The "state" of the cottage - 10/16/2008

Joseph was kind enough to take these pics and send them to me once he returned to Florida. Greg and Joseph made more progress after most of the crew abandoned the island. There is a roof on and also the siding and fascia.

Thank you again for all those who participated and see you in the Spring or next summer to come up and relax and enjoy the cabin.

The final photo

The final picture before departure. More work will be completed. Joseph is staying until October 14th to complete the siding on the outside of the house. Contractors will be completing the electrical, roofing and dry wall over the winter. Then the inside work will be completed in late Spring. I have asked Joseph to send more pics of the house after the siding and roof complete this week and e-mail them to me so I can post! WE will also pick up and add to this blog in the Spring. Thanks for following our project. I hoped you enjoyed our blog so far!

Randy working away!

Randy doing work... ;-)

Day 11 - oh boy - more rain

We had a very large storm that came through and unfortunately we did not have the tar paper down on the roof yet and the entire adition and the old kitchen were flooded. I have never seen so much rain....it was a mini Maine monsoon. So in the 1 day build project we have had rain on 8 of the days. last night and today we have wonderful sun!! So everything is slowly drying out and the rivers that popped up through out the property slowing down. 

So, not much work was accomplished besides we did get the tar paper on the roof last night and windows are done. The bathtub was also installed. 

Today the shingles are going on and the roof will officially be done. The doors will also be in and that will complete the "dry in" of the house. Most of us leave tomorrow. Joseph and Robert the caretaker are staying another week and a half to put up the siding and trim. Also the insulation. This will complete the 2008 phase I build. We have to wait for the house to dry out to be able to do any dry wall. We are hoping running the furnace through out the winter months will accomplish this and dry wall and the rest of the inside finishing work can be done in April of 2009! 

We had some wonderful island neighbors come by unexpectedly to volunteer and pitch in. They helped us with construction for a few hours and it was so wonderful and the family greatly appreciated their contribution. What a wonderful surprise! 

More to come at the end of today. 

The Big Idea Guy

The patio

Morning coffee on the new patio~

Check out these time lapse pics from Tommy Mhire

Please check out the below link for pictures that Tommy Mhire took while here helping. He has some time lapse pics that are very cool and show the progress early on in this extreme makeover. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/tmhire

Day 10 pics continued

Day 10

The interior walls are complete and windows and doors are going in. Joe is going to try to complete out the electrical so we can get the inspection complete in order to start placing the insulation. The roof plywood is half way done and Joseph will be completing the second half hopefully by the end of the day since it is going to start raining again later today and all day tomorrow. The ultimate Friday night goal is to have the place "dryed in". Jo-Fish has volunteered to stay a another whole week and work with our caretaker, Robert to finish out more work. We are going to contract out the drywall and roof shingles since we did not get to that phase of the project due to all the weather and unforeseen issues that had to be overcome along the way. 

The end of the work day ritual. Manhattans on the patio. (Exception: Ephraim is not drinking a manhattan...) These guys deserve it after their 12 hour work days. The Clark family wants to reiterate how much it means to us to have friends and family willing to donate their time to help us build this addition. You all have worked so very hard and put your heart and soul into this project and words can not express our gratitude. 

The raising of the tree

THe raising of the tree. As tradition calls for. Once the roof has been completed - a tree is placed on the top truss....

Day 9

Day 9 action shots. Today on Day 10 - the interior walls will be finished, he windows will be installed and the plywood boards on the roof will be placed. You will see a lot of progress on tomorrow's pics! 

More "Funk That" photos

Funk That's" Pictures - from a "real" photographer

These are wonderful of the island. Enjoy! 

The "on island" market and laundromat

The "on island" market and laundromat

"The View"

Here is the view from the top of the property. You can see the back of the barn down below and the harbor past the barn. 

Hurricane Kyle changed course...

So we were very lucky last night. Curly and Sarah spent hours "provisioning" in case we lost electricity. Electricity goes out on island with strong winds. We filtered water and made sure we had enough peanut butter for a week. But, we did not need it thank goodness. Hurricane Kyle "swooped" in an eastwardly direction and made landfall on our neighbor, Nova Scotia. We had very heavy rains all day and the guys worked so hard in the torrential downpour putting up the roof. And then it stopped a few hours after nightfall. Today was beautiful and things are starting to dry up but we still have a very muddy job site and damp everything. It seems that nothing is dry from work gloves to wood.  

Today begins the construction of the screened in patio walls and the interior walls. I apologize for such a late blog. Curly and I went "off island" for a provisions run.

Safety First

Joseph, Randy and Chuck playing around with Ephraim. They nailed his pants to the scaffolding....

Hurricane Kyle

We are bracing for Hurricane Kyle. Class one Hurricane with 60-75 MPH winds that we are now officially right in the path of and will probably hit the island late tonight. Hopefully after dark. The guys are working very hard to get the rest of the roof trusses up and the hurricane plates. It will be a push to get done but everyone is working hard! 

This family would get a hurricane in MAINE while trying to build a house......silly! There has not been a hurricane that has hit Maine in 17 years. 

I want to tell all our friends and family not to worry about us though. We are settled a bit off the coast and do not have waterfront property. So the waves are not a worry and we have plenty of solid and safe shelter.  We are taking all precautions and will be totally fine. 

The only concern is getting the  house in shape to weather the storm tonight. 

Day 8 - Rain...rain...more rain

Well, It rained about 3 to 4 inches in the last 24 hours. The guys persevered and hung roof trusses in the rain. The "unnamed" tropical storm hit us and dropped a ton of rain and fog, but very luckily no high winds. And there is more to come. We are now preparing for the arrival of hurricane Kyle arriving tonight.