House of the Seven Gables

House of the Seven Gables

Front Porch with Seventh Gable

The framing of our house is complete. We now have a front porch where we can sit and watch the great blue heron waiting patiently to catch a fish. This is my favorite view from our property. I love watching the seasonal colors of the marsh grass, the rising and falling of the tide, the osprey that usually sits on a dock end post  and even the ice that forms along the edge of the riverbank in winter.  Finally, we have a perch where we can sit viewing the Cape’s natural beauty.

Chuck Lacey, Jr.  did a great job executing the architectural detail of the gable on the front porch roof. We are continually impressed by the skills of the Lacey clan. We think the gable complements the house perfectly and will deter a torrent from soaking anyone who comes to the front door. Last week it was pointed out to us that we actually now have  seven gables. We had to walk around several times counting before we really believed it.  We'll have to re-read Hawthorne's book.

Dr. O Scales the Heights

Chris has joined that legion of teachers who spend their summers painting houses, but  he didn’t anticipate being 29 feet above the ground with a putty knife in his hand. He doesn’t particularly mind heights because as a volunteer  firefighter in the 1970's he had to climb ladders regularly.  But he is finding it a bit more difficult balancing on two 12 inch planks holding a paint bucket and brush. In the course of a four step process he has to putty all the nail holes, caulk the joints, prime, and finally paint the boards. 

He started on the back of the house, climbing up a very long extension ladder to reach the staging.  Once seated, feet dangling, he takes long swipes at the trim trying to get as much covered as possible before having to move gingerly to another spot.  The view is great from this height. He can watch the young ospreys soaring over the marsh trying out their wings, or boats putting up the river passing kayaks and paddle boards .  But he does have to watch out for biting green head flies and the occasional curious bumblebee. 

Marsh View

In The Hole

In a hole

Chris has been digging holes for the last 3 days.  It is a very strenuous job. The soil is rocky and he occasionally hits concrete that he has to break up with an iron rod. Every time he hits something hard he winces and tells me that he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to play the guitar again.  We need 4 holes, dug 4 ½ feet deep for the sono-tubes. Then these will be filled with concrete for the footings for the front porch. When he gets discouraged with the slow progress I have to remind him how satisfied he will feel every time he walks up and down those new front steps.

I helped dig the first day, also getting down into the hole with a shovel. But by the next morning my back was hurting. So I went to the worksite, sat in my Adirondack chair and pouted. I hate to be sidelined but I've been rather reckless with my bad back. Thank goodness Mary-Helen has arrived from Chicago so I can take up my role as Cape Cod tour director.  In the meantime, I will locate a massage therapist for Chris.

The framing is coming along fast and soon Chuck will be decking the porch.  Chris and I had to decide what kind of wood we would like to use. Paul told us our options were fir, mahogany or Ipe. I suggested Brazilian Ash also called Garapa, I had seen it used in a house in New Hampshire and I liked its warm honey color. Paul called a specialty wood company in Brewster to inquire about it and check on prices.  During the conversation he was told about a bundle of reclaimed Ipe from the Wychmere Harbor Club in Harwichport.  We knew from our on line research that Ipe is the top of the line decking material. It is so dense that it is also referred to as ironwood. This timber is naturally resistant to insects and rot, will not check or splinter and will last up to 50 years without preservatives.  We sensed this was an incredible opportunity.  So we purchased the whole lot, two thousand linear feet for a very reasonable price. It will be enough to cover the porch, side steps and front porch with some left over for a dock. Reusing material that might otherwise go to the landfill is another way to protect our environment. As my kids often remind me Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. Besides we love the weathered silver color that seems to shimmer in the sun.

The whole house is sheathed in red and green. It sure looks better than the  torn tarpaper and stained boards that we have been looking at since the shingles were removed. But we will only have a few days to admire it before it will be covered with rigid foam insulation. We’ve met Robbie who will roof and shingle the house. He has already dropped off his equipment at the site and he hopes to get working by the beginning of next week.

Everyone has been watching the ospreys. The 2 chicks are growing so quickly that it doesn’t look like there is enough room in the nest for the whole family. Chuck has positioned a spare transit in the second floor east window directly on the nest. And  it is so much more powerful than our binoculars that we can actually see the mother tearing up fish and feeding it to the chicks. Last time I looked through the lens I saw one of the chicks jumping up and down and trying out his wings.  He seemed to be experimenting but then I saw him peer over the nest and hesitate, not ready yet to take his first solo flight. 

