Wades Beach: Out of the Ashes

We made a visit to the house a little after the second anniversary of the fire. On Friday afternoon last week, with the weather at around zero and a fierce wind, we stood on the porch of the new house for the first time. It was a great feeling.

The progress is more noticeable now. On our previous visit we could see some of the plumbing, but now we can see the plumbing is pretty much all in and the electric is going in. There is a lot of the utilities installed now, and soon the heat will be turned on. There are inspections to be made of the framing, then the insulation and drywall/sheetrock can commence.

If you see the photos, you'll note that the exposed beam ceiling in the living room area will look amazing. The rooms are all pretty much ready to be covered in the drywall soon.

The exterior looks amazing too. A small part of one outside wall had a few shingles attached. These are going to weather over the years and ultimately turn grayish. Right now the wood is pretty bright, but they will be looking a lot different over the years. Currently there are stacks of shingles in the sun room.

We have picked out the fixtures for the bathrooms, and some of these will be installed soon. We're still on the hunt for a few more things. And we have not even started on the major appliances yet. The basement looks great: a highlight for Chrissie was getting the key to the basement door. The old house didn't have a door to the basement, so this is a first.

Stay tuned!


This is the sunroom, with the exterior shingles stacked up on the right.


Living room with the exposed beam ceiling. Note fireplace.


Front guestroom.


Guest bathroom; tub is in place.


Rear guestroom (twin beds were once here).


Future kitchen with the stainless steel counter we got from salvage place.


This is the upstairs and master bedroom.


New key to the basement door!


Chrissie and Tor our contractor, making an inspection of new plumbing.


The small porch off the upstairs master bedroom.


Shingles starting to be put on the exterior.


Porch on front of house.


View of porch of front door on left and sunroom doors on right.


View of the back of the house; windows in center are kitchen.


The backyard is taking a beating.

Labels: Construction

Chrissie is back with another installment of the video series. If you watch this one, she takes you through the house, which is now all framed out. Some of the plumbing is in too. I like that she goes from the first to the second floor. Have a look!

Labels: Construction, Video

One of the cool parts of the new house plans is that we now have a second floor. The old house was ranch style. On our last trip, we got to stand upstairs for just the second time, but this trip we were able to walk up a flight of stairs, not a ladder. We will have a small patio on the front, just off the bedroom. Chrissie and our stars, Rob and Tor, check it out in this new video:

Labels: Video

Chrissie has been hard at work editing her video clips (now that she is not working on Avatar any longer, I think), and her skills are great. We have not posted any video since the first one in April, when we were at Demolition Depot. These two were shot at the house in early October and mid November. The October one shows us at the house the day we inspected the foundation being poured, which was an amazing site to behold. Then the other clip was from six weeks ago, when we trekked out in the rain to see the frame up. The progress since then has been dramatic. We have more videos to post this weekend, so keep checking back…

Episode 2, the foundation and a tour of the pod:



Episode 3, the frame is up, but not the roof. We get a look at the upstairs for the first time:

Labels: Construction, Video

We made a visit to the house yesterday, our first in six weeks, and it was an amazing scene to behold. We were able to ascend a staircase to the second floor for the first time, and the new master bedroom and bath are all framed out. We stepped out onto what will be a small patio on the second floor. The view is terrific.

Probably the biggest surprise was walking downstairs to the new basement. The old house only had a dirt basement and was a scary sight. For the new house we dug it out and poured a new basement. The storage space down there is incredible.

We had a great meeting with Rob (architect) and Tor (builder) to get a progress report. We are still looking good for a March completion, believe it or not. We had to pick where the washer and dryer will be located in the basement, a big decision. We met Mike the Plumber too, he’s doing the work on the three bathrooms this week. All of the windows are installed except the two round ones we got from Demolition Depot; hopefully they will be ready next week. We also have to choose a front door. Tor recommends steel since the weather out on Shelter Island by the beach is so fierce.

The deck hasn’t been started, but that will come in about a month. The exterior will be underway too, installing the wood shingles to the sides of the house. It looks kind of naked without them. The roof is on and the chimney is in place. I can’t not mention the other highlight of the trip: we now have a Porta Potty sitting on the front lawn!

For our part, we are visiting plumbing and lighting supply stores to look for fixtures. We go out to the house again next week to meet the electrician.

On the last day of the year, and with the two-year anniversary of the fire looking in a few weeks, we could not be more happy about the progress out there. Stay tuned!


Chrissie at the side porch door.


The front of the house with the sunroom.


The future kitchen. Note bay windows.


Living room and new fireplace (bricks & mortar this time)


Second floor with master bedroom.


Chrissie on stair leading to second floor.


New basement: install a bar or bowling alley?

Labels: Construction

It's been a few weeks since we visited the construction site. Today we got a new batch of photos in from the scene of the action, and we are happy to report that there is now a roof, chimney, windows and more walls. Yay! The process has been going on for months, but the construction looks like it's speeding along well now.

These are the photos:


View from the street; there will be a round window in the second level.


Side of the house, the kitchen door is on the left.


View of the back of the house.


This is the view from the new second level balcony. Our pod is still on the front lawn!


This is the interior of the second level; note the chimney on left (bricks and mortar this time)


Upstairs on level 2 interior.

Labels: Construction, Fireplace

We got out to the house for the first time since early October, and the 6 weeks have really showed us a lot. We have a frame! The second story was the best thing to climb up to, and look out at the new view.

The frame is up, but not all of the roof. So rain was coming into part of the house. But now that there is something physical to see, it was so exciting. We are really happy with the progress that has been made so far.

Labels: Construction