Sorry Mother Earth....

OK, I am going to confess that I feel very badly about the choice of roofing materials we are making for the house.  I don't know why it's bothering me, but it is- maybe if I unburden this guilt I will feel better.  In a perfect world it would have been different and we could have satisfied a number of different people and causes.  But with money growing tight we had to make some very difficult decisions for the good of the little William Tripp house.  We started out with the idealistic wish list, we are going to get "x".  It's important and we are not going to change our minds.  We "must do" this or that so that we minimize our carbon footprint.  Now we are to the point of "would have been nice if we could have done..."

There is a lot more to your roofing choice than you would think.  We take the roof for granted until it starts to leak and you have to replace it.  This winter, more than ever, people have been thinking of their roofs.  There are a lot of roofing options too.  In the order of affordability the asphalt roof is the most common and least expensive, cedar shakes offer a historic/rustic look, metal roofs are seen a lot in snowy areas, and synthetic engineered roofs like the Enviroshakes are not very common but a very exciting new technology.  But with anything new, they are often prohibitive in terms of cost to the common home owner.

So, what's the big deal about roofs you are thinking- just get what you can afford and be done with it.  Well, asphalt roofs are the least environmentally friendly choice for a few reasons.  The biggest of course is that they are made from petroleum.  This manufacturing process has a negative environmental impact to recover and process the stuff.  There is also no good means to get rid of asphalt shingles.  They are not ready recycled and end up in landfills were they are slow to decay.  Their longevity is also questionable.

The dreaded shingles

Cedar roofs look great and are a natural product.  I love the look of a cedar roof and the way it weathers over time.  Often cedar shakes come from a renewable source from companies practicing sustainable forestry.  The problem lies in the fact that it is difficult to get good shakes anymore.  They have become thinner over the years and many of the reviews I read claim that the lifespan is only about 15 years.  So, that's not that good!

The synthetic shakes option is clearly the most expensive option- about the cost of 2 Prius cars!  They are made by Enviroshake http://www.enviroshake.com/ and are an environmentally friendly composite cedar-like shake roof made from 95% recycled materials derived from post-industrial plastics, i.e., recycled tire derived rubber. These shakes were used on both the Field House and Shelly House and are beautiful.  The product is green certified which is of course "a good thing" and gives the purchaser that warm and fuzzy feeling of saving the Earth.  But beyond this, the product has a 50 year warranty. 


Enviroshakes up close



Enviroshakes on Shelly house

Shelly House

All this goodness aside, we just can't afford to do the roof and finish the house.  Do you get the roof but not do the downstairs bathroom, guest room and laundry room?  That was pretty much the choice.  So- when the chips were down we crumbled and we're getting asphalt.  It's the same that we put on the barn.  Actually it doesn't look bad on the barn and the verdict is still out on the house. What I could see this morning in the rain- it's OK.  Will I get over the guilt?  Don't know but I think that I will have to- since its in progress.  We've done many other seemingly green things already.  The wood is from New England and not shipped across the country on trucks.  The windows were made in Vermont.  This week they are installing a new propane state of the art European heating/ cooling system.  There is insulation going into the house where there once was none.  All in all I think that mother nature will be proud.  Maybe in a few years when we have recovered a bit from the cost of the project we will look into a few solar panels to help with electric costs.

Starting to shingle roof- looks OK huh?

When they were stripping off the old roof- sigh- good bye cedar.....  they found layers of old newspapers from the around 1824.  On the back side was some really ugly wall paper.  Kind of a cool find, huh?  Now what do we do with these sheets of old paper? 

Old newspapers found under old roof

Paper from 1823

The Columbian

Wallpaper found attached to newspapers

By not getting the fancy roof, I have not given up on trying to save the earth.  We have donated our old vinyl windows to Habitat for Humanities Re-Store program.  This saves them from the land fill and gives someone the opportunity to buy a not so bad window for their own project.  We also have plans for a large 18th century style kitchen garden to provide our organic veggies (now that we have some more light).  Dave is going to finally make that big compost bin that we have been talking about for years- designed like the one at his aunt's farm in ME.  There are more earth friendly ideas coming along in terms of reclaimed wood floors for part of the house and maybe some terra cotta tiles.

