Walking around

 Things are framing up. I no longer have to rely upon upon a ladder to ascend to the second floor. Jim spent two weeks building the double winder staircase. The subfloor has been installed in the original house section and the addition. Blue spruce is a fine light contrast to the aged patina of the ash timbers. All the windows are installed. I am now turning my attentions to furring out the walls and ceiling for the electrician, plumber, and most of all the insulator. Electricity has been connected to the house, although a good handsaw and plane go quite a distance. With any luck and a lot of continued persistence the house will be closed up by snowfall. Sam

Windows

 A few photos of what we have been up to in the last few months. We got the antique windows which Bill brought from Connecticut last year finally roughed in. With a little work on the casings they fit in very nicely. We did install old wavy glass and the house seems to have a new life to it. I did get about five feet of brick work up on the back so the electrician could mount the meter. While I was waiting for the electric company to run the underground cable I got the downstairs framed out. As can be seen on the front of the house we worked on the right window to square it up. Amazing how much work a simple bottle jack can do. I am working in the cool of air conditioning on other parts of the staircase. Sanding treads and such. Once we get electricity we will turn our attentions to running the spruce sub floor through the saw.

Sweet Gutted Spring

Looking toward the front of the house

 Spring has arrived. It is wonderful to work here again. A bit overwhelming with the mess. When I look back to where this house was last year, whatever doubts arise are quickly vanquished. The three layers of flooring in the main section were removed last fall. We plan to reuse the original ash floor in the kitchen. I finally got the inside stone wall up to height and thus was able to gut the kitchen section. I reused the green treated 2x10s from the terrible 90s plywood addition. The staircase is roughed out. It is next on my list. The goal is to get the electricity hooked up and run, heating system in, insulation sprayed, and house buttoned up so I will be able to work in it this winter. A tall order to fill. The rock is being pushed ever nearer the peak.

Looking toward the kitchen

From kitchen toward front of house

Kitchen

Laying out staircase