Sauer Castle Admin

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Good morning Sauer Castle friends! As you have seen by several posts over the last few days, the scaffolding is being er...
08/13/2023

Good morning Sauer Castle friends! As you have seen by several posts over the last few days, the scaffolding is being erected to allow the tower restoration to begin. You Sauer Castle followers are an enthusiastic bunch! It's hard to stay ahead of the reporting! We apologize for the length of time since the last post...we have been jumping through numerous hoops to allow construction to begin.

There are two primary work activities taking place over the next few months - rebuilding of the outer brick wythe at the tower (described in our last post) and reconstruction of the roof.

The roof replacement is complex, and we are happy to have Kaw Roofing & Sheet Metal performing this scope. The roof has an integrated gutter and downspout system that is entirely copper. The copper is flat-seamed with 100% soldered connections. The gutter system is supported by 'outlookers', which are small wood pieces embedded in the masonry. The existing outlookers are deteriorated and will be completely rebuilt. The replacement of the outlookers will be performed simultaneously with the masonry work since they are slotted directly into the brick.

The sloped portion of the roof will be covered with slate shingles. The slate shingles are being procured from Vermont and they are real-deal slate shingles. The structural engineer, Steve Huey, had to inspect the existing roof framing to ensure it could support the weight of the slate. Fortunately, the underlaying roof structure looks good and is plenty sturdy to provide the necessary support. Steve said that the 150 year old 2x6's in the castle provide almost twice the support of a modern 2x6. This tells you how much stronger the old growth lumber is.

All of the existing window/door headers and sills were carved out of sandstone. This is how they built them 150 years ago. You can see in the attached picture that they are deteriorating and falling apart. All of these will be replaced with new cast stone material. I'll explain this further in our next post.

In other news, our security cameras in the castle often spot a raccoon wandering around in the middle of the night. We aren't sure how he gets in, but he acts like the owns the place. I need to find a small hard hat and put him to work.

We are beyond excited to get everything rolling. The support from all of you and the surrounding community has been tremendous and we are very grateful. Now that construction is starting, we will try to post more frequently. Enjoy your day!

Hello Sauer Castle Enthusiasts, we are the Heitmann’s, and we are the new owners of Sauer Castle. We prefer to avoid the...
05/22/2023

Hello Sauer Castle Enthusiasts, we are the Heitmann’s, and we are the new owners of Sauer Castle. We prefer to avoid the spotlight but there is so much interest in this property, we thought it would be helpful to introduce ourselves.

We live about 10 minutes away from the castle in Fairway, KS. We have four daughters and our youngest just graduated from high school and is off to Notre Dame in August. Our three older daughters live in New York, San Francisco, and Lausanne, Switzerland. This will be the fourth historical home we have restored, and by far, the most magnificent.

We are extremely excited about this project. It is a stunning home and deserves to be enjoyed for another 150 years. We ask for your patience as this restoration will take several years to complete.

At this point, the only work we have been allowed to do is general clean-up and security enhancements. Since the home is listed on the national register, no work can be performed until it is approved by several state and municipal agencies. About a month ago, we made an initial submittal to the State Historic Preservation Office which will allow us to address the urgent items needed to stabilize and weatherproof the home. This includes masonry, roofing, windows, exterior doors, and porches. We anticipate receiving this approval mid-summer.

With this approval, the exterior work will begin late summer or early fall. We will then prepare a submittal for the interior restoration and hope to receive approval by year end. The interior restoration will be performed throughout 2024 and into 2025.

We have engaged a dream team of consultants. Strata Architecture + Preservation is the architect, Rosin Preservation is the historical consultant, and Pishny Restoration will be performing the primary restoration trades. These firms are national leaders in historical building restoration, and they will serve the castle well.

We are still thinking about the castle’s future use. Ultimately, we want it to be an asset for the neighborhood and the community. The history of the castle and the Sauer family is truly amazing, and we want it to be told to many generations. We have a lot of ideas and welcome your input.

Unfortunately, the castle’s original interior fixtures are missing, having been stolen or sold many years ago. If anyone is aware of any original lighting fixtures, or castle furnishings, we would be interested in acquiring them.

I’m sure there are a lot of questions that many of you have. You can post those questions below or send an email to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). A website, and Instagram (thank you Thomas Laurence) are forthcoming. We will do our best to post periodic updates and answer your questions.

A huge thank you to Jason Simmons, who has kept this page going for so many years. His passion for the castle is admirable, and we are very thankful for his knowledge and ongoing research.

Finally, yes, the castle may be haunted. Several interesting things have happened over the last few months…topics for another day…

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