FREEPORT – Ron Tanner, a do-it-yourself expert who also happens to be a bestselling author, will make an appearance at the Freeport Community Library on Monday, May 19, at 6:30 p.m.

Tanner will talk about his book, “From Animal House to Our House: A Love Story,” which tells the story of how he and his wife Jill bought condemned Baltimore property in 1999 – a wrecked former fraternity house – and restored it to its original Victorian splendor. They knew nothing about fixing up houses when they started. Their talk will include a slide show.

In 2008, This Old House magazine featured the Tanners’ work. The Tanners now run www.Houselove.org, a do-it-yourself website. Tanner, 60, is also a musician, playing drums in Jazz Caravan, a six-piece band he founded in 1996. He has published stories and essays in such magazines as The Iowa Review, the Massachusetts Review, the Literary Review, Story Quarterly, West Branch and others.

Growing up in North Carolina, Tanner earned a doctorate in American literature and creative writng from the Unviersity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He went on to chair the Writing Department at Loyola University in Baltimore for nine years. In 2006, he was elected to the board of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and served as that organization’s president from 2008-2010.

Tanner answered a few questions regarding his life and accomplishments recently for the Tri-Town Weekly.

Q: What possessed you to consider an old fraternity? Often the architecture is gorgeous in these old frats. Was that a factor in your choice?

A: Jill and I loved old houses and antiques. In fact, we met for the first time in an antiques consignment shop. After dating for just two months, I was crazy for Jill and figured if I bought an old house Jill might move in with me, we’d get married, and live happily every after. So I told her I was going to buy an old house and, sure enough, she liked the idea. She said, “I’ll help you look.” I thought that meant she’d want to move in. The house we found was really big and very cool – an 1897 Queen Anne. We love Victorian architecture. But you couldn’t tell from the outside how bad the inside was. And we couldn’t get in. When we did get in, we discovered that the house was condemned property and had been vacant for a year. It was filled with garbage, 16 empty beer kegs, full fridges in every room, etc. The floors were ruined, the plumbing was shot (but the toilets were full), three ceilings were falling in. On and on. But Jill loved the place. It terrified me. She said I’d never find another house like this. I said, “Damn straight – it’s condemned property!” But then she promised to help me fix it up, so I went for it because Jill really wanted the house and I really wanted Jill.

Q: You’re a professional writer and a professional builder. Strange bedfellows?

A: I’m a professor of writing and a professional writer but, when I bought our old house 14 years ago, I knew nothing about building or repairing houses. After more than a decade of learning-by-doing, I got pretty good at fixing and building things. So I decided to get my house inspector’s license – to push myself to learn as much as I could. The combination of writer/house rehabber isn’t as odd as it may appear at first glance: Both are about making sense of things and, above all, problem solving. Writing and house rehabbing are also about making things: putting things together in pleasant ways.

Q: What other old buildings make good candidates for such rehabs? Churches? Grange Halls?

A: Jill and I are always looking at and searching out old, interesting buildings. Also, as the director of Preservation America, I tour the country interviewing people who have preserved or reclaimed old buildings. For instance, I talked to one guy who made a house out of an old orphanage dormitory. I interviewed another fellow who made a home from a former waterworks building. Anything can be made into a home, but not everything should. The great appeal of old homes – like our Victorian – is that they were made to a more generous scale (high ceilings, big windows, big rooms) and were designed to maximize light and air. In many ways, they are so much “homier” than new construction. Old commercial buildings, however, present a challenge if you want to make one into a home because they were not designed for living. They were designed for working. So, where does the bedroom go? The kitchen? Old churches are probably the most difficult to make into homes because they have no rooms and too much overhead space. That said, Jill and I just saw a really cool Victorian railway office that we’d love to get hold of and fix up. It looks like a little Queen Anne house with a turret. But it’s in the wrong city.

Q: Do you have a standard you would suggest that people not be beyond, in terms of the condition of the building? Where is your line in the sand?

A: Some buildings can’t be saved. If it’s clear you’ll spend more on the building than the building will ever be worth, you really can’t buy the house. In fact, the bank won’t give you a loan. Jill and I have seen many – too many – old houses that are beyond repair and will have to be torn down. That said, Jill and I have made countless improvements to our old house that were not part of the original builder’s intentions. For example, a few years ago I built (on our third floor) a really cool library from architectural salvage. Because it’s made of old material, the library looks like it’s always been there. But it’s the kind of thing that would never have been in this house.

Q: How much should one expect to profit for a full rehab of a building, in terms and time and money invested?

A: Sweat equity – doing the work yourself – earns you tremendous benefits in keeping your mortgage low. We’re paying a mortgage that is only half of the house’s total value because we’ve done nearly all of the work ourselves.

Q: How many tour events such as this one do you do a year? What are you hoping to accomplish?

A: I have given talks about “From Animal House to Our House: A Love Story” in more than 80 cities around the country. Some cities I have visited more than once because, as a DIY “expert,” I have several other talks based on my experiences. I’m a teacher – I love to educate, so that’s my main goal, to promote an appreciation for old houses and buildings. My second aim is to get people to our website, http://houselove.org, where they can follow our continued adventures.

“I love to educate, so that’s my main goal, to promote an appreciation for old houses and buildings,” says author Ron Tanner, who speaks Monday at the Freeport Community Library. 

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