Inspirational Photos

It's been a while since I have shown any inspirational pictures.  There has been so much going on around the house it's been hard to keep up.  But these pictures show details that I want to bring into the finish work. 

Radial wave gooseneck light that we got for over barn- did not get cage though. 
From Barn Light Electric

Maybe our bedroom ceiling will look something like this?????

Our Waterworks Julia faucet looks very similar for the prep sink

This Kennebec kitchen gives us great ideas-
Some Shaker style cabinets mixed with more traditional- lovely!

Kennebec kitchen with soap stone counters



Ashley Norton door latch in dark bronze. 
The one I want has a slightly differnt base but the handle is the same



Underpinnings...

 While the house is quickly getting a new outer self, I am still mesmerized with it's underpinnings.  I spend a lot of time looking at the house beneath it's skin.  I love the old clapboards, the lathing, the "skeleton" of the house.  Maybe its the biologist in me and the love of seeing things for their component parts- cells, blood vessels, the molecules that make up the whole.  In some ways it's a shame to cover them back up.  I'm not done looking yet.  While I still am in love with the barn, the visual interest for me is waning with the dry wall being up and it is looking more sterile.  I will have to make it my own soon.  My new love is the new bedroom ceiling and my old office space.  Its raw and wonderful!

First. look at how amazing the clapboards are looking.  I don't think that I have ever stood outside of a house and been as totally enamored before.  The attention to detail and absolute perfection in craftsmanship is apparent.  Now I have no idea who forgot to drive in that one nail but the next day it was corrected quickly. 

Quietly understated beauty

Simple perfection

Now back to the underpinnings-

Front door as it was

Stripped of it's skin (and particle board door frame- yeah!)

Old back of the house before break through- see where window used to be.

New connection of old house with addition- very cool!

Old exterior wall removed to merge with my old office

Old office with window to front of house- new landing

Old office back wall- will become staircase- also old window uncovered

Old lath under clapboards

Last week the sheet rockers, the electrician and plumbers were here doing their thing.  It's all coming along/  I can't wait to see what happens this week!

Humble Apologies....

Last week seemed to be a very stressful time.  I was wondering when I would hit the wall and I suppose that I finally did!  Since then I've been wondering whether or not to write about the emotional stresses of living through a remodel?  To I admit that there are challenging times both in terms of physical discomfort as well as financial distress that caused me to temporarily lose my mind?  Do I let on when every day is not absolute blissful perfection?  My friends who are following the blog have all said to lay it out there.  So, why not bring some reality into the blog and say that sometimes this plain old sucks!  Since this blog is for me to reflect back on years from now when it is all finished and lovely I'd like to remember what it took to get it there!

I would like to say to those I affected (and you know who you are) that I'm sorry for my brief bout of hysteria.  The time course of events leading to the melt down are important to know to set the stage for the emotional tight rope I was walking.  Although I should, and wish that I could, apologize to Nancy at AT&T India for my most rude outburst (described later), it isn't possible unless she has somehow found my blog by accident.  Maybe it's normal to over react about things sometimes and maybe the current state of my life had something to do with it.  They say that renovating a house is a stressful time in someones life- maybe there is some truth to that! 
 
I know that I was on the edge for a few days and it was only a matter of time before I snapped.  The following is the time line before snappage.  I had spent about two weeks waiting to hear about whether or not the lab would get a new grant that my job was tied to.  In the current NIH funding climate even the most seasoned investigators are being denied funding to run their labs.  What would happen with the house project if I was suddenly unemployed?  While the news was ultimately favorable and things look OK for now it was a tense few days.

The next event was based on the book that I was listening to in the car on the drive to work.  Audio books makes the time go faster and I find myself listening to books that I would ordinarily never read.  It's like summer beach reading while driving.  While I have listened to many of the classics sometimes you just need a good mindless story or a great "who done it" before starting the work day.  In the particular book I was listening to the main character's father died of cancer in excruciating detail.  If you have never been through this ordeal with a parent (or anyone) it is life changing and you can boom be back in the moment at any time with a mere descriptive scene.  It brought back everything I went through with my mom's ultimate end from lung cancer.  The timing of the book also coincided Valentines day which would have been my parents 53rd wedding anniversary- not helpful either. I find myself missing my parents more and more as the project goes along.  I have unearthed some very special treasures lately- pictures and notes that I had saved but forgotten about. And, if that all wasn't enough my brother posted this note by my mom on his Facebook page. 

