Posts under ‘6. Exterior’

Pipe Shark

February 9th, 2010 by KTU | 3 Comments | Filed in 6. Exterior, Replacing Sewer Main

Before I invested a lot of money in my lower level with all its new plumbing, I wanted to make sure that the waste line was reliably connected to the municipal sewer. I had replaced some of the sewer main the previous winter and was pretty sure that there was a lot more bad terracotta pipe between the house and the main sewer line. Sure enough, I had the plumber snake the video camera down the line and he declared that the terracotta was basically gone (100+ years old) and that my sewer line was really just a tunnel through the dirt.
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A Really Nice Shed

February 9th, 2010 by KTU | No Comments | Filed in Shed

I might have one of the nicest sheds there is, certainly the nicest in my little town.

It was built for me by Gardensheds.com, a one-woman web-based business that contracts with an Amish carpentry outfit to build the sheds and another central-Pennsylvanian guy to deliver them.

My shed being delivered. The delivery guy does this every day. He has a little gas-powered hydraulic tractor that he attaches to the shed and pulls the whole thing over the ground and into place. This took some doing and I had to pitch in, but we got it done in about two hours.

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Lowering the Side Entrance by 4 Ft.

February 9th, 2010 by KTU | No Comments | Filed in Reworking Side Entry

One of the big moves architecturally for this renovation was to excavate the side yard so that the entrance to the lower level could be at the level of the sidewalk. Originally, we had to climb a half dozen steps, traverse a few feet of walkway, and then step down a half dozen steps into the “basement.” It was actually my idea, which the architect liked, to excavate next to the house and make it a straight shot into the lower level from the sidewalk. That worked well; getting in and out of the house is a breeze.

This is how the 1950s entrance looked after excavating the side down to grade and ripping off a little vestibule which had been added to provide shelter for a separate entrance to the upper level (blocked over in this shot).

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Exterior Masonry

February 10th, 2010 by KTU | No Comments | Filed in Exterior Masonry

Here are various shots of the exterior masonry work on the Church house. We added a door out through the middle of the apse at the stair landing, which came out great. We also did various patching of holes from relocated windows and doors. A big part of the job was putting in 100 linear feet or so of new stone retaining wall. This substantially improved the look and function of the back yard.

Third-generation mason Heath creating a new door out the back of the apse. You can't tell it wasn't there originally.


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