Replacing An Old Beam

Bill was alone at Old Farm this past frigid weekend, beginning to replace the last fading ceiling beam in the loft. He will be installing a solid; similarly aged one from a lot we bought over three years ago for this. First the surrounding ceiling parts were braced before the old beam came out.

Bill managed the removal himself by cutting the old beam in half first. It was interesting to find that the cross beams underneath were continuous and one piece.

Taking Down The Tree

This year I have wanted to enjoy our Christmas trees as long as possible because much of my family visited and the beauty of this holiday was worth prolonging. Today I took the farm tree down but here is a parting shot from the dining room where you saw it while at the table and down the hall. A perfect spot!

Pouring A Crawl Space Floor

In winter weather, we have managed with the help of a dear friend and best mason ever, to pour Christian's crawl space floor. This job entails pouring between existing joists, mixing concrete batches ourselves, and Lou leveling the surface with much maneuvering. Bless Lou Beck for coming to help us on his day off to deliver, and form 60 bags of extra strength cement from Home Depot! Left-over cement was used to fill a basement hole from an old furnace foundation pad we removed.

I remember my father mixing cement with Bill on holidays; teaching him to undermine our clay basement 18" deeper with newly formed 4' extension walls and a floor Lou Beck came to pour. It's a skill now passed on from a wonderful man and engineer. Several tie-rods are used to bind the walls together.

Shoveling Stone

This New Year's Day we are shoveling two ton of 3/4 clean stone onto the dirt floor of Christian's crawl space below his kitchen. The 8' X 18' floor needs a 3" layer of stone before a vapor barrier of construction plastic is laid down and cement poured on that. Luckily it is a warm day and the rain has stopped.

 Happy New Year!