The Home Stretch

The team slogs through the measuring and carving of the rigid foam, cutting in every bloody slot to make way for every bloody rafter tail to finish this drama free "Quickie" wall. It's always the details that kill you, and Mike is taking on a crazed look. No more coffee for Mike today.

Finished with that, they turn the corner and start stripping the 2nd floor above the front entranceway.

We learn that the two front columns are NOT weight bearing. Just there for looks. That chunk of house is just cantilevered over the abyss. A cantilever would be rocket science for the hacks that built this house (and that field stone foundation).


The electricians arrived and whipped through their work orders:
-Fixed the bizarre basement wiring, organizing and fastening lines to the ceiling and eliminating dead lines.
-Re-wired the rear lights, the front entryway lights, the back deck lights.
-Moved the dryer hook-up for Unit #1 next to the washer for unit #1.....and just as quickly moved it back. I guess that was a mistake.
-Shifted the main electric service connection from the driveway-side around the corner to the front of the house.

The driveway width was always barely acceptable before........in fact if ever a passenger, I normally closed my eyes. Now it will be 5" less acceptable. To avoid the loss of our electric meters (again) to a wayward vehicle, we're shifting the service pick-up to the front and crossing our fingers that it can made to look somewhat less than a festering sore on the house, a wound, a scar, a blight.....not that I'm fixating on the wiring. OK, I am fixating on the wiring.


We are actually so proud of our wiring and electrical service, that we asked for an extra coil to be up there banging against the wall. That's going to get fixed.

We had considered reducing the insulation on that one wall segment to 2" thick, or just 2" thick within 6 ft of the ground, and then transitioning back to 4" to the roof. Sounds fussy and complex doesn't it? Keep it simple. Learn to drive or get off the driveway.

The reflective foil is looking pretty slick.

January 7 is a freezing rain day. No one shows up and the kids leave 2 hours late.

The team returns to work the 8th, finishes stripping the front, starts stripping the last sections of the old siding on the sun room, and rips out the entryway doors.




The doors going in are of standard height, which is shorter than the doors coming out. Some trim surgery is required above the door.

With day's end, the last of the ugliest shingles on Earth await their execution on the peak of the roof. The magnificent Lemieux doors are installed and accessorized with such things as knobs and locks. We are totally unworthy.
More un-insulated voids are found and stuffed. House wrap is applied over sheating.

I don't want to jinx anything here......but... Can I confide in you? Can you keep a secret?
I can actually visualize completion.

Basement Archeology II

Just when we were having fun....
What better way to spend the first weekend of the new year than to Shop Vac the basement, inspect the foaming work and look for any air leaks? You should try it. With the plaster shielding finally removed, the first full inspection in 80 years would now be possible. The unusually "cold" cold would make the hunt for air leaks a snap.

First, if you have a minute, a little background on foundations:

Your modern poured concrete foundation, with their "finished" basements, toy rooms, shag carpet, and home theaters, are designed for all those shallow people with weak constitutions. You know the type? Think folks with hoop earrings and cheese whiz. These are people who have trouble committing to anything larger than themselves......like a basement.

Your field stone walled basement, on the other hand, is something akin to the darkest corners of the Bastille. Children will never willingly go into a field stone basement because they know that an under-lit New England basement is where nightmares are born, and sometimes are secretly buried. A field stone wall is a living, breathing, heaving, moving entity just barely held together by a lime-based mortar softer than your fingernail. As they age, the ancient walls poop little piles of lime dust. They form cleaving cracks that several generations of immigrant Italian and Irish labor have toiled to keep stiched together.

How does one maintain a field stone basement? The sage advice fluctuates between, "It's 80 years old, and it's going to survive you, your children, and your grandchildren", to a recommendation for regular annual checks and touch-ups which end only when you die.

The "foundation" of this most recent foundation concern can be seen in the corner behind our state-of-the-art, gleaming laundry center. (Why, you can just about eat off the floor!) Not the 4 ft gaping crack leaking arctic air, no not that. That we can fix. No, what spooked me, was behind that crack. A void opening at the top roughly large enough for Jimmy Hoffa. Truth be known, I almost stuck my whole arm in there, until Jimmy Hoffa came to mind.


Oh no, what to do?
An urgent call to the mason (stone mason not the cult with the protractors) was met with a rapid response, "be there in 30 minutes". The mason arrived, looked around, and said, "ehh, no big deal, we fix it after your project is done. You know, this foundation is 80, and will last another 100 years no problem."

Basement Archeology I

Look what we found in the basement.
A new, unused in the box, Underwood Electric Dry Shaver, and as the sign says, "...equal in quality and performance of any $15 shaver".

Manufacturered sometime between 1938 and 1941 just 67 - 70 years ago.
The razor came with a "Lifetime Guarantee Service Card", but since the company, their employees, the salesperson, the customer, and the poor slob who never received this as a gift are all dead......I wondered if the razor itself might still have some life left in it.

The wire insulation had disintegrated, so I rewired it with a new cord set, and electrically taped it up. No on/off switch, just plug it in and hope for the best.

Wouldn't you know it? Not only did I not get electrocuted, I was able to coax it to remove the random arm hair. A 70 year old shaver that jumped to life on its first shave. This is exactly the kind of quality that Americans are capable of assuming that there were any factories left in America still making consumer goods. Well we still make great building materials, like every one of the products used in this project. They will still be on the job keeping this house warm and comfortable, for generations to come.

Finally, a Quickie Wall

December 29 - 30, 2008

Finally the wall that we've all been waiting for. No angles, no porches, no challenges, no personality at all, just a quick strip, wrap and full size boards of Dow Tuff-R insulation. Our guys should have been able to go to town on the wall blindfolded, but the weather had a few curve balls up its sleeve. 30 mph gusts.

Pre-Project photo of the wall December 29, 2008: a quick strip Notice the 1st and 2nd floor sealed windows. These are two bathroom windows that were closed off 20 years ago when the duplex was converted to condos. Those contractors from a generation ago, could not be bothered to stuff a little fiberglass next to either bath tub. The voids are stuffed tight this time.

December 30, 2008: Two hours before the Fastened Wrap. Unrolling and attempting to staple 10" wide house wrap in 30 mph winds. It was a bit nuts.....and would have made a great picture.

December 30, 2008: The crew nearly completes cutting and applying two layers of foam and completing the wall before the arrival of the New Year's Eve snow....but not quite.