Mom had great handwriting and a quirky sense of humor!

OK, emotional issues aside- now picture yourself living in cramped quarters (see pictures below) during the most brutal winter in years, deprived of sunlight and sleep- wouldn't that send you careening over the edge of sanity?  Then you have to get up before dawn to move your car down the road before the crew arrives bright and early in all sorts of weather.  Last week the guys were working getting the roof ready to be re-shingled and they seemed to be situated in every window of the house!  Even with my makeshift curtains they seemed very close!  Getting ready for work was a real challenge for a few days with a complete lack of privacy.  Financial stress is also a part of this scenario especially owning a small retail business and no one is shopping because of the weather but the bills keep coming.  During a house project you hemorrhage money at every turn, writing checks month after month that are more than your annual income.  Are you still breathing?  I'm not....

Dining room Hell

Living room Hell

Kitchen Hell

After moving my office down to the bedroom there were Internet issues.  Poor Nancy at AT&T got the first lashing and so began the emotional unraveling.  I don't know why moving computers is so difficult or how the wires tangle themselves so quickly and unrelentlessly but they do. I have moved and successfully set up computers up many times before and I thought that if I left most of it intact I should not have a problem down the hall, plus its all color coded!  After getting it all in place I plugged it all together and into the phone jack in what I thought was the right way but all I got was a damn blinking red light where the DSL was supposed to be green.

Internet- what is worse than Hell?

Feeling a little agitated I dragged it back into the office where I knew it worked..... DSL light green.  Hum, must be the phone jack.  Dragged it back into my room since I knew it could not stay where it was- again red light.  Rats, I would have to call AT&T.  The conversation with Nancy in India started pleasant enough until she really did not get what I was saying about the phone jack problem.  She said that the phone jack had not been activated for DSL.  I suggested that she flip the switch and get it activated.  She said I would have to have a service call and have a "technician" come out to my house to activate it and I would have to pay for this courtesy.  Growing angry I told her I wasn't going to take a day off from work and pay for someone to come out to activate a plug in a room that was going to be ripped apart in weeks.  She didn't have to know that this is one of the few rooms that will probably remain mostly untouched.  As she argued her case I screamed that she should forget it and I would now be switching to Comcast as I slammed down the receiver.  Mature huh?  I told Peter of my difficulty and he suggested that I have John reroute the old wire to the new spot.  This was a perfect solution and John saved the day!!!!

The crowning blow to my fragile psyche and a quick slide to emotional jello was an e-mail from Peter late in the afternoon Monday with an updated proposal based on the amount of funding I told him we had left in order to finish the project.  The proposal was a bare bones plan and also a strategy to move some parts of the project into a later phase when more funds became available.  My heart sank and tears welled up in my eyes thinking that I had somehow misrepresented our funding situation.  It wasn't the fact that we didn't have enough money to complete the project based on the original estimate that was upsetting since I knew that from day one.  But it was the fact that I had somehow not been clear.  I know that he didn't mean to upset me (and did apologize) but at that point in this saga, unbeknownst to him, there was a lot already bubbling below the surface. Maybe he also does not know that sometimes a really good cry or many hours of good crying is cathartic and allows you to move on with a renewed vigor.  I'm OK now and ready to tackle the rest of the project no matter what the outcome of the financial hiccup ends up being. 

The meeting actually went OK and was productive. I was told that everyone lies to contractors about the amount they have.  What did I know?  I thought that showing our entire hand from the get go was the right thing to do.  There was always the chance along the way that the cottage on Nantucket would sell- but so far only one ridiculous offer. There was a new plan made to come up with the shortage of funds and also a back up plan with a shuffling of priorities and changes in materials in the event that the first falls through.  We all departed the meeting feeling much better about each other and the future of the little Tripp House.

Clapboards going on-  wait until you see the close ups!

How this eventually turns out is still not known.  We may have to put off some of the work until another time and focus our remaining resources on the addition.  I'm OK with however much we get done.  It's certainly a world better than it was!  Will anyone ever know that we used pine in our bedroom and not reclaimed old wood?  Will I go to hell (more than I am already) if we don't use the Enviroshakes- recycled product on our roof and use asphalt?  Personally, I'd rather have a new bath tub and a laundry room than a fancy pants roof.  Priorities change over time- not a bad thing but happens as reality steps in.

