Team Heart Wood

Erik & Carter begin the installation of the flooring. Erik started laying out the flooring this week in preparation for Carter coming up to help. Since the room is a little bit out of square (6"to be exact!) he started in the center and is working his way out to each side. This is proving difficult- but the boys are making it happen and it looks beautiful.

Here they are putting in the last piece to the wall side- the board furthest to the right is the first piece down.

Carter cleaning up before laying the next piece down. Erik banging the line into place.
Team "East by NorthEast"! I don't think they planned their matching attire...

Heart Wood in the HAUZ!

Now that the heat is on, literally, we can finally get going on the room. We've got everything coming in, on it's way or in the storage somewhere. On Friday we had the electricians in to finalize some lighting and receptacles. We also got our flooring. Erik and I spent a romantic valentine's day laying out the flooring in the space to acclimate for the next 3 weeks. Then once it reaches within 2% of the moisture ratio as the plywood, then you can install it. The blue tape outlines where the island will be, and the cabinets on the other sides. So exciting.

This photo is taken from the existing side of the house looking into where the new kitchen will be. Again, the blue tape outlines where the cabinets will be.

Here is our flooring. On Friday, the old guy from Bingham Lumber came up and brought the flooring. Erik and the old guy loaded each piece into the kitchen one at a time. It is camp grade Heart Pine. Which is the hardest of the softwoods. It' is so hard, since it taken from the "heart" of the tree. Many of America's mills and factories were built with heart pine, since it was valued for it's characteristics of being rot and insect resistant. They say that it is more stable than oak? I am not sure about that fact- but it sure is pretty.

This image above & below is the butcher block top. Today, the guy from Bingham Lumber brought the top up. It was laying in the back of his SUV and we carried it in together. It was super heavy. When I finally looked at the piece, I was almost crying it is so beautiful. The guys at Bingham did such a great job, picking the right pieces to construct the butcher block. It is so pretty. It is made from reclaimed heart pine. Which means it was originally a beam in an old mill or barn and cut down to take off the worn exterior and has a tight grain pattern. The newer wood doesn't have this character, but it is still beautiful.

Laying Pipe- PEX that IS!

It is official- we have heat!!! Rick the Plumber came and hooked up the 4 loops of pex tubing to our existing furnace and laid the tubing between the sleepers. He and Erik only got 1/2 way across the room, but the thermostat is slowly going up. I hope he can get back in to finish it, before the flooring is delivered.

This weekend, we also went down to Ma. and helped Stella & Karl pack up their condo in Haverhill for their downsizing to the Franconia Cottage. Good luck on the move! By the look of that U-haul truck they are definitely going to need an addition to fit all their stuff.

Laying Planks

So, as some of you know we haven't been up skiing that much. Mostly, because we have so much happening so quickly, that we need to get some momentum. We need to get flooring in the room, we have appliances & cabinets ordered. In order to get flooring in- we need heat. In order to get heat, we need to lay the sleepers to run the radiant under. So instead of getting on planks to ski, Erik laid some planks over the sub-floor. Of course this sounds like it might take a few hours, but 1/3 of the room has a concrete pad. Erik put down a reflective bubble wrap over the entire room, this is to reflect the heat from the radiant tubing up instead of heating the slab and the crawl space below. The concrete slab was also about an inch above the subfloor, so Erik had to slice the 2 x 4-s so that they were level with the 2x on the subfloor.

Above is Erik starting to lay the 2x over the subfloor section. Those nailed right in. Over the concrete was a different story. I had to run out and buy a hammer drill- for him to screw in to the pad. He had to spray water as he was drilling so that the bit didn't get too hot. It took about 2 days to get that section done. I also had to borrow an electric hand planer from Mike, since the concrete pad was not level, he was planing each 2x with an antique at one point. The electric hand planer saved him about a week of work.

This is the finished result. Sleepers across the entire room- now we just need to get the radiant in. While Erik was working, the dogs and I explored the woods behind our house. We made some snowshoe trails and enjoyed all the snow, we've had.

End of 2010- Wrap up

Well, I meant to get this blogged about a month ago, but I am just getting to it now. Kinda feeling defeating in my New Years resolutions already! Oh well, here are some shots of the house in the first snow storm. We had more snow on the coast than they did over in MWV, it was nice to wake up to the snow.Nate and Erik closed out the duck season with two Christmas ducks. Fisher the dog was a big help retrieving them from the marsh. Good Boy!

The Wheelhorse in 'er snow blowing glory. As Erik says, "No amount of snow will stop the WheelHO!"

Tapin' & muddin'

Here are some pictures of the completed drywall in the "great room"! Which means we are getting ready to paint, install floors, order cabinets and appliances. Of course it sounds so simple, but there is a ton of work to do before we can have you over for the "room" warming party. Erik has hours of taping and mudding the joints between the pieces of drywall. The electrical still needs to be finished up, we've got to get the lights in and working and receptacles receiving. We need to get the sleepers down and the tubing for the radiant flooring. We need to take delivery on the flooring and wait 3 weeks for the wood to acclimate to the heat (hopefully we can get the heat running) in the space.

Looking towards the garage- mudroom space. Barty stretchin it out.

Looking at the fireplace.

Towards the existing part of the house- where we are living. And out to the pond. Almost ready for some pond hockey.

The rest of that view towards pond.

Taping the joints and mudding begins. Every night, for a few weeks this may go on. Bartlett is exhausted already.

Let it dry and repeat the next evening.

Again.

And again.

Quack Quack

528 has turned into a hot hunting spot, not just for chipmunks and mice but the flying feathered animals, as well. Erik has commandeered a duck blind in the marsh and goes out several times a week before work as well as anytime he hears some quacking. One day he had me shoo the ducks from the pond, so that they would fly across the street into the marsh. I don't feel so bad when it ends up on my fork that evening. At least I know we won't starve!
Tom Jordan with his first foul. Mallard I mean. Apologies to your family Tom, since now you are addicted to hunting duck on top of the deer problem. I guess they'll see you in January?
Nate Hicks, he's a goose man himself. He can carry nearly 7 geese at one time. Erik thinks the barrel on his gun is bent, that's why he is carrying these geese instead of posing with a fatty duck.
Erik with his fatty duck. This one was a black duck and was very large. My mom was over when he brought it in, and sang her old girl scout tune to him. I am still not sure if she was horrified or happy?