Meet Me at the Top

MEET ME AT THE TOP

Initially the engineering plan called for four 2 x 10’s, but Chuck, our master framer, suggested that Paul look into finding a single ridge beam. On Wednesday Shepley’s delivered a 52 foot  engineered  lumber board. The truck driver raised the flatbed and the beam slid onto the ground in front of the house. By the end of the day it was in place connecting the east and west gable ends.  Now all the rafters will be secured to this critical piece of construction that will form the roof.

Chris’ brother suggested that we observe the pagan tradition of putting a small tree on top of the house. This practice stems from the Norse belief that this would garner favor with the tree spirits and bring good luck to all who dwell within.   So Chris ventured into the woods with his pruning shears and came out with a little cedar. He gave it to Paul, who handed it up to Chuck who nailed it to the top of the east gable. I asked everyone to wait for me to climb up the ladder to the second floor so Chris and I could say a Blessing and listen to Chris sing a rendition of the Sussex Mummer’s Carol. “God Bless your house, your children too, your cattle and your store, the lord increase you day by day and send you more and more and send you more and more. “

THE DAY THE RAIN CAME

It was becoming dusty and dirty at 19 Ladd Rd.  We needed rain. For years my mother has been saying that Cape Cod is pretty dry in the summer.  Most of the storms go out to sea in Plymouth about 30 miles from here. Sometimes we will be listening to the Red Sox waiting out a rain delay in Boston and we will never see a drop on the Cape.

Before the house was raised and the new foundation excavated, the yard’s topsoil was scraped up and deposited in a huge pile on the other side of the garage. That left only sand around the house.  When the mighty CAT is lumbering  across the yard clouds of dust trail in its wake settling on everything.

 Besides working on the house, Chris and I had been transplanting bushes along the paths in the woods and we needed water. Our water supply had been cut off at the beginning of the construction project and we were depending on the generosity of a neighbor and multiple bottles of water transported from the lake house to water the plants. And then a violent thunderstorm rolled over the Cape and we were thankful for the precipitation. That was until we arrived at the construction site and saw the crew baling out the house. With only half the roof sheathed and the openings for the windows uncovered, the storm rushed right in. Water had seeped under the tarps and most of the floors were wet. We mopped, shop-vacked, and swished viscous cloth around for most of the day before we could remove the tarps and dry them in the back yard.  Eventually the floor air-dried and we put the tarps back down again. Exhausted we dragged ourselves home for dinner and then to bed. But it wasn’t long before we heard the sound of rain pelting the window. It would be hard to get to sleep knowing that we were going to face  the same ordeal all over again tomorrow. 

Hard work stripping shingles!

Green Gables

I have been rereading the blog written last year by an architect who built a house near us. He researched a lot of building material in order to qualify for LEED status. One of the more interesting things he used was the Huber Zip System and I wanted to give it a try.   This is a relatively new wall and roof sheathing that is water impervious because it has a vapor barrier built in. That means the house doesn’t have to be wrapped in tarpaper or Tyvek before the shingles are put on. I also like it that the Zip System is rated by the FSC, Forest Stewardship Council and is therefore greener than conventional plywood.  Paul has never used the Zip System, but was willing to give it a try because of a $900 rebate for first-time users.

In their first week on site, the Lacey crew opened up the east wall and built out the new addition.  These walls and decking gave them the working surface needed to build the new gables.  Floor joists and carrying beams were removed and replaced with super-strong engineered wood, while Paul and Chuck frequently stopped to review the engineering plans. 

Chris and I had to make a quick trip to N. J. for a memorial service. It was hard for us to tear ourselves away from the construction site. And sure enough when we returned we found the roof had been cut off in sections and was sitting in slices on the ground. Paul had his crew remove any useable lumber for repurposing and it is currently stored in a dry place under the house.

On Friday the excitement built as the crew framed the east gable. In just a couple of hours it was ready to be hoisted into place. Chris had the video camera running and I popped snapshots on the digital camera. Six men tried to raise it with muscle and brawn but it proved to be too heavy. So they called on the tremendous power of the hydraulic lifting arm of the CAT. With Paul at the controls, a heavy-duty construction strap looped through a hole in the peak of the wall, it was pulled with precision into place. I jumped up and down clapping madly and Chris whistled while a rapid-fire reverberation rang out as 3 nail guns simultaneously fastened the wall into place. We were stunned as we looked upon this white trimmed piece of new construction. After all those winter months of designing there it stood. We loved it. We loved it. WE LOVED IT. And as everyone stood around admiring its proportion and balance they said, “Now it really looks like a house.”  

