Got Plankton?

  It's been a few weeks since we finished up the patio at Bigelow Laboratories in Boothbay, and I'm finally getting around to posting the pics. This was another job that came down to us from Eric at E.M. Wood Construction, via the relentless Dan Ucci of Ledge Hill Creations.
  The material is a concrete paver made to resemble bluestone and the steps and banding are cut and thermalled granite.

High St. Wall Repair

  A little wall repair on High St. for Tim Massey of Endeavour Builders. (A link to their fine website on the left.)  The wall was apparently struck by an careening automobile a few years ago and so lay heaped in a pile rapidly overgrowing with cedar roots.  We pulled the whole thing apart, put down a substantial bed of crushed stone, as well as crushed stone and filter fabric behind. It should stand the test of time, barring any unforeseen acts of vehicular wall-slaughter.

Driveway Walls of Hot Heaven

  So, after about five weeks of being sequestered on a 600 square-foot patio nightmare island of back-breaking labor and financial ruin, we were able to get back out to Damariscotta Lake and finish the wall on the other side of Bruce and Pam's driveway. And though it was almost a hundred degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday, we were extremely happy to get back to a sensible and creative project in a peaceful environment controlled by kind and sensible people. I think we are going to stay there permanently...  Maybe if we just work 2 hours a day, 3 days a week, we can stretch this thing out to last all year.

Instant Walkway, Just Add Water

  We went out to Bruce's on Damariscotta Lake Saturday, uncertain whether or not the rain would hold off long enough to make it worthwhile, which it did for the most part. Bruce had a swale all dug out for the desired walk and a pile of random pieces of cut and thermalled granite. The edges were rough, but all we had to do was establish a loose design, measure, and cut to fit. We had a fine granite walk installed in less than 5 hours, just as the rain turned from a drizzle to a downpour.

Damariscotta Lake (Where the Blackflies Roam)

  So, this is the first wall we built with Clark on the lake, and the next will essentially be a mirror on the other side of the drive.  And yes, the blackflies were horrendous, and yes, they did carry Damon away. We spend so much time working on the ocean, where the breeze tends to keep them away, that we forget how bad they can be inland.

Trouble Melts Like Lemon Drops

  High above the Falmouth chimney top, which we finished the other day and topped with the original bluestone from the one we ruinationed.

Up On The Roof (Again)

  It was nice to finish up the inside work and let the owners' get back to some semblance of a normal dust-free existence. I imagine they will be cleaning up the fallout dust from our demolition for weeks. Emma the cat, who greeted us daily and kept a wary eye on our progress, will be happy to have a little privacy, too.

  Anyway, up through the roof and away...

  And what a view from up there, looking out over Casco Bay.

  I have said it before, working on the coast of Maine, we are blessed with having these amazing views on almost every jobsite.

    We finished up just as the sun went down.  In fact, I had to grab these shots before it got dark and I wasn't even done setting the flu.

  We still have to go back in a week or so, after the fireplace insert is installed, to do the cap and wash.  Meanwhile, be sure to stop in Freeport at the owner's yarn and needlework shop: Grace Robinson & Company. www.yarnandneedlepoint.com. I hear it's one of the best in the state.

Just in the Saint Nick of Time

  So, our hopes of finishing the walkway before Christmas dissolved on last Friday's snowy afternoon, as it rapidly became clear that we were short on stone.  We covered everything with heating blankets and headed home for the holidays, wondering aloud if we would possibly see another day warm enough to finish before Spring.  Christmas came...

and went...

  And lo and behold, Monday bore temperatures nearing fifty.  So we headed out early in search of enough bluestone to finish, which proved to be more difficult than we had anticipated.  The forecast was calling for temperatures in the single digits and we knew we had to finish before nightfall.  Viking Hardscapes, bless 'em, had no open pallets.  We drove out to JC Stone in Widsor and they were completely out. They suggested we drive down to NC Hunt in Damariscotta, which we did, and they had exactly what we needed. They are always a pleasure to deal with, by the way.
  It was ten o'clock by the time we reached the jobsite and we must have looked like a couple of lunatics, with saws roaring, dust clouds rising, rocks flying, running back and forth to the stone dust pile, hammers and chisels and swearing--determined to finish before sunset.  And we did.

  We left out a few stones up near the house, so the carpenters can finish their addition, and we'll be back in the Spring to loam the edges and cracks.  I believe the plan is to plant thyme or some kind of "steppable".  I like it. Damon likes it. The homeowners seem to like it. It has, as Mike said, "A kind of fairy-tale cottage feel."

The Beast of Bremen

  Well, we decided to take on a stone walkway down in Bremen before the ground freezes up for good. It was wet and cold this morning and cars were sliding off the roads (as we nearly did on more than one occasion), but it is supposed to be above freezing for the next few days and we are going to jump through the window while it's open. 
  We started off the day in the rain, shoveling the crushed stone out of the existing path.

  Our stone dust showed up in massive frozen hunks, as if it was reforming itself back into actual stones, and so we were forced to blast it with the propane fueled weed-burner and bury a heater cord inside.  We covered it with a tarp and are hoping that our efforts, combined with the prognosticated temperature rise, will enable us to spread the stuff tomorrow.

  The home looks like an early 19th century brick farmhouse, which the owners (who seem great, by the way) have done a wonderful job restoring, and the property is lined with fantastic old stone walls.

  And a great old chimney still standing, obviously where the original homestead was.

  And if you meet this guy on your way down to Bremen...

  DO NOT stop to ask for directions!

Triple Chimney Down

  Hired by the Potter Building Company--owned by my good friend Tom Potter--Damon and I reluctantly removed three chimneys (or 'chimbleys' as they are oft' referred to in these linguistic hinterlands) from a three-story building that is under complete renovation in Rockland.

  I despise heights and postponed the job for many days, in hopes that the chimbleys would collapse of their own free will.  That failed to happen, however, and I was eventually faced with the reality of having to climb up on the roof and knock them down with a hammer, which was made somewhat easier with the use of the jobsite's new pump staging.  The chimneys came apart easily, with most bricks coming loose without even having to strike them.
  The most difficult of the three was the front chimney, which was over seven feet high and almost entirely devoid of mortar in its midsection, so that when I stood on my tip-toes to strike the top, the whole chimney would lean and threaten to dive into the street below.

 

   Here, Damon is wildly abusing a shrinking chimney in the attic.

  We put the bricks in buckets and flung them from the third story window into the enormous bed of the large truck pictured in the first photos.

  House sans chimbleys:

  Also, I need a longer truck.

Finished On Barter's Island

  Ran down to the island for a day to wrap up the job there with Dan and Richard and Randy. The patio looked good and we spread some polymeric sand in the joints and sprayed it down.  For those who haven't used polymeric sand, it really is a miracle. The time it saves in jointing is unbelievable. Of course, it isn't the right product for every application, but when it can be used, it is a major time-saver. Honestly, you just sweep it in the joints and spray it down with water (in four or five steps) and you are done.  It's pretty rugged, too, and able to withstand Maine's drastic temperature changes.

  While Damon and I did our chimney rebuild last week, Richard came down and jointed in our cultured stone.