Wades Beach: Out of the Ashes

The team: Chrissie with architect Robert Brown (center) and Tor Torkelsen (builder) inside what remains of the old house.

Yesterday we made the most progress of getting the house built in months. We went to Shelter Island and met with Rob (architect) and Tor (contractor) at the house. We also looked at two other houses these two have designed/built together. We are in a happy state of mind now.

We started the day at the house, which is a burned out shell since the January 2008 fire. It was pretty gloomy, of course, being in the house. Combined with the pouring rain, the cold, and the mucky-muck of the interior, it was not too bad to have a meeting there. We only stuck around for less than 15 minutes. One thing I asked is if we need to move the pod away, to a greater distance from the house. Tor said it could be moved. I am worried I'll have to take all the crap out, move the pod, and then have to load it up again.

Our first stop was a beautiful five-bedroom house less than a half-mile from ours that these two finished recently. The owner showed us around. It looked fantastic. She also raved about how great they are. This was not an entirely new house, it was an addition plus a lot of renovation. It was a good chance to see the way these two worked. Tor explained to us novices about the wood, the materials, the techniques. It was fantastic.

Next, we went to the other side of the island and saw a house that is still underway. It too is a major operation. This house was more our style: a beach cottage. It was a great experience to see how both Rob and Tor interact and showed us what they did on the job, both the things that went right, and things that turned out differently than planned.

We also got to review our Demolition Depot list with Rob. It was so great to hear him say that he liked the things we picked out. I'll write another update about what we are getting from Demo Depot.

Chrissie and I drove back to the city after having a big lunch at Pat and Steve's. We feel really good about the process now, and can't wait for the next step: Demolishing the old house. Stay tuned!

More photos from yesterday:


Nothing is left inside the old house except beams.


This is where the fire originated, the fire box.


"And I want to be in here by Labor Day!"

Labels: Construction, Plans

This is the first video clip I have made about the house construction. And I don't know how many will follow. For our apartment renovation I made six, and that job was about 1/20th the size of this project.

In this clip, we visit Demolition Depot, where Chrissie and I want to get as much salvaged items as we can. This will be both to save money and be "green" by using recycled materials. Most of the stuff you will see in the video came out of East Coast homes and apartment buildings. Maybe you will see some of it in our new beach cottage.

Labels: Construction, Salvage, Video