Cape Renovation, The Maine Adventure

Project 12: The Cape Renovation
A. Removing the Siding B. New Decking C. Removing Walls D. New Doghouse Dormers

Although the Cape was not really going to be a 'new building', it was certainly getting a major facelift. Here are the plans designed by my architectural designer, Dennis Prior:

Here's what we actually built:

And here's the story:

A. Removing the Siding Here are my 'magic men', back on the job again. Harold is widely known for his 'gentle demolition' and it was time to take the clapboards off, to be used on the old barn (we thought), and to replace them on the Cape with maintenance-free fiber cement siding. Harold took off the old clapboards gently and then Ron de-nailed them. Underneath are ancient, wide boards and historic nails.

Most of the clapboards are off and the exposed walls are protected from the weather.

B. New Wraparound Deck Before the deck could be started, the holes for the posts were dug, the cement poured, and then the decking rested firmly. In August, the carpenter hired a couple of college-bound young men to help out, with a start on the hole-digging.

Then a start on the decking.

Once the deck structure was in place, it was time to install the decking. I had done serious research about low-maintenance materials and come to a decision between composite, like Correct Deck, and a natural but long-lasting product, ipe. I chose ipe, "an environmentally responsible choice of incredibly strong, dense wood from naturally sustainable forests which resists rot, decay, insects, and mold". It's a commodity and I got a good price from Home Depot. I treated the material and then Harold and Richard drilled and screwed it to the deck structure.

Meanwhile, it was time for me to get the furniture out of the house so that there was room to demolish and build on the interior, so all the stuff that was moved into the Cape and up from the basement, for the basement floor to be poured, was moved out to another two tents for safekeeping! Pheww! What a job.

C. Removing Walls The walls had been badly damaged by the deflection of the house when the building movers left it in the air for so long, so there was alot of repair to reclaim those walls, and it made sense to make some other adjustments to the interior structure for the new guest bedrooms and baths.

The guys made ALOT of sawdust!

D. New Doghouse Dormers

The second floor of the house had no front views, so Dennis and I added three doghouse dormers to the design. These let in great light, allow views of the meadows and river, and visually tie the Cape to the other buildings on the lot.