It's getting complicated!

OK, things are getting complicated, not in a interpersonal kind of way but where to put the stuff!  We have gone from a small house with a lot of stuff to wanting a larger house to accommodate said stuff.  The problem is, which of course I did not anticipate never having done this before, is that the house gets smaller before it gets bigger!   Naively I thought we would attack this one room at a time. No problem, as one is finished the next will start and we will shift things accordingly.  What a stupid girl I am!  Now, its coming from all angles!  The sun room- gone.  The stuff has gone into the dining room.  The living room- shit,  that is full of windows being painted.  The breezeway where the duck has been hold up- evicted.  Well, we could not find a place to put him so he's still there quarantined into a smaller spot.  The first day we had him in a trash barrel.  I thought we would get away with that until an e-mail came from Peter saying "Josh, in a garbage barrel- Really?"  OK, maybe not the cleverest trick but what's a duck to do in a sticky situation?

Tight quarters for Josh- but better than the alternative!

The next to go was my office which will become the new staircase, landing and entrance into the new bedroom.  What was a seemingly beautiful concept on paper that became a logistical nightmare.  I had no idea where to put it all and was tardy with my "home work" so I had to quickly move things into boxes and shove them into a corner where the guys could eventually take them into the new addition once an opening was made.  It's all sealed up now so I have no idea what has become of it all.  My desk and computer went into the bedroom while the settee into the hallway with the closets.  I won't see anything in those closets for quite some time!

Where-oh-where to put my books?

Maybe in your house it would be an easy feat to move a relatively small desk and love seat to another room.  Not so in my house.  While it was easy to get the things out of the room the little hallway narrows as you move towards the bedroom.  Then there is no real door to easily pass through so the furniture has to tip end upon end and be fed in a torturous manner through 2 other doors while watching their legs and your own fingers.  The things finally arrived at their destinations while Dave and I felt exhausted from the short trip.  Our bedroom is looking more and more like my college dorm room every day.  The desk is at the foot of the bed and I have taken to ironing on the blanket chest also at the foot of the bed that also doubles as my desk chair.  Yesterday ironing was interesting with Dave's feet in my way and Pip's head hanging over the end of the bed.  Cozy cozy quarters to say the least!

The day after the break through into my office was also an interesting morning.  I went to take a shower and pulled on the knob. No water came out so I pulled a little harder until the knob came off in my hand.  Oops, I thought that's odd.... I went to the sink and also go no water.  I remembered there was water downstairs but why not upstairs?  There was hot water but not cold.  I asked Dave and he said that the pipe must have frozen.  How could that happen?  Well, what was once my office and inside with a heating supply was now technically devoid of heat and outside.  Ahhh, so the pipe did freeze.  I saw Steve out the window and told him about the problem.  He said he would warm up the pipe and that should solve it.  I had texted Peter and also relayed the goings on.  He said that not to worry that John was on his way.....  A little while later I heard water... not in my sink or faucet but coming through the floor and into the dining room.  I heard people scurrying around behind the wall in my office.  It was obvious that the pipe had burst and they were running to turn the water off.  Never a dull moment!!!! 

Dave's idea of good choices to catch the dripping water/

Last week the sun room was also rebuilt.  No lack of controversy there.  The design is to have the space open to what was the old dining room and to become the landing for the new staircase.  To Peter it is an alcove but I think it's more of a nook.  Dave on the other hand wanted a little room.  He wanted to leave the wall that is in existence and the over sized door opening.  It would be a cute little room but really a glorified closet that will have great light.  Put some plants, a chair and a hutch in there and the little room is going to feel tiny!  The nook idea would be mostly open to the new space.  You will be able see into the new kitchen and the other new bank of windows as well as allowing great light into the old dining room area.  I can picture myself in the nook reading my favorite magazines. 

Bedroom windows in dormer

Kitchen windows- outside

Gallery windows in kitchen

Oiled bronze window push- beautiful!

Back of house with new windows

Start of new pantry

The Nook

Dave's workshop

The Rapunzel window is in!

My studio with insulation