Cappuccino, Gallery and Gardens

All I can say is, “Thank goodness the roof trusses are on back order!”  We’ve had a couple of days of pretty heavy rain (and hail).  I’m so glad that we didn’t get the roof torn off before this inclemant weather came through.  Ricky was back for more grading and digging.  Now we have forms in place for the concrete pilings that will support the handicap ramp.  The ramp will run the full 40′ accross the back and then there will be a landing where it turns toward the street.  These guys don’t do anything in a small way (or the wrong way).  It’s refreshing really.

In the meantime, Mickey and I have been busy with the upstairs bathroom.  After I finished the floor in the upstairs bedroom, we headed off to Bangor to pick up a new sink and cabinet for the bathroom so that we could lay the floor knowing what would be placed on top of it.  I’ll upload photos tomorrow when we’re done.

Things are moving along,though slowly.

 

Things are really moving along here.  Brian, Dan and Tom have been terrific!  Their knowledge and rare work ethic for this county have really impressed both Mickey and me.

This team has really done a fabulous job of designing and doing things right.  I have given over most of the design to Brian, who knows what I want to achieve and does a terrific job of bringing that concept to fruition.

There will eventually be 10 large windows across the back of the porch with a door and another window on each end.  The enclosed porch is approximately 10′ x 40′ and there is an open deck that’s about 10′ x 16′.   The weather is supposed to be cold and rainy for a few days.  We’ll probably have to wait to tear the roof off. 

These guys are doing a great job on the new deck, as well as mating it up with the existing landing.  It’s terrific fun to watch these guys work…a very entertaining crew.

Mikee was starting to stress about the delay in the building permit.  It arrived in today’s mail!

We’re starting to see some visible construction (not just destruction).  How exciting is this??? 

Brian, Tom, Dan and Mikee (AKA Lightning) arrived at 7:00 to begin the days work.  They lagged the floor supports into the existing building.  Of course they discovered that the original floor on the inside of the gallery is not level.  As a result, our deck will not be level, but I don’t much care about that at this point. 

I think that they sent me off to the hardware store to get the camera out of their way.

Not much progress expected today.  Pottles Concrete pulled the forms and unveiled the new wall/foundation.  The framing materials were delivered for the new deck today as well.

It’s a busy day today.  The guys from Pottles Concrete are hoping to pour the wall in two truck loads, but it doesn’t look like it will be enough at this point.  It’s just nice to see some work being done.  The weather has been lousy (cold and rainy) for the last few days.  It’s not real nice right now, but at least it’s not raining.  Brian has put together his materials list and is ready to order all of the lumber.   He figures that they will start on the construction of the deck next week.

     

Well, if you were the one writing the checks this picture would scare the bejeezus out of you.  It certainly did me.  When Brian mentioned that they would put in a “Knee Wall” to hold back the leach field I was invisioning a 24″ cinder block wall.  So, when I looked out the door and saw these forms for this monolith my jaw dropped and I could barely form the words, “CALL 911 !!”  This can’t be right!  This is a wall 5′ high and 52′ wide of solid concrete!!  I don’t remember approving this. 

Upon Brian’s arrival on site we imediately brought this to his attention (not that he could miss it).  I think that he was as surprised as we were that the concrete guys had formed such a gigantic structure.  However, when the dust settled, we all agreed with the concrete guys that the proper way to hold back this hill is to form a wall that makes it possible to level the field, rather than have it grade down into a low wall, which would have been impossible to mow.  So, at this point money is apparently no object.