Muhammed Lee

I arrived at the house the other day to see waves of dust powdering up everywhere. When I went to the indoor/outdoor room (we have to get another name for that room) I found Lee sandblasting the brick. Not a fun job - he and the ground were covered in fine black dust. But it was a fantastic result.


The brick ceiling has really come to life.

Lee and I have spent the last several days going through every room to determine finishes. I love the word 'finish'. This exercise makes me think we might be coming down the home stretch. Then I look around at all that still has to be done... But now we all know how all the trims will look and which will be painted and which stained. In fact, Ken is making good progress getting the trim up on the third floor:


Yesterday, I arrived in the afternoon to find that the doors to the indoor/outdoor room have been installed! I'm really sorry I missed getting photos of the ordeal of getting them in. And surprisingly, when I asked Bill if he'd take them out and do it again for a photo op, he said NO.
But they look great. As Lee says, now the room looks like a room and not a cave under the house. The only bad news is the number of panes of glass to keep clean. Andrew is doing a good job with it now, but I'm not sure he's ready to sign on full time as a window cleaner.




And, finally for today, Katelyn, here are a few random photos for your space in your seeming never ending job of prepping the window openings:

Trees come down, plaster goes up

I have found it's important to be very sure of your decisions before you say them outloud in front of Lee. I casually agreed that some of the maples could come down behind the driveway. Next thing I know, we are very naked - just one or 2 maples left and a very lonely pine tree. It's not so bad now, but when the leaves come down we will have a straight view of rte 9. The shed will have to go up pretty fast and we will have to do some creative landscaping.

The wall in the side area is down now also. It will go back, but it will be much better and I think the whole upper yard will be much more inviting when we are done. I barely miss the yews and the hawthorne, and even the birches.



Inside, the plastering has been going at a great pace. Although I did panic when I walked into the den and saw John sitting on a ladder and the ceiling nicely done in plaster swirls. I guess I was a bit upset and John sat there patiently letting me rant and rave about smooth ceilings and nothing swirly. When I finally shut up, he explained that was just a first coat that was made swirly because of the shape of the ceiling so the final smooth coat would stick properly. Ooops.



Turns out the finished - smooth- ceiling looks great. How could I have doubted him, even for a second.

I was away for a couple of days, leaving Lee and Peter unattended. Looks like we are going to have a garage. Apparently they decided it would make sense, now that the birch trees are gone to close in the carport with the extra space we have. While I was against it at first, after we went over the layout, I think it may be a good idea. Miriam will draw up plans, and hopefully it won't set us back in time. And it will allow a stone deck on top which is what Peter and I both want.

A Bad Week For Trees

After much back and forth about the fate of the birch trees in the back, Peter spoke at length to Matt Foti, the tree guy, and it was decided the birches had to go. And the hemlocks that were next to them. Matt felt that trying to move the trees to another permanent spot, or worse to a temporary home and then back, would be a costly disaster; he didn't think the trees would survive the trauma and we'd end up having to get new ones anyway. And it makes sense to drop the grade everywhere and not leave a big mound just for the trees which could be compromised anyway after living through all the construction. I told Lee the decision over the phone, and by the time I got to the house, Sal and his big-clawed digger were making mincemeat of the birch trees. While it made me sad to see them go; it was also fascinating to watch Sal work the claw as if it were his own hand. He is very agile with it. I think he could probaly pick up a cheerio.

Peter, Lee and I walked around the rest of the property trying to make some more landscape decisions. We decided the Yew trees, which are pretty sick, and the Hawthorne might have to go on the side of the house. We talked about how to redo the old brick walkways andthe birdbath area which will no longer have a birdbath. I thought nothing was actually resolved

I went inside to check on the plastering and blueboarding which is going very well. The 1st floor is just about done and we finally decided on the size of the now-interior kitchen window so Katelyn framed it out so the plasterers could do their magic.

Then as I was leaving, actually in the car, Sal and Lee were standing at the top of the driveway and Lee yelled over to me - Yew trees, yes or no. Apparently the tree cutters were on their way over. So I said yes.

Peter and I went looking at furniture, and later when I phoned Lee, he said the trees were gone. He said you could barely notice except it was much lighter in the yard. The truth is, there is still plenty of privacy and it's not so noticeable that the yews (and a Hawthorne) are gone. But over by the tennis court, it really looks pretty barren where the birch trees and hemlocks are no longer. It'll be good to get that graded, build the shed and get some new trees in there - maybe by the end of the week...?

Getting plastered

The plasterers have been here most of the week: Big John and his team. They are doing a great job. The 3rd floor was just about finished yesterday and they are moving on to the 2nd floor. They had a couple of extremely uncomfortable days - very hot and humid, but apparently that only affects the people, not the plaster. It's looking great, and alot lighter now that the blueboard is covered

Meanwhile, the Huntington guys came back to finish the wiring for the speakers. While they were drilling in the living room ceiling, they found a couple of batteries inside the ceiling. They are dated 1933. Could this be the buried treasure we've been waiting for? Lee suggests we put them on ebay and see what we get.

The window guys have started taking the old windows back to their shop to refurbish. They take about 10 at a time, fix them and bring them back, and I assume re-install them and then take 10 more. So right now they have about half the 2nd floor. This provides a good opportunity for Katelyn to sand the outer sills from inside the building instead of hanging on the outside. Although, I guess she found it a bit warm inside.

And Chris is back, finishing up the duct work for the connections to the air handlers which he says will be here in about a week and a half.

We are still struggling with the outside compressor issue. Peter is meeting today with Lee and Chris and an engineer to hopefully have a resolution.

Insulate and blueboard

I came back from our trip to New Jersey and Israel to find lots of changes. The insulation guys were here for about a week insulating all the outside walls and roofs. It's really neat the way they do it:

First, someone in a space suit blows a little foam into the open spaces. The foam expands, filling all the empty space. Then after it dries, someone else comes and cuts it down so it is flush with the studs, ready for plastering. This is supposed to be super-duper insulation that also repels moisture so we should be warm and dry or cool and dry all the time. We will barely need heat or A/C (just kidding, Chris).

Once the insulation was done, the blueboard guys showed up. They've been moving right along at a good pace. The 2nd and 3rd floors are done and the 1st floor will probably be done today, leaving only the basement. The plasterer's will start either today or tomorrow.

I love watching the rooms take shape and become rooms again, although I had gotten used to the open feel of just studs. The blueboard material is kind of dark, so the rooms are looking a bit dark now, but that'll change when the plaster goes on.

Outside, the gas line was carefully laid in the trench under the roots that DJ had so lovingly worked on. Now we have new water, new gas, new electric. We just need cable and phone and we're good to go. And Brian and Justin did a beautiful job with the electric panels inside and outside, It is so neat and orderly - a huge change from before.

We've got one small glitch: the doors for the indoor-outdoor room are each about a foot larger than was called for on the plan. They fit in the space with no problem, but it does create a challenge for the proposed architectural columns on the outside. Lee will do a mock-up of how it will look with the existing doors and then we'll all have to decide if we can make it work or if we have to order new doors.