Memorial Day Weekend

Leah with the wrench!

Before I start writing about us, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all our troops, veterans and those who have given so much in order for us to have our freedom. Thanks for your service and thank you to those that are serving, I thought about you all weekend and how lucky we are to have people like you, sacrificing so much so that we may have the freedoms we have today.

Erik and I are linking the location of the existing deck with the dining room- we got a french door to replace the existing window. So we got started early Saturday morning with the Auger rental.

Later on around 1pm we had a very nice surprise during our digging of the holes for the sono tubes....Luke and Tracy came by. Luke got right into the project mixing the concrete and pouring the footings. Tracy did a beer run ( which is pretty funny, since she is 8 1/2 months pregnant!) It was such a huge help. We really appreciate it!

So we dug the post holes with the Auger- they needed to be 4 feet down. Which

is safe from the frost line, if they were higher the possibility o

f them shifting due to the freeze and thaws we get up here in Maine We made 6 holes for footings. On the 2nd hole we got the Auger stuck and I had to go back and get the wrench from the hardware store- it was as big as me. I was kind of embarrassed walking out of the store with it.

Pics are from Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn't capture Saturday, since it was pretty intense and I had forgotten to buy batteries for the camera.

This image is Sunday Morning- starting to frame

Sunday, we started laying the decking. It's a meranti- a type of mahogany. It is hard as a rock and you have to pre-drill each hole and the nails are freaking tiny and expensive- so I was under the deck gathering ANY that fell down through. Erik cut the planks, sealed the ends and drilled the holes, while I came from behind and nailed then down. The wood is so hard that it eats through drill bits too, we used 6 today ! Luckily, Erik had worked with it before, so he stocked up. I'll upload some of those photos later- it was dark before I thought of it.

Panorama of the back of the house. Its a little skewed so use your imagination- it doesn't really look like a "fun house".

Pre- Decking Sunday night

Trapped

"Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it."- Steinbeck

Deck Removal

Erik and I took the deck off, Well Erik took the deck off and I moved it into the dumpster with the Wheelhorse. The issue with the deck was several-

1. it was about 12" higher than our finish floor elevation, which wasn't great since water was splashing up into the house.

2. it had a 8' diameter hole right in the center in it from the oak tree being removed.

3. Eric our neighbor said the PT lattice railings were as tacky as his pink flamingoes in his yard ( this is a fact, although pink flamingoes on your yard in Maine is right up there on the tacky meter) I think that he might use them to keep deer from eating his garden. I am hoping that is the reason he has them, anyway.

The last photo is of the remaining wood that needs to be chopped and some very pretty old fashioned flowers that are popping up on the bank above the pond. I cannot remember the name of it- if anyone knows please tell me again.

Seal It!

Mama and Papa Canadien Geese with 5 babies, honking in the pond.

Tell em Bartlett! SEAL IT Insulation installed our foam insulation. We'll be toasty with our new windows and new insulation. It will keep out the critters too. This insulation is much better than batt insulation for several reasons- we'll double at least the R value in the walls and triple in the ceiling. The install is so tight, we won't be bothered by critters nesting in the walls. no more nut storage. The air quality with foam is much cleaner and does not contain fibers or added dust inside the house where the batt insulation does as it breaks down with time. It is a sustainable product as it outlasts the other insulations out there on the market. The install took a little over a day and a half and the guys were very clean and professional. Reggie was our lead installer and he was great. Best part about SEAL IT- they are a Maine based company (Brunswick), and it feels great to work with a local company. I recommend spending the extra on the foundations of your walls. This will definitely pay us back in savings this winter as well as our many years we'll be having at the house.

We will certainly be looking into the Tri-polymer they have for the existing part of the house - at some point, since it is great for retrofit installations and can be added to each stud bay from the exterior without having to gut the interior finishes- although with the noises I heard last night- we may be gutting the insides of this section too!! It sounds like it is something you want to do in the summer months- since the chemicals react best when it is at a warmer climate. But according to Reggie- it is perfect for historical renovations or retrofits-as it pushes whatever insulation that is currently in the walls, and fills the cavity completely like the spray foam.

Mike Conlyn the Portland representative was very sweet, he came by to make sure everything was okay with the installation and to make sure we were pleased with the work. Which we are of course. He happened to come around the corner of the house, just when Erik had taken a shot at a rodent exiting the house- Erik had wounded the bugger, so to put it out of it's misery Erik stepped on him.

Poor Mike...I am sure he was appalled- but left us with a Thank You card that included a Cabella's gift card- which read "for more ammo!"....gotta love Maine.

Yard Work- Mucho help Wheelhorse and Parents who worked like a horse

Erik's parents came up on Sunday to help us around the yard. They worked so hard. It made such a big difference. I don't think the yard had been raked in 10 years or more. Ardell raked and dumped leaves, while Karl ran the WheelHorse. Did I mention our latest addition. After careful shopping on craigslist, Erik found a 1971 Wheelhorse lawn tractor up in New Gloucester. He happened to buy it from a Wheelhorse enthusiast and the online Wheelhorse website founder Micah. The tractor came with a mowing deck and a snow blower. We are looking for a rototiller attachment if anyone knows anything about that.

Anyway, since Erik took small engines in high school he is pretty good at fixing some of the issues it came with. He replaced the hydrolic line and has big plans to change out the muffler. So, Karl had it purring all day Sunday- he would stack up the wood in the cart and drive around the house, back in behind the shed and unload the wood, stacking it in tidy stacks behind the woodshed. Then drive it around the front of the house- to pick up more wood and do it all again. Bartlett was such a good girl during the day- at one point she was being VERY quiet and doing her own thing. Until we realized why she was so quiet. She found a skull- maybe a possum and was contently licking out the brains. Ewwww. You can see the sad look on her face when we take it away from her. So sad...

Licked Clean

Windows and Doors Oh my.....

Our Andersen Woodwright 400 series windows are in! Erik worked his tail off with Kevin's help and were able to install the slider, transom above and the double hung window after work on May 1st. This happened so fast- that I was only able to capture them the next day! The hole in the deck from the tree removal was helpful since the deck is about a foot too high for our finished floor height. That will come off in the next few posts...

Anyway, we are thrilled to have working windows that have a cladding, we won't have to paint the exterior and are already painted on the interior as well. Having a window that we won't feel the draft coming through will make a huge difference this winter. We are also looking forward to the federal Energy tax credits for this year. Stay tuned for more window installations- hopefully before it gets really hot.

Keep looking- we'll be siding that soon, seriously we won't leave the Typar up much longer. Unfortunately many of our fellow Mainers don't realize that Typar isn't a siding material and actually has a life expectancy that is hastened by UV exposure. I am sure our neighbors will be thrilled when some shingles go up.

Thanks Tom Jordan for the spelling lesson this evening.