Nova Scotia projects

Here are the before and after pictures

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Enjoy

It’s hard to believe that a year has past since the last update!

June - October

The summer passed really quickly. We’ve added another building to hold the gardening stuff and to keep the wood out of the weather. The vegetable garden has been put to bed for the winter. The production was low due to the lateness of planting. The fruit harvest was incredible - Strawberries, Rasberries, Blueberries, Red/ Black currants, Gooseberries, Elderberries, Blackberries, Apples (Heritage), Pears (Heritage) (Great with Blue Cheese) and now Sea Buckthorn.

January - June

We actually got down to doing some of the remaining house projects! The bathroom needed tiling and this is almost complete. Raven & Spirit (the cat) realy missed Bailey (so did Elizabeth & I) and we adopted a new companion from a local dog rescue group. HannaH is just over 2 and has fitted in really well. We’ve really got the weaving bug and have acquired several looms as well as the fibre to be woven. Now we need time to start some projects.

With the arrival of spring we’ve been working on the garden and trying to solve the drainage problem on the east side of the property. This has now been landscaped and a new vegetable garden is being established so we’ll see how this works

September 2009 - December 2009
The Parry Sound chapter closed at the end of September and the D’s Elizabeth & I made the final journey eastward through Algonquin Park. Our arrival in Hampton was somewhat bitter sweet as Bailey took ill and passed away the day after we arrived. He was getting on (13 years) and had some health issues but we didn’t expect this! Much time was spent settling into the new lifestyle,new routines and getting re-acquainted with friends. We made minor changes to the house layout - moving the bedroom to gain more home office - studio space. This space also serves as athe spare bedroom when we have guests. Gwen & Scott have visited from Cape Breton and Kevin was able to come east at Christmas. I was crowded but it was good to have everyone here!

As of July 2009 a new chapter in the life of Burdock Farm has begun. The buildings have now absorbed selected furnishings from Parry Sound. I’m keeping some back in the sound to furnish an apartment for the D’s & I. The place has a much more settled look and its interesting to see how our furnishings fit in.

On the outside - As mentioned last time a new driveway had been created. In keeping with maritime politics and the fact that our federal MP is a Tory the Shore road is being upgraded with new drains,ditches and paving as part of the economic stimulus package. This has made the new driveway even better!!

The flower garden really likes the coastal weather - what a change since May.

The area just to the east of the house has been leveled and tilled. A good portion of it will be used
for the fruit & Veg garden. We’ve planted many berry plants as well as grape vines.

We had our first visitors and were able to use the “grassy Knoll” as campsite with a view fortunately the weather cooperated - cool but no rain.

Alas the D’s & my time there came to an end and we headed back to Ontario with a fond look back to the shore from the Digby ferry.

Spring is finally arriving on the Fundy shore.

Find the pheasant in the picture

It’s hard to believe that is its been a year since the major project was started! Activities since Christmas have included adding insulation to the basement walls, this will cut down on the drafts that occur when there are Westerly and Nor-Westerliy winds. The kitchen has also seen some additional activity. Elizabeth located some olde cabinets and following re-finishing these have now been integrated into the room.
A new cabinet with similar “look & feel” was built for the sink.
The mitre saw/ sink stand has been retired. The location has also changed so you watch the world go by while you are doing the dishes. The “new” look

Following Christmas Elizabeth got back into weaving - something she hadn’t done much of since the Woodlawn days. She started off with a 4 harness loom but we found an 8-harness Leclerc Colonial loom for sale in Halifax and bought it! This is quite the “machine” its set up with a view of the Bay.

Elizabeth plans to use it to do some fibre arts.

On the outside - A new driveway has been created - the old one had a tendency to turn into mud when it rained. As the growing season has begun - the new gardens have also begun to take shape.

The plan is to continued on the ideas we were doing at Billtown & Onslow - small fruit bushes and vegetables for our own use and possibly for sale. In addition to traditional berries Elizabeth is trying some “sea buckthorn berries”.

We plan to get back into Veggies but that requires some earth work to improve the grading and drainage before that can start. Future developments may also include a greenhouse.