As Chuck Lacey and his crew built the new decking and walls, Quatro began demolishing the interior of the old cottage. What a nasty job! Sheetrock walls smashed, gypsum dust filling the air as loose insulation tumbled to the floor stained with mouse pee. I shudder to think of all the mice running around while I have been sleeping. Hair, skin, clothing covered with this disgusting detritus mingled with sweat from the day’s heat and exertion, I couldn’t wait to go home for a shower. 

When the guys quit at 3:30 Chris and I climbed into the house protected by hats or shower cap, facemasks and gloves to sweep, shovel and bag this awful mess. Pieces of wall and lumber get placed in garbage cans and Chris hoists them into the dumpster. We are guessing that we will need another 2 before the job is done. Before we leave for the day I perform my favorite job, wheeling the magnetic sweeper around the grounds to pick up any loose nails.  Before we climb out of the house, we cover the old oak floors with tarps in case of an unexpected shower. Initially, we had planned to install new birch floors but when we heard that the existing floor probably was worth about $7,000 we have been doing everything we can to preserve it. Finally, Chris wraps his caution tape back and forth across the front door a couple of times and then strings it along the front of the yard. Another day done, tired and dirty but with smiles on our faces as we think about the view from our new bedroom window.  

Touchdown

Touchdown

I am sitting in my Adirondack chair in the shade staring at the gable end of the house in disbelief. I have sat here and watched the wall be demolished one sledgehammer blow at a time. The whole end of the house is wide open and I can see the interior walls and the staircase. What a strange sight I thought  to myself,  “Well that’s quite an airing out”. However before the crew leaves tonight it will have to be buttoned up with tarps in the off chance of bad weather. The demolition has begun in earnest and will continue until all the wallboard, windows, some partitions, shingles and eventually the roof are removed. Doesn’t seem like there will be much left of the old cottage.

We welcomed Chuck Lacey and his framing crew fresh from a vacation in Myrtle Beach to the construction site on Monday. They brought their own style and swagger to an already energized project. Their large trailer outfitted with precision tools and a refrigerator for quick refreshment is parked out front.  They attacked the problem of sistering new joists to sagging old ones and soon had the building leveled out for the first time in 50 years. By Monday evening they had figured out how to connect the 73 steel hurricane bolts to the new sills. Using a laser to line everything up, Chuck remarked, “Sweet it’s all perfect”. This would allow Kevin and Sylvester’s crew to lower the house without a hitch. 

On Tuesday 1200 feet of 10mil polypropylene vapor barrier was stretched out on the foundation floor and up the walls a few inches. Caulking adhesive and a 22 caliber concrete nailing gun made sure that it was going nowhere.   When the shooting was over Chris and I jumped in with our shovels and metal rakes to help spread out 40 tons of native stone that Paul lifted into the foundation with his CAT.  Eyeing the small pile in the driveway I had sensed that this wouldn’t take long.  So I flew into the pile working furiously to fill the 2 wheelbarrows trying to prove that I could be part of the team effort. However it didn’t take long for me to realize that this was hard work. 

Kevin and 2 assistants from Sylvester’s were already lowering the cottage by the time we arrived at the construction site on Wednesday.  Chris had to scramble quickly out of the car to capture the action. Coming down was a lot faster and less dramatic than going up. Chris and I had actually gotten used to seeing the house 10 feet in the air. We had even propped up a ladder and climbed into it last Saturday to take a peak at our new views. When the cottage finally landed onto the new sills it creaked and then settled looking so solid and connected. It was time to celebrate with Paul. 

Messing About in Bobcats and Boats

Gary Sylvester backfills foundation

The concrete has cured and the foundation backfilled by Sylvester’s men racing around in their speedy bobcats. Tools and gear have taken over the garage. And lumber, 34 foot engineered joists and a bundle of 2x6 for the sills, was delivered yesterday morning by Shepley, along with some pink sill sealant. 

It has been a quiet 2 weeks on the construction site. Time for Chris and me to sit in our Adirondack chairs and try to envision what our new house will look like. Jerry, the architect, has assured us that we won’t even recognize it after the addition and the second floor is built. This is hard for Chris to imagine after summering in the same cottage for 50 years.

