Spruceside

First Snow

2008-01-01T23:46:00.000-05:00

So far we are having tons of great snow. Lots of downhill and cross-country skiing to be had. Please come and visit!

Renovations

2008-01-01T23:31:00.000-05:00

Danny, our builder, laughed real hard when Kevin told him that we wanted the kitchen bump out moved 24 inches to the right and a wall in the first bedroom pushed back a foot. He said, " I don't do renovations." It took some time but Danny was eventually cool with the remodeling. Of course, costing us dearly. The new bump out. No longer a tight fit by the stairs. I must say that I mentioned this early in the building process, but was reassured by the big man (Kevin) that all will be okay.
Beautiful view of the three sisters of Black Mountain from the first floor.
Fir flooring has arrived for the porch. The barn is now being used for staining with Penofin oil. Luckily we got a couple nights at the inn and with our neighbors.

Hearth

2008-01-01T23:14:00.001-05:00

The hearth begins....cement is laid along with radiant tubing to keep the toes warm. Here is Charlie Bean the mason. He will be using stones that we have been collecting for years and stone from the recent blasting to create the hearth/mantle.
Hard at work during some very cold weather. No doors yet. He used a skill saw with a stone cutting blade to scribe fit the rocks together.
We salvaged the mantle from the old house. It was a perfect fit for the mantle in the new house.
The finished product. There is a bit of orange and that is from the rust of the blasted rocks. They will get cleaned off with scrubbing and muriatic acid to help tone the color down.

Fryeburg Fair and friends

2008-01-01T23:02:00.000-05:00

Check out our friends Megan and Dave's blog at http://19ridgeroad.blogspot.com/
Look under the 10/05/07 date and watch our day at the fayah!
Their house is beautiful.

Also wanted to mention that our friends Cindi and Nick Rathbone are moving to Brunswick, ME. She is due to have their baby in December and will live in the house that Nick has built. Check out their blog at http://www.balooboat.blogspot.com/

Fall foliage aerials

2008-01-01T22:49:00.000-05:00

Our friend Megan Simone got a ride in a helicoptor from our friend Ned Sullivan and took a few aerial shots this fall. The colors were spectacular.

Roof and trim

2008-01-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

Nothing like a 3 month hiatus from blogging. Sorry about that. It's a new year with new resolutions. Anyways this is Rob Duff, owner of Specialized Painting, applying the first coat of paint to the trim. Charlie, his dog, loved to bask in the sun on the roof. As you can tell the chimney top is on. The roof is on before the snow flies! Yea!!!!
We had the big piles of rock/dirt leveled. Below are mostly the remains of the rocks from the blasting.
More copper trim and valleys.
This is the family/great room getting lots of afternoon sun. Can't wait for the 8' French Doors.

Chimney and trim

2007-09-27T19:08:00.001-04:00

Pop goes the chimney. As you walk into the house from the front door you will be welcomed with a warm, glowing fire in the woodstove.
Kevin has been steadily binning and priming the trim. Kevin loves trim.
He also loves phat returns and copper. Nice aren't they?
Back view. Trim being applied. It is a very precise, measured process.
Nice and simple.

Ell and porch

2007-09-27T18:46:00.000-04:00

The back wall of the ell is shown. It has turned out to be a bit bigger than we thought. This will be a nice transition from the barn into the house. Oops this is a repeat and I haven't figured out how to delete pictures.
Side view with beginnings of porch frame.
The basic ell. There are windows on either side of the door. Felt material was laid on the ground with stone for the porch frame. This helps with ventilation and weed control.
Porch is up. Side view. The front and most of the side will be full-length screens.
What do you think? Nice breakfast on the porch soaking up the sun, magazine reading, margaritas, and maybe porch sleeping! Oh ya!!!!!

