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b'Special Guest: Rosemary Thornton Author and Authority on Sears Catalog Homes\\nhttp://www.thehousinghour.com/general/sears-catalog-homes-2/\\nDo you live in a Sears Home? Learn how to identify a Sears home! We want to hear from You! Mark.Griffith@migonline.com\\nFor more than 10 years, Rose Thornton has traveled throughout the country, seeking and finding Sears Homes. In that time, she\\u2019s written countless newspaper and magazine articles, in addition to several books.\\nRose is the author of The Houses That Sears Built (2002,) Finding the Houses That Sears Built (2004) and she\\u2019s the co-author of California\\u2019s Kit Homes (2004) and Montgomery Wards Mail-Order Homes (2010). Rose\\u2019s newest book \\u2013 The Sears Homes of Illinois \\u2013 was published in December 2010.\\n\\nRose has traveled to 24 states to give 200 lectures on Sears Homes, from Bungalow Heaven in Los Angeles to The Smithsonian in Washington, DC. She has addressed a wide variety of audiences from architectural preservationists in Boston, St. Louis and Chicago to kit home enthusiasts in small towns across America.\\n\\nRose has appeared on PBS (History Detectives), A&E (Biography), CBS (Sunday Morning News) and her book was featured in its own category on Jeopardy. She is considered the country\\u2019s #1 authority on kit homes. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, L. A. Times, Dallas Morning News, Old House Journal, American Bungalow, Blue Ridge Country and about 100 other publications. Twice in the last three years, the story of her unique career was picked up by the AP and in May 2009, she was interviewed on BBC Radio.\\nRosemary Thornton\\n\\nOrder your copy today!\\nRosemary explains how to identify a Sears Home:\\n\\nDo you live in a Sears Home? We want to hear from You! Mark.Griffith@migonline.com * *\\nClick here to see dozens of extant photos of Sears Homes!\\n\\nThe number one question I\\u2019m asked again and again \\u2013 How do you identify a Sears Kit Home?\\n\\nFirst, begin by eliminating the obvious. Sears sold these homes between 1908-1940. If your home was built outside of that time frame, it can not be a Sears catalog home. Period. Exclamation mark!\\n\\nThe nine easy signs follow:\\n\\n1) Look for stamped lumber in the basement or attic. Sears Modern Homes were kit homes and the framing members were stamped with a letter and a number to help facilitate construction. Today, those marks can help prove that you have a kit home.\\n\\n2) Look for shipping labels. These are often found on the back of millwork (baseboard molding, door and window trim, etc).\\n\\n3) Check house design using a book with good quality photos and original catalog images. For Sears, I recommend, \\u201cThe Sears Homes of Illinois\\u201d (all color photos). For Wardway, there\\u2019s \\u201cThe Mail-Order Homes of Montgomery Ward.\\u201d\\n\\n4) Look in the attic and basement for any paperwork (original blueprints, letters, etc). that might reveal that you have a Sears home.\\n\\n5) Courthouse records. From 1911 to 1933, Sears offered home mortgages. Using grantor records, you may find a few Sears mortgages and thus, a few Sears homes.\\n\\n6) Hardware fixtures. Sears homes built during the 1930s often have a small circled \\u201cSR\\u201d cast into the bathtub in the lower corner (furthest from the tub spout and near the floor) and on the underside of the kitchen or bathroom sink.\\n\\n7) Goodwall sheet plaster. This was an early quasi-sheetrock product offered by Sears, and can be a clue that you have a kit home.\\n\\n8 ) Unique column arrangement on front porch and five-piece eave brackets (see pictures below).\\n\\n9) Original building permits. In cities that have retained original building permits, you\\u2019ll often find \\u201cSears\\u201d listed as the home\\u2019s original architect.\\n \\nTo buy her book: http://www.thehousinghour.com/general/sears-catalog-homes-2/\\n\\nTo read another article, click here.\\nLumber was numbered to facilitate construction\\n\\nLumber was numbered to facilitate construction\\nNumbers\\n\\nThe'