Painting and Siding - 29 September 2011

Soffits went up on the north side today, more clapboards on the west side with all three of Colin, Brad and Michael putting up the frieze board, while Will handled the ladders for them (well not all three at one time, but he tried). There was also lots of paint, paint, paint. Colin even did some painting!

The first coat of spar varnish is dry on the side door stoop. Looking good.

Windows and Siding - 28 September 2011

Well it is the fall, so it makes sense that harvesting is going on. Of course, in this case it is retrieving the glass from old window frames. But harvesting is harvesting. The team picked a great crop today and brought it all to the Firehouse. While they were doing the glass reaping, Will and I were priming more of the clapboard.

This afternoon there was more clapboard put on the west side of the Firehouse. Between the three windows and the door makes for a lot of measuring and precise cuts to ensure the right size pieces get used. The little roof over the side door is looking really good. It has a little roof now. The stoop got its first coat of varnish to make the maple shine and to protect it.

Siding - 27 September 2011

Even when the team is not here, it doesn't mean they aren't working in support of the Firehouse. Yesterday, for example, Colin, Brad and Michael spent the day harvesting glass from old windows and preparing them for use in the Firehouse.

It was nice to have everyone back today. The west-side door casement went in, along with the great maple door stoop, and the small roof over side door. Lots more of the clapboard ended up being added to the south and west sides. While the team was doing this, Will and I primed lots more of the clapboard. This afternoon, Jeremy and Johnathon finished sanding the clapboard. That means that we now have 4500 linear feet of clapboard that have been sanded, and at least half of it that has been primed and painted.

Sanding Clapboard - 26 September 2011

While the Colin Edwards Restoration team are away, work must still continue. Will and I uncovered all the remaining clapboard, figured out what the weekend's rain had gotten wet and moved it so we could get it to dry. Johnathon and Jeremy Church have joined us to help with sanding the clapboard, so that we can prepare it for priming and painting. The weather is great, so we want to get as much done as possible while we still have the weather on our side.

Siding and Windows - 21 to 23 September 2011

I have no pictures to show you for the last three days. Michael is away, I have been laid low with a cold, Brad and Colin have been working away upstairs on windows and trim, Will primed and painted some window and door trim (but we took no photos) and finally on Friday, Colin was off to a race in Toronto and Brad worked from his home shop. So, I guess all we can say is "Good luck, Colin, at your race" and we'll look forward to making more visible progress next week.

Painting and Trim - 20 September 2011

All the clapboard that has been sanded and that was primed on Sunday has now been painted. There is still more that needs sanding, so that process starts tomorrow. Brad and Colin are working on trim for the tops of windows (it might be called a drip edge, I will have to check with them), the molding around the roof and the maple doorstep. They never stop.

Siding - 19 September 2011

This is like one of those famous grade six math quizzes: if it took four people seven hours to prime two side of the clapboard, then how long will it take two people to paint one side of the same number of clapboards? Easy, right? It should be seven hours. But one painter had to leave for a meeting after three hours, or so, of painting, so now my math is all messed up. I give up! I painted as many as I could and I'll paint the rest tomorrow.

While the painting was going on, the south side of the Firehouse was being all dressed up in the very finest of clapboard. Looks great, Colin and Brad! After they finished this, they carried on with making more of the trim pieces for around the windows. Since it had started to rain, it was a good job for inside and dry.

I like this photo of the Firehouse from the blue bedroom (north east bedroom) in the Floral Cottage. It looks like its rain on the window, but this is an old window and what you are seeing is actually bubbles and imperfections in the glass.

Painting Party - 18 September 2011

It is so important to have good friends! Today, our friends Karen and Warren Clement drove an hour and a half from their home near Wolfville, brought homemade bread and chicken-pot-pie, and painted with us for seven hours. We had a ball yacking, teasing, joking and enjoying each others' company. We are so blessed by friends like this.

And look at all the priming we did. This means that about half of the 4500 linear feet of clapboard have been painted or primed. Tomorrow, Will and I will be able to quickly paint all the boards that we primed today.

Windows and Siding - 16 September 2011

Michael and Will continued carrying the load on priming and painting today, while Colin and Brad prepared frieze boards, trim for windows and towards the end of the day did some more of the east-side clapboards. The weather was sunny, but windy, so the paint and primer dried a lot more quickly today. I got off with light duties, but still managed to chip in with a bit of off-cut wood organizing.

Windows and Siding - 15 September 2011

Sanding, priming and painting continued today with Michael and Will carrying the full load. it was foggy and damp, so nothing is drying quickly, which is frustrating. Brad and Colin started on the east-side clapboards. Don't they look great! Its really impressive. When the painted clapboards ran out, Colin and Brad reverted to putting trim around the west-side windows.

