Today I put the framing in place to build the porch off the master suite. You might notice the 6x6 post at the base. The reason for it was that we changed our minds as to where we wanted the posts located. Since the concrete sona-tubes were already poured, the 6x6 allows us the luxury of placing the posts anywhere along the length. We decided to go with a 6 foot span between posts after doing a lot of scouting around. Originally we placed the posts so that it wouldn't cut into the view out the patio door. As is usually the case it is better to consider the project as a whole from the outside. To design the exterior of a house from the inside is a contemporary concept which has resulted for the most part in very poor design, as an example the High Ranch, the Spanch, and the McMansion. Ah-Oh,... I think my old house snobbery is showing.Sorry. Soon the deck for the entire back porch will be in place. See you on the porch, you bring the lemon aid and I'll bring some real life old house ghost stories.

Glen and I worked together for a while today on the roof. He set the chimney flues and did the flashing (we used lead, I love working with lead, it's deceivingly heavy and pliable). I replaced the slates as he flashed.
We used a system of pulleys to bring up the flue which weighs 170 lbs. Glen told me some war stories, how the Viet Cong would put a grenade wrapped with tape in the gas tank of the helicopter. The tape would eventually disintegrate in the fuel and "the helicopter next to you would disappear". "Your first thought would be thank god it wasn't me, then you'd feel guilty for thinking it, later you came to accept the whole experience for what it was".
He also told me about his Canadian and Native American roots (his Grandmother denied being Native American, but when his father found her birth certificate in 1960 he knew the rumors about her being Native American were true and embraced his heritage.) and growing up in a family of house builders in Springfield MA.
Most unbelievable was that he was an executive at an Insurance Company for many years. It's hard to imagine Glen in and office wearing a suit. I wonder if he wore his sandels.

This weekend, Maria and I celebrated my 40th birthday by staying overnight in Merck Forest. Life is strange and beautiful and rarely goes the way you think it's going to.

I started the front porch on Friday, very exciting. Porch building is very rewarding, it goes fast and you get a real feeling of accomplishment. But as I plumbed and leveled the main beam it seemed off. Way off. So I checked level on the twenty five foot addition only to discover that it is out of level over 4" from one side to the other. So decision time, do I make the porch level, or do I make the porch match the house....well, I went with the third option and I cut the difference between the two. So the porch will be 3" out of level, you won't notice the difference between the porch and the addition... hopefully. I'll keep you updated tell me if you like the way it works out. Just another experiment in old house restoration.

Yesterday was not one of our best days when it comes to getting work done. We did what we had to do to get ready for Glen to work today. We set up 3 courses of block on the chimney. It probably took a few hours and then we just couldn't get ourselves to do anymore. It was raining and dreary out and we were dreary too. The thought of working was unbearable, we were tied and depressed, but home was no better, so we ran. We went to a matinee in Bennington and chose Get Smart over The Hulk, because it was a comedy. What a difference that made, it was funny enough to make us laugh out loud, and it did lighten us up. I think it was necessary.
It's always a little scary to make a decision like we did, to leave work and go to a movie in the middle of the day. I always think, what if we so this again tomorrow, and then the next day? What if we get into the habit of not working every time we don't feel like it? What if we start quitting early and starting the day late? It's as if I don't want to put the idea out there, because it might take over and we'd get absorbed by it.
Actually, what usually happens, when we take a spontaneous day off , is the next day we are ready and excited to get back to work. I guess we'll see what happens.

I cut the hole in the roof today for the chimney. It's a strange sensation cutting a hole in something I just last summer built. It is almost like going in reverse. In two weeks, weather permitting, there will be a brick chimney where I am in the photo. It's exciting being so close to completion but it's been a long time coming. I also had a lumber delivery from Curtis Lumber today. They delivered all the wood needed to build the deck for the three porches. Can't wait to start, variety is the spice of life.

When we disassembled a chimney in the 1809 Spence house we found, to no surprise, that the bricks were handmade and most probably made on site. We have set aside what we needed to finish off the chimney of our new reproduction 18th century fireplace. The Spence house is typical of many in this area. It seems that the addition we needed to take down, because it was falling in when we first bought the place, wasn't an addition at all but the original building or at least the original foundation of the original building. We found the original corner stone and etched into the stone is the date 1781. It is possible that this was originally a log cabin and then updated to match the "new" Federal style addition in 1809. Anyway we now have extra 18th century or early 19th century brick to sell. We have a pile we call "clinker" bricks. These are the ones of an earlier dimension, much thinner and squat than later bricks, many have been over fired and are multi colored. They are also deformed and unique. "Clinker" it is said came from the sound they make when you hit them together. They are heavier and harder because of their proximity to the fire and clink like porcelain.

We built a bonfire today of scraps of wood we had and at its center was the stump of a tree we had out last fall. In its roots were large clumps of soil. After the fire was out I went over and discovered that this clay soil, the same soil that the original owners of the Spence house used two hundred years ago, turned into crude clumps of brick. It has that nice orange color (which means it was under fired and is soft) that the noggin bricks in the wall had. I some how felt what it must have been like all those years ago to turn clay into a building material.

One of the more miserable and unrewarding jobs I've done lately. Reapplying the lathe. Some pieces and patches and entire areas had to be removed to make way for the electrical and plumbing. The photo shows an area of removed lathe so small that it didn't even need reapplying, but I forgot to take a photo today so I went back into the archive. Before sheetrock can be applied you need a uniform flat surface and so I did it. A dirty, nasty, smelly job. The job is tough because after you've taken out the old nails from the salvaged lathe, you've pulled the nails from the studs or joists, you measure and cut the salvaged lathe to size, you've nailed it up, you've been showered by mouse feces, plaster dust and 200 years accumulation of dirt when you're all done it looks just exactly the same as when you started or worse. But that's all apart of the job. Tomorrow I will choose something more fun. The yin and yang of old house restoration.

Yesterday we got the delivery of wood from Lloyd for the porches and clapboard for the front of Mike's house. Lloyd was late because he was waiting for one of his alpaca's to give birth. She still hadn't when he left for our house, but he didn't want to wait any longer.
I spent the morning with Mary and Jon bringing books to The RedFox bookstore in Glens Falls then continued painting the house. Bill went to Nicholas' Auction at the Salem Antiques Center then put in most of floor in the new addition.
We sold two slop sinks, one from the Wilson Farm and one from Mike's to a couple from Nassau who saw our ad on Craig's List. We also sold some hand hewn beams from Mike's barn to some people from Johnstown who are re erecting their neighbor's barn on their property.

Today I put in the subfloor for the loft in the master suite. Although the original structure had a full 2nd floor the flooring is a replica of what was there originally, right down to the band saw marks on the wood planks. The planks measure between 12 and 14" in width and 1/2" in thickness. I put approximately 1" space between them and started with a ripped piece 6" in width so that when I apply the wide board flooring in the same 12-14" width their seems won't overlap. Tomorrow I will work on the flooring unless Glenn shows up and then we will work on the chimney.