All of this gardening will be ORGANIC and provide for a sustainable future

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog. I did finally see the place at Christmas. It was beyond my expectations. With the walls down the main floor is much more spacious. The upstairs was the real surpise it is great. The weather over Christmas was crazy. I arrived in a raging snow storm but by Christmas day all the snow was gone!
Several small projects were undertaken. There are now NO! uncovered light bulbs as we found nice fixtures for the front hall and kitchen.

The Christmas trip was all too short but it was good to see Elizabeth again!! Even the D’s and Spirit settled in well
Spirit liked it so much she decided to stay in NS!

The Finished exterior - October 10th

Another chapter ends as the sun sets on the Bay of Fundy

Interior activity
Once the outside work was done it was back to the interior and getting the walls taped
and painted as well as the floors:
Living room



THe “Hampton Conservatory’s First Instrument”


The Front Foyer

The Kitchen
The kitchen is all painted - for some reason the colours shown aren’t correct





The new bathroom

Meanwhile as of October 23rd the taping is just about complete on the second floor

he sun sets on yet another workday on the Hampton project

Here’s an update on all the activity that’s been going on!

As the weather was cooling it’s time to test the new wood stove. Especially as NSP has
requested yet another rate increase!

During most of September outside work was the priority. The new roof was installed, some
of the old shakes were replaced, new soffits and facia were installed, new corner boards installed and
the whole thing painted (2 coats)!

THE FUN BEGINS! - May to Aug 2008
The outside

Clean up has been the key word on the outside since we bought the place. The lawn are gardens are finally beginning to take shape.

As with any project there is scope creep. This is no exception. The deck wasn’t in the plan but it looks great! and we’re still on budget!!!

The view on August 7th!

All thats left to do are the exterior walls - shakes and paint and the new roof (new plywood and shingles).
AND THEN ?????

The second floor had been largely untouched when we acquired the property and was
used as an attic. The original windows had been shot out and it was dark and dingy.

The space over the kitchen was really unused - we used it for storage. Typical of houses of this age the bare wood walls
had been wall papered with newspaper - mostly from the 1920’s.

The plan here was to create a master bedroom and sitting space as well as a
second bedroom / home office. In the fall of 2007 we replaced the original windows
and doubled the size of the north wall window as it has a spectacular view of the
Bay of Fundy.

The a new subfloor was added and the ceiling is now well insulated. Some additional storage space has been added in the eaves

Second Bedroom / Home office

Some additional storage space has been added in the eaves

The Stairway - Railings will be added !!!

The view frome the North Window

This entry describes the work completed on the Living Room, Foyer, Stairway

The plan is to relocate the bathroom to where the bedroom is located, repair the floor in the foyer, and replace the stairway
with one that meets current codes. A new north window was added (removed from the kitchen)
As with the kitchen the space was gutted and all
the plaster and accordian lath was removed. It was sad to loose some of the interesting storage features but these may reappear over time..
This process revealed some of the inner secrets of the place.
I wonder how old the place really is records show it was built in 1865 but some of the posts have mortises somewhat lower
than the current joists. Was it a recycled building?

Another interesting feature that was discovered was the “inner wall” along the west wall. This was made up of slabs of
lumber - the first slices in timber making which were mounted vertically between the posts. These must have been installed to aid in wind blocking as Westerlies are common here.

Things are really open now!

The framing begins along with the new staircase

As with the kitchen insulation and vapour barrier was added to keep out
those westerly winds. Note the toilet in its pre-move location in
the living room!

The ceilings were also left open, stained and protected.

All prim and proper with freshly primed drywall and a new woodstove - no chimney challenges here!

The previous post outlined the plans now for the action! Though much of the work was being done concurrently I’ll break it down by area. Elizabeth and her crew a have done great work, too bad I’ve been in Parry Sound and missed it!

The Kitchen

The Clearing

The removal of the chimney was probably the most dangerous activity, as it never had proper footings. Since the foundation work it has been resting on jack-posts in the basement. These partially gave way once the bricks started to be removed!

Here’s the expanded Kitchen with the Chimney gone

The reconstruction begins!

The new layout takes place

New Framing

Additional 2x6 studs were added to the exterior walls every thing has been insulated with a vapour barrier. The 3 remaining old windows in the kitchen were replaced and the front kitchen entrance door was removed. This was used to replace the old back door.