Windows and Siding - 14 September 2011

All of the casements are in, except for the one that is currently being used for climbing in to the second story. Cornerboards are all on and so are the waterboards. Michael sanded a ton of clapboards today and numerous of them have been primed and painted already. Many, many more to come. Brad and Colin made the frieze boards and they've been primed and painted, too.

Windows and Siding - 13 September 2011

We've got cornerboards, waterboards (the siding at the bottom of the wall), slats that the clapboard will connect to, and eve returns. What I had heard yesterday was the corner boards being constructed. We also have 4500 linear feet of clapboards that were delivered yesterday. Will started sanding them today, while I finished priming and painting some other stuff. Then this afternoon we both primed clapboard.

Windows - 12 September 2011

Three lovely casements all in a row. I didn't get to see any of this being done because I was below priming a ton of stuff. I know there was lots of other work going on - I was hearing everything, but just couldn't see the activity. I'll find out tomorrow and tell you about it then.

Soffit and Faccia and Windows - 9 September 2011

They guys finished putting the soffits and fascia all along the west and east sides. Then, they installed several window casements. Don't they look great? While they were working hard to ensure the window openings were prepared for the casements and then installing them, I was furiously trying to get the water boards, corner boards and various other bits and pieces sanded, primed and painted so that they would be ready for the team. It is hard to keep up with them!

You realize, of course, that 99.9% of the photos in this blog are taken by Will, or as he is sometimes known, Brooks of Canada. Since he is taking the photos, he never shows up in them. You get to see me occasionally when I am working on something relevant to the blog, but you never get to see him. So, I thought it was about time you got to see him. Face it, without him, and his interest in firefighting, there would be no need for a Firehouse. Here he is, appropriately, at a firefighting activity. He didn't take the photo, but its nice to see him in one, for once.

Windows - 8 September 2011

Work continued on the casements (sanding, priming and painting), the windows (stripping, sanding and glazing), the vents that I told you about yesterday and preparing corner boards and water boards (the large board at the bottom edge of a wall). Michael finished planing them and the guys notched the water boards and then I started priming and painting them. The soffit and fascia on the east-side got mostly installed and it looks quite nice.

The photos show the vents that I mentioned yesterday, but also all the wonderful places that we can see from the Firehouse. We have a great view of some very nice places that house some wonderful neighbours.

Windows - 7 September 2011

Michael did less planing today and helped with the window and vent production. The windows were already stripped, but they still needed to have all the caulking stripped and much of it replaced. They have removed the hardware and made sure that everything is properly stripped. Brad made two end vents from scratch and they are beautiful. Who needs plastic vents when you can have solid wood, handmade, and well crafted pieces?

All the casements have been sanded and primed, but painting will have to happen tomorrow. I ran out of day.

Windows - 6 September 2011

The guys are smokin today after their three day holiday weekend. They've finished the casements for the six large windows, four small windows and four cathedral windows. Wow! Now I have to pick up my pace and sand, prime and paint all of them. Yikes!

Windows - 2 September 2011

So, do you want to see what the casements for the windows look like? Here they are and aren't they great?

Colin and Brad made six big casements for the main floor and four smaller ones for the second story. Still to come are the four dormer casements. While they have been doing all of these, Michael Plane-and-Tall has been planing the wood for them to ensure all of their wood is well milled.

And now, they are off to enjoy a well earned Labour Day long weekend. See you next week!

Windows - 1 September 2011

What have the guys been doing while they are hidden inside? Well, as I've mentioned previously, Michael has been planing the wood to make it the right width and smoothness. If you were here you would know this, since its quite loud. We know its disruptive and we hope our neighbours will be patient during this noisy period.

Colin and Brad have been making the casements for the windows. These are the surroundings for all the lovely old windows that we are re-purposing for the Firehouse.

August Flowers

Have you ever noticed that there are less flowers, or perhaps less colourful flowers, in August? Maybe its just that its typically hotter and drier so the plants are putting their effort into growing instead of producing flowers. There are some, of course, but just not the huge variety. Maybe less flowers to pay attention to is a good thing, because the vegetable garden is going great guns and its a good thing to pay more attention to it right now.

Brown (or Black) Eyed Susans, Daylilies, Globe Thistle and Echinacea are all present in the garden. Early in the month we had a fair bit of rain, although my theory is that gardening in the rain, especially transplanting, is a good thing. But by the time three kids and two grandkids arrived the weather was perfect.