JRV Home Renovations

John Vogelsang, owner of JRV Home Renovations, has worked for the Village in almost every building for the past eight years. He gave a rundown of the condition of buildings and talked about his work.

Overall, the Village is in good shape.

“They do a very good job of maintenance and upkeep. They don’t skimp on anything,” said John.

He is especially impressed by the construction of the church. He worked on it some eight years ago when the bell tower was leaning and starting to separate from the building.

“I put framing inside from the foundation up to the bell tower. There are new supports inside,” he said.

There is an attic or crawl space above the elevated alcove at the front of the church where one can see the infrastructure. “There are no nails. It is all pegs. It is awesome. The beams are enormous and interlocked,” said John.

Records at the society’s library show the men of the settlement built the church, which opened in 1876 at Alton Darby and Roberts Roads. The lead carpenter was Thomas Colwell, a relative of John Colwell who, back in the 1850s, opened his log cabin to the community for religious services, records show. The church is named for the Colwell family.

John’s most recent project was to refurbish and paint the siding on the caboose - a job he tackled last year that required construction of 400 individual boards with slightly-tapered edges.

John’s wife, Lisa, and children, Trinity, 20, and John, 16, were recruited to help with the project. “We spent two-to-three days, all of us, sanding and making boards and priming,” said John. John’s other work includes painting and installing the bell on the brick tower in the center of the Village. He also poured the concrete foundation.

He built shutters on the outside of the school.

John refurbished the voting booth which was in disrepair when the society first acquired it. He created and installed the updated chinking, or material that fills spaces between logs, on the log cabin. It is made of lime, sand and concrete. “It was specific to what they would have used back then. (The society) wanted to stay true to that era,” said John.

The museum is next in line for an upgrade, he said. “The siding on the museum is at the end of its life. On the south side of the building especially boards are curled. Every one of those boards that is curled is allowing water behind it,” he said.

John has lived in Hilliard for about 20 years. He grew up in Grandview Heights but worked some
refurbishing jobs in Hilliard after high school and liked the city. “My family was here and I wanted to raise my family here. There are good schools and it is a safe area,” he said.

Hilliard is good for business, too, said John. He doesn’t need to advertise his services. “It is all word-of-mouth. Old Hilliard especially is very tight-knit. They try to keep things local which is great,” he said.

John didn’t plan to work in construction. His original dream was to be a chef. “In school I actually took culinary arts. But I took a lot of shop, too,” he said.

He took a job with his uncle’s roofing company after high school and was ready to branch out a few years later when he went to work for a home improvement company.

“That is where I learned kitchens, bathrooms, and basements,” he said.

He’s owned his own business for the past seven years.

It’s not a surprise he ended up in his profession. “I like to take stuff apart and see how it works and put it back together. When I was young, even 10-years old, the family would drop stuff (such as bicycles) off for me to put together,” he said.

Ninety percent of John’s business is in home renovations. The rest of his work is for commercial enterprises.

John has an employee who helps on big jobs but overall he handles the work himself. It is far from boring, he said, adding, “Every job is different. Everything changes from house to house and person to person. I love meeting new people.”

For more information, email John at jrvrenovations@yahoo.com

Contributed by Rosemary Kubera