The ceilings have been left open and the olde wood has been sanded, stained and protected with Urethane. Almost finished
with new drywall.

The kitchen is much brighter and more spacious. For this phase trimming needs done around window frames and some patching in the floor. Then its major design work around the cabinetry.

This series shows the transition We’re doing. This shows the current floor plan.

.

Since May all the interior walls have been removed and the existing staircase has been replaced with one
that meets the current codes. The new plan will be very open and have a larger living room and Kitchen. The bedrooms will be upstairs along with a home office.

By the end this is what the olde girl should look like.

The following series shows the before pictures of the main floor. The plan is to prepare the house for insulation. This involves removing all the plaster and lath from the walls and ceilings. One interesting thing we found was the use of accordian lath as opposed to milled lath that is common in older houses. Accordian lath was made with a froe, where a wood slab is partially split on alternating sides and pulled apart like an acordian !….Wood lath uses green wood and is thouroughly wet before use so the wood doesn’t absorb water from the plaster( from “A Museum of Early American Tools). The vertical saw marks are clearly visible in the slabs and the varied in thickness from 1/4″ to an 1″. The walls looked as the thickness of the plaster varied to match the wood. All of the plaster was brown coat (no finish coat). So here’s the before tour.

We’ll start with the bedroom

This shows the accordian lath each slab is about 10″-12″ tall and runs the length of the wall.


The north wall with the lath removed note the spacing of the posts and the diagonal stud that runs from the base to the second floor. Another interesting feature is the use of the outer cuts of the wood - partially rounded with bark to support the outer cladding.

The Living Room

The Kitchen

Note the sink stand - another use for a chop saw stand!

As of the end of June all of the lath has gone in fact all of the interior walls are gone. The chimney (which caused problems with the foundation work) was really unsafe and has been removed. Elizabeth and crew are now commencing the reconstruction phase, which will result in fixing the bouncing floor in the foyer, insulating and covering the exterior walls and creating a new floor plan. These plans will be posted soon.

Hampton Update - 02 (May 2008)

Here’s the “olde” place in May after it survived the winter. We have many plans for the place this year as we determine our own future plans.

Here are some views of the BAY
Looking North to New Brunswick

Looking North West past Billy’s barns

Spring is finally appearing in Parry Sound. Its been a very long winter and we are looking forward to returning “HOME” and especially to Hampton. We’ll be heading there at the beginning of May. I’ll be there for a brief while but Elizabeth will be there for at least May & June. The plan is to start work inside and get the outside painted. She will also be doing some music gigs in the valley. The following photo is as we left Hampton last fall and from all accounts the house has weathered another winter very well.

I realize that a lot has happened at Hampton since the last post in Sept 06 here is a list.

2006 - 2007
- Clean up property - most of the debris has gone
- Tackle the Burdocks - Hence the new name for the place!
- get a well drilled
- get electricity (re-wire!) - The solar experiment was fun but the cost of doing off-grid is too high and the pay - back for grid tie isn’t there yet
- New windows (all but 3) and doors
- install plumbing (cold water so far)
- start a garden

The new basement! The work has been completed and most of the equipment is gone.

All has been made smooth. Now we’ll have to sow some seeds to get some grass back! We’ll be doing most of the work form now on. I have to do work in the entry hall floor - then Mark can come back and finish the chimney - right now it is held up by jack posts!
The Before picture and the NOW picture!

Back down on the foundation. The drainage tile is in an the initial bak fill is complete. Mark has started squaring things up. Amazingly the doors now work!

Over the next few days additional leveling with the new jack posts will be started as well as the repair of rotten studs and joists - just a few where water had built up against the old walls.


This will required the removal of the first 3-4 rows of shingles. Then the chimney !

The forms are off. There is lots still to be done. Mark has stated installing the mud sill and gasket

and has been replacing / sistering rotten joists and sill beams. The footings have been prepared for the new supports in the basement and the chimney (this will still be a challenge). Today is Monday and its raining - the remains of “Ernesto” so I don’t know if much if anything will get done today I think the great lowering will be happening later in the week.

The walls have been poured!

The weather continues to be great. It will be interesting to
see how much higher the house will be once its back down

The plan is to have it down by Monday - Mark is planning to work on the holiday!
We will be updating the blog then.