Dormers

2007-09-06T22:32:00.000-04:00

Kevin's beloved dormers. They are similar to the dormers at John Brooks Farmhouse up the road. Speaking of Jon....Jon-Paul (my not so little brother) started his first day of highschool on Tuesday 9/4/07....Unbelievable
Our barn gets mutilated. Shingles had to come off because codes mandates that a layer of drywall be in place between the ell and barn :( And a window from the barn had to be removed as it was too close to the ell. But we get to keep the door.
Another tough day for Clarke at the job site. Actually he loves the new house. He is constantly rubbing all the new wood. He has caught his fair share of mice, but has been avoiding the chipmunks. We just caught the 6th chipmunk in our have-a-heart trap.

Framing of the ell. It will house a 3/4 bath and a washer/dryer. It will be slate stone of some sort and basically be the mudroom.
Starting of farmers porch.

2nd floor framing

2007-09-06T22:10:00.001-04:00

South facing gable houses 3 windows. The big one is for the 2nd bedroom. The middle window is for our walk in closet and the 3rd window view will keep Kevin entertained as he sits on the toilet in the master bath.
North facing gable. Window to the left is for the 1st bedroom. Middle window is the 2nd bathroom and the small window is part of our bedroom.
Back of house includes bump out windows. Top floor window will be our view of Spruce Mountain from the master bedroom. From the other window I will be soaking in my vintage claw-foot tub admiring the backyard!
Full view from barn side. Ell not yet framed.
Here come the dormers! Isn't she cute!

Walls of first floor

2007-09-06T21:44:00.000-04:00

The first and second pictures are taken from the back of the house. You can see the bump out that is part of the kitchen and where a table will sit. The room next to the kitchen (in the back) will be the study. It will have a nice set of windows and door to the backyard.
This picture is the sunken family room. The big opening will house 2 in-swing French doors totaling 6'wide and 8'tall! There is great sun from this side. It will eventually open onto a beautiful stone patio. We will use stones from around the property and from the blasting. The two front windows will look out onto the 8' screened farmers porch.
Here we have the front door entrance, although the ell entrance will be used more often. Basically this is the kitchen. The corner windows represent the location of the sink. The long wall will house a double wall oven, refridgerator, range top and some counter space. There will also be a wood island (hopefully we can use the tiger maple that was cut down from the property). As you walk in from the front door there will be a wood stove with a stoned face (yes more stone from the property) going up. The stairs will be behind the wood stove and come down into the kitchen. A butlers pantry will be tucked under the stairs as well. This will all make more sense as we move along.
And now we have the basic box plus some Typar. Keep in mind the wrap around farmers porch!

Outdoor living

2007-09-06T21:38:00.000-04:00

Some of you may recognize these outdoor chairs around our old campfire. Now the crew has lunch here and we wind up and wind down our days sitting outside with Clarke of course.

First floor framing

2007-09-06T21:18:00.000-04:00

Here you can see the framework for the first floor. You can see the square opening in the center of the top picture, this is where the chimney will be. The bottom picture shows the sunken family room. The crew used blocking which is a higher quality way to support the floor, preventing creaking and warping.

Then they put Advantech or OSB (Orientated Strand Board) down. This is a form of plywood that uses minimal chemicals compared to regular plywood. We are trying to be somewhat "green" with our new home. Although, our friends Meghan and Dave have far surpassed us. Check out their blog and building project at http://19ridgeroad.blogspot.com/ It is awesome.

Our goal (really my goal) is to have no mold, and that is why I really wanted all wood framing like they would have done 100 years ago, but no one else agreed. In my reading heartwood is the best to use to prevent mold. But our builder guarantees our house is going to be so well built that we will not have to worry about mold. We shall see!

Frogger

2007-09-06T21:10:00.000-04:00

Well, we apologize for the 2 month delay. Summer got the best of us and Kevin has been in no mood to keep the blog updated. So I shall take over the duty.

This is a dessicated frog I found along the edge of the foundation. Clarke meowed, "Where's the beef?"

Framing begins..........

2007-07-04T14:39:00.000-04:00

Here, Danny, Steve and Al layout the support beams that our house will sit on. Look how well these guys work together......one happy framing crew.

Slab's in......

2007-07-04T14:36:00.000-04:00

Here's the slab in all it's glory...or is it Nelle and Kevin's new street hockey rink?...

Finishing the slab...

