A Busy Week

A lot has been happening this week.  On Monday I worked on demolishing the raised hearth in front of the fireplace.  It was solid masonry, including cinder blocks and bricks.  I spent about three hours, with most of the time spent loading up the bricks, mortar and pieces in a bucket and carrying them to the edge of the ravine.  I had to keep each bucket load light enough to carry down the basement steps, and out the back door.

You can get a sense of how much material was in the hearth when you see the pile.

While I was doing that, the carpenter was putting in two temporary walls which will be used to support the roof beams while they install the laminated beam across the open space at the end of the kitchen.

 

They also began taking out the top section of the wall on the side of the stairs to the basement, which will be only a half-wall. This will make the living room appear larger.

While we were away for a few days, the crew was able to put in a new laminated beam over the top of this wall beside the stairwell.  I would include a picture, but there is not a lot to see.

A lot of the work up to now has been on things that will disappear behind the walls and ceilings of the house.  Having worked with Dad and Mom on our house when I was growing up, I find it interesting to see how things are done, and know how important those things are.  We have had to replace a number of old beams, as well as put in new beams, because building codes have changed.  They had done things that are no longer allowed.  That is part of the adventure of working on an old house. 

When I arrived today, the front porch and steps have been poured, and several new windows installed.  Here you can see one of the Master Bedroom windows that looks toward the porch.  The strand board is covering where they have taken out the cinder block and put in the frame for a new transom window.

Here is the a view from the inside, with the framing for the transom window.  This window looks out onto the North Garden, what I call the "Secret Garden."  Usually the deer cannot see into it, with cars parked in front, and the house and a fence on the other three side.  However, that has not always worked.

By the end of the day the crew installed six windows, including the two on this side of my new office.  I am very excited to see them in place.  Yet, tempering my happiness,  all of the plants in the garden bed were badly beaten up.  Most are herbaceous perennials, which will be okay.  But the bush in the corner had a lot of branches broken.  It will grow back, but slowly.