April 6, 2012

Long time since an updated post.  Things were on hold for a bit until we finally got Western MA Electric to install our power. The underground power starts at the base of a new pole set by road, and then it snakes up through the woods about 850 feet to the house!  Very expensive, but I think it'll be appreciated when trees and limbs fall. 

Once the power got installed and turned on during the second week of March, things quickly resumed and lots has happened. Check it out!

White columns on porch installed.

Garage doors installed.

This is final product. Black hinges on.

Transformer.  More than meets the eye!   From the road to this transformer (Approx. 700 feet) is underground Primary line. From transformer to house (Approx. 150 feet) it steps down to underground Secondary line.

The fireplace was installed prior to power, but I thought this was a good place to put it in this blog.  The fireplace was custom built by Jim Dubois and his brother Mason Dubois.  I grew up with Jim since kindergarden, so he hooked me up with a good price. No one else has an exact fireplace like this one. It was designed on a Rumford Fireplace model, which was popular back in the colonial days. It has a shallow, curved back which allows for the smoke to roll up and out of the chimney while pushing the heat outwards into the room.  This custom fireplace also has a wood box on the bottom and then a cooking oven on top. I can't wait to bake bread and pizzas in there! The brick is authentic and actually recovered from old demolished buildings. 

This first week of April saw a lot of action. The sheet rock and taping is completed. The ceilings were painted and the trim is well underway. All the interior doors got hung today as well. Interior paint will begin likely this weekend or early next week. The stair case and balcony railing also were installed this week. They came out great!

 The spindles underneath the railing not installed as of when I took this picture. I saw it later in the evening all done and it looks fantastic!

That's all for now folks!  Stay tuned for more timely updates as things start to pick up and move along.

January 3, 2012

A lot has happened since the last posting.  Underground water and electrical utilities have been put in, roof shingled, and house sided! Right now the fireplace is being built, the rough plumbing put in, and soon will be the HVAC systems.  Check out how the progress has gone.

Town of Southwick Water Department hooking up main line from road into our underground installed piping.

The white pipe sticking up is the "Meter Pit" that will house the water meter so the water company can read it from the road without having to drive up to the house.

After wiggling through the middle of the woods, the water line reaches the house. Only 840 feet back from connection at Laro Road!!

Shingles being delivered and then boomed up onto the roof.

Siding going on.  Looks pretty good!

 Installation of the septic system.

Tank delivered.

Infiltrators placed into the leach field.

Underground tubing that cable and primary electrical lines will run from Laro Road underground to the house.

 Inside of cement silo where Western MA Electric Company will place a transformer and drop the primary line down to a secondary line before sending it into the house.

Tom putting in the pull rope through the underground pipes.  Power company will use this pull rope to pull the electrical lines through the pipe from Laro Road the 800 plus feet back to the house.

November 5, 2011

Second floor done. Roof on house.  Wrap around porch almost done. The Trex decking for the porch is on site and should be installed Monday.   I have a lot of work do now as the winter storm dropped numerous trees across the driveway and all around the property.  Good thing I cleared enough land so nothing even came close to the house construction!