly restore a Lustron. North Carolina received the most houses (339), while Illinois (307), Ohio (275), and Indiana (142) also were leaders. A metal roof guy in Sioux Falls wants direction. Carl Strandlund, a Swedish-born inventor and Chicago industrialist, created these "IKEA homes" and now, in 2019, around 1,500 of the Mid-Century Modern gems exist in the United States. Overly ambitious initial projections had indicated that the factory would produce at a rate of 400 houses per day. I recently purchased a a couple of Lustron homes and wondering if there is a manual on how to take the panels apart? These enameled steel, prefabricated houses became very popular, and were heavily promoted from 1948 to 1950. The company had a total of eight miles of conveyor belts, a bathtub press, and 11 enameling furnaces. However, for home buyers that want a truly maintenance-free home, the Lustron Homes are almost perfect. It is gone now. Good luck! Depending on the level of damage the roof has sustained, it is entirely possible to repair a roof instead of replacing it. The decorative oh-so-50s detail on the far left is actually the downspout for the gutter. I would love to know if the slider is still in the wall! In general, however, three-tab asphalt shingles cost around $90 per square. Although Zeiger had lectured on the houses for years and visited hundreds of them, restoring one has been a challenge. There are two types of home equity loans: What is the other one? Current national average cost for repairs: $1,500. With proper installation, tile roofs are straightforward to maintain, but they are more fragile and breakable than other types of roofing. For each home, the company used 12 tons of steel and an additional ton of enamel. "The prior owners of our house told us it is a Lustron home," John said. The more expensive and uncommon the roofing, the more expensive and difficult the repair. In terms of construction time, the homes took 400-man hours to make in the factory and an added 300-man hours to fully erect. . Current national average cost for repairs: $710. Company-trained assemblers. Metal roofs come in a variety of alloys and pure metals, with steel being the most cost-efficient and common. Current owners documentation of repair strategies, original sales information, and other historical details recall the impact of the experiment.7 They also remind us of the Lustrons strange mix of visionary and pragmatic influences and the dream of a technologically advanced domicile for a new and better world. In 1948 $8500 is equivalent to $83,952 accounting for inflation. Specializes in repairs . As a preservationist for Indianas Historic Landmarks Foundation, Zeiger oversees a unique program that pairs rundown historic properties with volunteers devoted to fixing them up.