At last the weather has turned and we have had glorious spring days. Our minds have turned to the river and our kayaks.  Out of storage came the life preservers, paddles and the cushion I like to put at my back.  We paddled upstream to Craigville Village and  paddled downstream to East Bay. We looked at osprey nests built on the tallest chimneys then scanned the sky for these diving fishhawks. We recognized familiar boats once again tied to their docks for another season. We heard the cry of the little kingfisher as he forged ahead of us to the terminus of the Skunknet River. The barrier beach is covered with pink Rosa Rugosa.  I can never walk by without burying my face in the blossoms and inhaling deeply.

"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
Kenneth Grahame,  Wind in the Willows

 We have spent weeks looking at windows in showrooms and on the road driving up and down the Cape. Windows are a major budget line and we have been doing a lot of research. We found no agreement among vendors over whether aluminum or vinyl clad would perform better on the seacoast. We have considered Pella, Eagle, Woodwright even Green Mountain Windows. We have gone back and forth between the industry standard Anderson 400 series and the new Fibrex A series. Some days we  go with price and the next day with style.  Like concrete it’s a permanent part of the house that you can’t change so we are struggling with this decision. We really love the way the A series looks and handles but can we justify the additional expense?  Yesterday we sat down with Paul in our makeshift conference room in the garage and went over the final inventory of windows. We had learned to our dismay that the 400 series didn’t come in black. And now we discovered that the rough openings of the A series varied slightly from the 400’s for which the house design had been drawn. We will either have to love the 400’s in forest green or change the design.  Back to the Anderson catalogues to see if this can be worked out.

Paul Pacella, Post and Beam of Cape Cod and Team

While we are dealing with the esthetics Paul is dealing with the nuts and bolts.  He has been tangling with the next step of lowering the house back down on it’s new foundation. Currently there are 73 metal posts embedded in the concrete that must be bolted to the new sills, a tricky framing challenge because part of the structure is old and part of it will be new. Right now Sean and Quatro are “ sistering” engineered joists to each one of the old 2x10s. This is proving to be difficult because the old beams have sagged and the new ones are perfectly straight. We watch them stop and ponder how this could be resolved. 

Paul continues to bring us the best tradesmen on the Cape. The framers are arriving Monday. 

Orange Sticker Day

Yesterday  was an orange sticker day. Last Thursday our structural  engineering plans arrived in a long triangular box via overnight mail. These plans were the key to continuing  our project. The town building inspector requires 2 sets of plans signed and stamped by the architect in order to get a building permit.   We also had to turn in a foundation certification stamped by the civil engineers.  Ah,  that meant another trip to Yarmouthport and a stop at our new favorite spot, Captain Frosty's. We can't believe we have been driving past this Cape Cod restaurant for 38 years without ever stopping.   Now we can't go by the place without getting a Yoberry cone. Yum!

As required in a flood zone, the foundation guys were aiming for 11.5 ft. above mean high tide with the pouring of all that concrete.   The finished walls came in at 11.55.  How's that for perfection.

While we have been waiting for the foundation to completely harden, we've set up a card table and chairs in the cleaned out garage for an office.  On Monday we spread out the 20 pages and Paul reviewed them.  Then he asked if we could get 3 sets of these oversized 2 ft. x 3 ft. pages copied. No problem, off to the Cape Cod Business Center and $100.00 later we had accomplished the task. Two sets go to the inspector, one set to Paul, another to the framer and a set to be kept on location.   The plans are so detailed that they even included a nail schedule.  Sometime soon Chris and I plan to sit down and try to make some sense of it. But they seemed like "apple pie and vanilla ice cream" to Paul.

The next morning Paul turned all the required documents in at the building department.  The law requires an onsite inspection within 72 hours.  This would be a quick turn around compared to the 30 days we waited for the foundation plans to be approved.  Ahead of schedule Paul called  and asked if Chris could go over to Ladd Neck and check  to see if the building inspector had been there. Driving down the dirt road he could see a very small orange sticker  affixed to the garage window. He walked up and looked at it and was pleased to see it read APPROVED.  After all the challenges we have had to overcome, we had expected some sort of impressive official notification in very large letters blazing through the fog. But we aren't complaining! We're just grateful for all the help we have had getting us to this orange sticker day.