6 Lake Byrd Blvd is our story of turning a tired historic lakefront home into a beautiful modern home while preserving as many of the historic details as possible. We purchased the property in January 2020 and started some major clean ups and renovations. We post progress updates every Friday to our blog which can be found here. If you’d like to get these updates sent directly to your email, just fill out the simple form to the right to subscribe. Read on below to learn more about the area and the house.
Right in the middle of Florida
The house is located on Lake Byrd in Avon Park which is in central Florida. Lake Byrd is a crystal clear lake with a footprint of around 700 acres and is fed by natural springs. Avon Park, which is known as the City of Charm, is located in the heart of Florida and is an 1 1/2 hour drive to either the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. Avon Park is located just north of Sebring which is a bustling central Florida city that is most known for it’s 12 hour endurance race at the Sebring Speedway called the 12 hours of Sebring.
Historic house – Built in 1935
The house was originally built in 1935 (at least that’s what’s on record) and the best I can tell there have been at least 5 6 7 8 9 additions (count updated with each addition found) onto the original structure. The house is an old Florida cracker style home that was designed to allow the cool lake breeze to flow through the entire home to keep it cooler during the warm summers before air conditioning became commonplace. When we purchased the house, there was no air conditioning installed. Finally, in August 2021, we installed air conditioning throughout the house after living here for nearly a year.
Termite and plumbing problems
It is a wood framed structure built on a pier foundation that was later changed to a block foundation. The wood framing shows signs of many previous bouts with termites. In the kitchen, there is no full size oven or refrigerator. The plumbing that services the kitchen and master bathroom is completely clogged by tree roots. The floor of the master bathroom is the worst floor in the house for old termite damage – both the flooring and the floor framing are pretty heavily damaged. The floor of the living room, dining room, kitchen, and part of the master are covered by a thin glue down vinyl plank flooring that barely hides the prior termite damage to the floors.
The “sleeping porch”
On the north side of the house, there are two bedrooms and a full bathroom. The front bedroom was called the sleeping porch and it doesn’t have any windows – only screened openings which allowed the lake breeze to pass through. Both bedrooms have the original wood floors which are worn but in good shape. The front bedroom has the original wood house siding and two windows on the wall that is shared with the living room. Yes, there are windows to the living room. The back bedroom walls have been drywalled. Both bedrooms have open vaulted ceilings with exposed and painted rafters.
Electrical. What electrical?
The electrical throughout the house is lacking and much of it is not to code. The electrical panel in the house is newer and is serviced by a 60 amp main breaker (this is a really small electrical service). Many rooms do not have light switches and only have lamps to provide light. Outlets are hit or miss, but mainly miss. The electrical panel in the shop is the old fuse panel style with many of the fuses being double tapped.
Porch, trees, and a dock
Across the front of the house is a massive screened in front porch looking at the lake. However, with the current tree overgrowth, you can’t see the lake. There is a beautiful and massive banyan tree in the front yard with branches overarching the front yard and the house. The U-shaped driveway is so overgrown on the north side that it is unusable. Across the street and on the lake side, there is a massive live oak tree with moss hanging down (this is one of my favorite things about this property). Leading out into the lake is a fixed dock that is in need of repair as well as a half sunken floating dock. In the yard on the south side of the house is an area missing a lot of dirt where the previous owner told us multiple trees fell and the missing area was from the root balls being removed. We found out later there is much more to this story.
Siding, roofing, and windows
The outside of the house is covered with what appears to be asbestos shingles over the original wood siding. Most of it is in good condition but there’s a few areas where the framing behind the wood siding is damaged and will need replacement. The soffit and fascia are in OK condition with a few areas needing replaced. The roof has some life left on the 30 year shingles. Many of the windows are old wood and are still functional including the original slide sideways windows in the kitchen.
The workshop
Out back is the shop building housing the laundry room, storage room, carport, and workshop. This is another wood framed structure that shows signs of old termite damage and rodent infestation. The workshop is currently filled with “stuff” as are many areas outside and even throughout the house.
Are we cray-cray?
After writing all of this, I have to wonder if we are crazy for taking on this project. The good news is that we can see the potential in the property and once we’re done, it is going to be stunning. Also, the property is lakefront and located in a serene setting. We’re looking to hold the property long term as we really like the property and the location. We had originally considered using the property as a rental, such as VRBO or AirBnB. However, after spending a year of weekends here, we decided that we liked it enough to move in. The house was far from finished. Only one bedroom and bathroom were complete. We cobbled together a makeshift kitchen that will work until we can remodel it. We lived in the house for nearly a year (including one summer) before we got A/C installed. We’re still making daily progress on the remodel and we post updates every Friday. If you want those updates sent to your email, just fill out the simple form on the right. Make sure to check your spam folder, because sometimes the emails find their way there.
