Roofs and ceilings and floors

There's been alot going on the last few days, literally from top to bottom. I'll start from the top and work my way down to the depths of the basement.

They have begun shingling the roof on the addition. I had a couple of packages of the shingles we used when we redid the roof several years ago, so Lee was able to get exactly the same ones. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised to see that they match the existing roof exactly. I was expecting to see differences due to weathering and figured we'd have to wait a few years for the new roof to catch up to the old one. But it looks like we got lucky.

In the den, they've started shaping the domed ceiling which has been designed to match the ceiling in the front hall. As Lee and I walked in to take a look, I heard Mark say to one of the guys, "make sure it looks good." I'm pretty sure that's builder-speak for "make sure it's structurally sound."

Last Friday they did pour the concrete for the vestibule landing, but it's been under wraps to keep it safe from the elements. I tried to take a picture, but it doesn't really show anything. I saw Mike the Mason today who had actually come out of the blue coccoon for a few minutes. He said they are building the 2nd set of stairs leading up to the landing. It was too tight for me to get inside to take a picture, so I guess it'll have to wait til the big unveiling.


There are more interesting discoveries in the basement, although still no buried treasure. When we moved into the house 25 years ago, there was a slightly raised circle of concrete kind of in the middle of the concrete floor. We had surmised that perhaps it had something to do with the original heating system in the house. When Lee saw it last October, he suspected it might be an old well. The team has started jackhammering the floor of the basement to take up the concrete in order to do a bunch of stuff - French drain, re-route pipes, etc - before putting down a new floor. They discovered a tunnel with brick sides leading from that circle, which Lee has confirmed was a well, to the outside, In the tunnel was a fairly good-sized pipe. Probably it was an escape route for runaway slave mice back at the turn of the century. Lee and I were thinking maybe we could find some bones and check the DNA. Or, maybe it was just an overflow pipe for the well. One thing is certain: under the concrete was just the clay that is the basic soil on our property, and it was damp. Maybe that explains some of the dampness in the basement. The new floor will have proper drainage, so we will be nice and dry and no musty smell.