ORIGINAL HOUSE CHANGES

New brick porch still under construction

We love our new Pella windows complete with pull down screens, internal shades and blinds, exterior grilles or mullions, most triple pane. They really transform the spaces bringing in more light and fresh air. Many of the original windows of the house were non functional or rickety at best.


Bedroom views after large beam installed...a space transformed!

Zeebo, our dalmation above and Mary Shay Shay our pit/bisenji explore the new...
Mary looks pretty comfortable in Billy's Frontloader! They are so fond of Billy that when he arrives if he doesn't immediately come to say hi, they whine and wriggle at the window awaiting his greeting.

West-side view of original house with new siding, roof, windows and shutters. We planted red paper, river birch partly because Rick's dad is fond of birch trees. We hope they take!


Redbud planted at front corner...still figuring out what to plant to cover the gas meter...any suggestions? Our small ornamental trees were gotten at a 90 percent discount as part of an Arbor Day event in Alexandria.

Crane in our West-side neighbor's driveway beginning to pick up the chamfored and cambered 31'/17"/7" beam to be inserted in the rafters of the original house.

airborne beam

Inserting the beam. Billy and crew came up with a simple and novel way to move the beam along the scaffold inside. A sawed off handle of a broom allowed the heavy beam to slide along with relative ease.



a tight squeeze for the crane

new electrical boxes by our old back porch. The power lines were sunk underground. This meant removing a large silver maple in our back yard. We planted ten trees so far to offset this loss. One was planted at the gallery in Lancaster under the windows of our architect's studio and offices.

Wrapped beam in front of house before setting. The backhoe was needed to bring the beam close enough to the crane, for the crane to be able to pick it up.


Framing to accept beam into our bedroom in original house.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE... and many upgrades to ORIGINAL house
...like finding a septic tank buried in the backyard, a large tree that needed to be removed for the underground power cables, and the 31 foot 800 pound wood beam that needed to be installed in the ridge. On top of that, we replaced all the windows and exterior doors, all the plumbing, both porches with brick, a new roof, and new trim and siding, it is really starting to come together.