 Upcoming EventsBe sure to come by our booth at this week's Traditional Building Show at the Hynes. The exhibit floor is open on Friday and Saturday.
Mark will be speaking about restoring historic homes at the Forbes House Museum, in Milton, Thursday evening March 26th at 7PM. All are welcome.
After that, we'll be at the Residential Design & Construction show, April 1-2, where Mark will be moderating two panel discussions.
Finally, we'll be at the New England Historic House Show in Sturbridge, April 17-19.
Please stop by and see us at one of the events!
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 Product news...If you're considering a wood shingle roof for an upcoming project, it's worth taking a look at an alternative to the standard red cedar shingle most commonly used. Red cedar looks great but the quality of the wood has been deteriorating over the years. An untreated red cedar roof has a realistic life expectancy of 15-20 years. Considering the cost (upwards of $1100 per square) this is hard to justify.
The Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau introduced a pre-treated cedar shingle, which extends the life to 20-25 years- still not great. Eventually the preservatives leach out.
A company called LifePine has introduced a pressure treated shingle milled from southern yellow pine. You may think that this would make for an unattractive shingle but my friend Bob Fulmer of Building Envelope Consultants in Maine, who is a very respected expert on roofing of all types, tells me that this is not the case. After a month or so they weather to the same mellow gray as a cedar roof. What's more, they come with a 50 year warranty against rot and insect damage and do not have to be installed with an air space as required for cedar.
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Things are a little up in the air, as you can see, at our project in Brookline. We'll be installing a new foundation under this old place and building an addition at the rear. The carriage house conversion on this same property is going well. We expect to complete that in May, while work on the main house will go through the end of the year. We're pleased to be working with Gary Wolf Architects on this renovation. This project will feature geothermal heating and cooling as well as solar electricity.
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 We're well into the finish carpentry on this 3-story Federal house in Milton. Our cabinetmakers are going at it fast and furious in our shop to make cabinets for the kitchen, butler's pantry, mudroom, dressing room, bathrooms, and an all-mahogany study. The geothermal well has been drilled and the solar panels are on the roof ready to be fired up!
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The winter weather has not helped at all with our construction of a snack bar addition at the Longwood Country Club. It has especially slowed down the extensive site work: brick walls, granite steps, etc. But we're still on track to have this project completed before the pool opens for the season! We've been working with Ray Dunetz Landscape Architecture and architect Cynthia Solarz of Archiments. |
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