WoodDance Studio » New Canaan

2 lb. closed-cell spray-foam insulation installation

admin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:41:05 +0000

Whoa!
I’m affecting an upgrade on a historic house here in New Canaan and I am willing to wager the carpenters who mortised these chestnut beams in 1834 never imagined a part soy expanding foam insulation being sprayed on their work 175 years later. This is one of the coolest jobs I have overseen in a while. Check out this short gallery of photos from today’s effort.

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This is a 2 lb. closed-cell insulation with an R value of 6 per inch. We are achieving R20 on these old exterior walls of true 4x material. The closed-cell spray foam was chosen for it’s structural quality on this project which is predominantly without sheathing. For 175 years this section of the house has never been insulated. The siding was nailed directly to the studs, some of which are still hand-hewn chestnut post and beam. The siding I removed had square-cut nails securing it.

The homeowner tells me his walls are actually warm on the inside of his house this evening. It’s October 21st, 2008 and it’s partly cloudy with a chance of sprinkles. Brisk with lows in the lower 40s. BTW: The spray-foam is watertight, so my liability stress factor has just gone way down. Glad this phase is a success.

My beautiful hometown, New Canaan, CT.

admin — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 03:04:27 +0000

I stopped in town for a Chai Latte on the way home from work Friday and snapped this picture of Elm street looking pretty as snow fell in the early evening.

Porch restoration – summer 2007

admin — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 00:18:28 +0000

Here’s a quick gallery of a porch restoration project in Fairfield County.
This is a turn of the century farmhouse and I rebuilt the deck using the same products used 100 years ago; 5/4 douglas fir T&G.
(While the world speeds into the future, some things haven’t changed. Wood is one of our most precious natural resources!)

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Philip Johnson Guest House door restoration

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 21:56:15 +0000

Following my simple repair to an interior door at Philip Johnson’s Glass House Compound I returned to restore the original Guest House exterior door. Also known as the Brick House this landmark was built oblique to the Glass House. Ground was broken for the two structures at the same time in March of 1948 and the Guest House was completed a few months prior to the Glass House in December of the same year.

I will let this gallery do most of the talking but point out that during my repair on this door I discovered something I have never seen before. As I moved a plane across the the bottom portion of the door, there revealed between the layers of old lamination, glue and solid pine was newsprint! Yes, in a millimeter of thickness were several newspaper articles. Wiping some liquid on the grain highlights some of the print in one of my photos. See if you can read something there. (Inspection of the high-res pics reveals legible print.)
Often times, during renovations, a carpenter will come across a variety of tidbits from the past. While my first scraping of this door revealed the many colors it has been painted throughout it’s time, it was in the middle of solid material that I found written text. Quite bizarre!

On a personal note, I point out the picture of the temporary door. Having completely remodeled my own home, originally built here in New Canaan in 1928, I saved my interior doors. Little did I foresee hanging one of my old doors on Philip Johnson’s famous Guest House at the Glass House Compound while I worked there for a few weeks in January and February of 2006.

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A small job at the Glass House Compound

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 18:43:03 +0000

As a resident of New Canaan, Connecticut I had the opportunity of meeting Philip Johnson in person on more than one occasion. It wasn’t until his Glass House Compound home was in the care of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that I was given the opportunity to work there.

I was called to the Glass House Compound for a few repairs to the Brick “Guest” House. My first task was to fix a stationary door by more solid means. As previous visitors curiously tugged at the stationary door they’d moved the panel and the loosened the handle.

I removed the door to reveal a brick wall a few inches behind the opening, installed some framing materials, and re-installed the door securely in the opening. The handle is now fastened through to the framing in a most secure manner.

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My first kitchen remodel in New Canaan

admin — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 21:15:51 +0000

Here are some before and after photographs of my first kitchen remodel in New Canaan, CT.
With the help of a cabinet maker in Pennsylvania and fine stone counters, this kitchen turned out beautifully. Check out these gorgeous cherry wood cabinets!

Everything but the sink under the window wall changed in this kitchen, including a new window over the new sink. I eliminated a closet and moved the kitchen entrance over to accommodate the new double ovens. A new Anderson sliding patio door, new casing and trim throughout, even a new oak floor where once was plastic. A complete remodel using existing floor space.

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This entry was posted Jan 2008 and is backdated July 2001 when I completed this job. WoodDance.com