So now the cleanup begins...

After returning from Georgia we started the cleanup of the old barn. I spent several hours chopping the roof of the barn up into small sections. I tried a sledgehammer and a maul, but I found that an ax worked best (that must be why firefighters use axes).

 

 Friday a crew consisting of me, Christianne (my wife), Chris and Danny commenced the cleanup work.

With the trailer and truck loaded off we went to dispose of the debris.

And here's what's left as of today...

An Unnerving Situation

Ever had one of those moments when you were unexpectedly surprised, in fact the whole situation was a bit unnerving? That happened to us last week. We decided to go to Crowder State Park for our morning exercise walk. It was a beautiful morning with a cool and pleasant breeze. I could hear the wildlife rustling through the dense forest and underbrush. As we were walking up the road I heard this rather thunderous noise flying overhead. I find bats flying around our house in the middle of the night to be a bit unnerving, but what I saw in the light of day at Crowder Park was ever bit as unnerving as bats flying around in the dark of night.

True to the Disney animated films Vultures do perch on the branches of dead trees.
(I didn't want to stand in one place too long lest they got the wrong impression)  :-)

And then there were none...

The last column is up and in place. It all started Tuesday morning around 8 am with me putting up temporary supports for the corner of the porch roof...

 

Then around 9 am Chris and Danny came over to help me remove the granite lintel from the corner bricks and to place other lintels on the porch for future use...

 

Then the brick removal process began...

 

 

 

 

After several hours the final column was put in place. I finished at 6 pm - so it all took around 10 hours from start to finish...

All 10 columns are now in place. I still need to do some finish work on the front porch columns but there are no columns left in storage.

The leaning barn of Pisa (well, Hall Manor)

The old barn that was leaning and threatening to come down is now a basement barn. This is what it looked like two days ago...actually it was leaning more than this.

Saturday I removed the remaining siding and then stood back to watch the results.

After a few creaks and squeaks the barn came down without any effort on my part. The multicolored thingy in the middle is a metal kitchen sink that we removed from the house when we renovated the kitchen. I opened the barn doors prior to removing the siding so that the barn would not crush the sink...and yes, it worked!

It was great fun watching the whole event unfold. Wished I had captured it on video.

And then there was one...

I'm sure you are wondering what the heck is he talking about, Right? More than two years ago I started to work on the front porch and last week I managed to get two more columns up...bringing the total to five with one left to be raised.

Work has stopped temporarily until I can get some help with the last granite cap that is where the last column will be. The granite caps are quite heavy and require two men at a minimum to lift (three men would be better). Notice, we have also started to finish the underside of the porch roof. (More updates to come)

Ever so slow

The simile "slow as molasses" has taken on a new meaning for me. My progress on the library is more like the flowing of extremely cold molasses, almost nonexistent. However, I have made some progress. I added some depth to the walls.

The last holdout area amidst the finished rooms

When we started restoring the downstairs area we started with the kitchen and dining room then into the drawing room and library (we have yet to begin the parlor and main entry). The downstairs bathroom (which use to be the butler's pantry) and the hall area between the kitchen and dining room were left unfinished for several years. A few months ago we worked on restoring the downstairs bathroom (see previous post), thus leaving the small hallway as the only unfinished area in the middle of the finished rooms. So recently we tackled the small hallway. As of today all that is left is the staining of the small hallway floor.

View from dining room                 Monkey wallpaper and $5 picture (excluding frame)

                            

View from kitchen

Thanks to my beautiful wife (Chris) and our lovely daughter (Camille) for making the hallway a portrait of beauty.