2007-07-04T14:31:00.000-04:00

We are getting closer to having all of the prep work complete so we can begin the framing next week..... You are looking at the foundation with the interior drain and radon mitigation piping covered over with stones with a layer of poly laid ontop....bring on the concrete!

Drainage, Radon Mitiagtion & Backfilling

2007-06-20T22:24:00.000-04:00

We have installed exterior and interior drainage lines in and around the foundation. The interior drain will also serve as a radon vent, mitigating and venting radon gas up and out of our future home. You can see the interior drain exiting out through our footing. The hole above the footing will house the sewer line.

Also, we have installed 1' insulation around the exterior to assist with heat loss. The foundation in these phoos has now been backfilled. With the stone surrounding the interior drains and tamped level with our footings, we are now ready to have the floor poured.

Foundation Walls up and Prepaired.....

2007-06-20T22:07:00.000-04:00

Harrison, Mike and Mickey Hoyt arrived with the forms late in the day, and quickly set the far wall. The next day, an hour before they finished setting the forms they called for the concrete. These guys do not miss a beat. Our walls are only 4' tall. We will only have a crawl space under the house due to the high water table and the fact that...well...we have a barn to keep our "stuff" in already.

Jackson craftsmen Al McLane surveys Steve Briggs sealing work, and gets ready to install the sill.

Footings and Finally...........Concrete

2007-06-20T21:58:00.001-04:00

Two holes.....one shower

2007-06-20T21:19:00.000-04:00

With the blasting complete, we stoned the bottom of the cellar hole and are now ready for the footings to be poured.

People always ask "So what are you doing for a bathroom and a shower?" Well, here's the answer...our new custom outhouse complete with an oak seat and magazine rack! And the shower...Very roomey and well vented.

Dyno-Mite.it works.........

2007-06-18T21:36:00.000-04:00

Enough Said...........

Blasting caps...different cap delays are used to time the blast........Dick Allison explained the whole concept to Nelle and I . He used smaller shots to break up our ledge that blasted 4' x 4' by 4' sections at a time.

Don Ryder brings over the 6,000 lb. mats made from old recycled truck tires from Canada......eh.....

The Ledge broke up into a million little pieces that we will use for our foundation and hearth. We invited a few friends to come over and pick through the pile. Will and Becky built a patio/path, and Dave and Meg are still thinking about how they will use the stone.

Drillin' & Blastin'

2007-05-29T16:38:00.000-04:00

Early today, Maine Line Blasting's rig was dropped off....check the thing out.....a pattern of holes were drilled into our ledge about 6' in depth for the TNT to be placed in. The black paper holds back debris out of the holes until the TNT is dropped in. The charges will be shot on Thursday...

4 hours...4 dumpsters....no more Spruceside...

2007-05-25T19:28:00.000-04:00

So, Nelle and I were lying in bed when the alarm went off at 5:30, Nelle thought I was crazy to get up, but it was demo day.... and the Excavation crowd has a habit of showing up early to work. Sure enough at 5:55 the N. Conway Disposal showed up with the first 2 of 4 dumpsters. What time do these guys get up! So after coffee and some discussion, with Brett and Michael from Garland Excavation, Michael fired up the Volvo excavator and took the first swipe at the house at 6:45am. The sound was of super dry wood being snapped into a million little pieces. After 4 hours we had no more house......

Sprucesides last few days....

2007-05-23T22:04:00.001-04:00

Time is running out here at spruce, Danny and Steve helped us take what we wanted to save. Kevin being frugal cut out all of the copper piping. JT disconnected the power, so now we are waiting for the excavator to arrive to raise our beloved Spruceside........Hey...how 'bout those blue countertops......Nelle think's we should put them in the new house....not!

Recycle Anyone?....

2007-05-23T21:50:00.000-04:00

Friends let friends recycle. In this case, Bryan and Jenny Stewart of Stow, ME salvage our metal roof to use at their property. Additionally, we saved the interior logs, some windows, the appliances, and of course the kitchen sink...

Old days at Spruce

2007-05-23T21:46:00.000-04:00

The way it was......

Brother-in-law Rich when he lived with us for a brief time