Shawn, showing his pin extraction method. Photos by author
Yesterday we began the dismantling the Marrett House panels in order to repair the broken stiles and rails. Above, Shawn shows his method for extracting the pins. He drills a tiny hole through the center of the pin, then threads a screw into the hole until it just bites, and then uses a hammer claw and a lot of padding to pry the pin out. This method prevents the blowout and denting that might occur from trying to knock the pin all the way through the joint.
Wedging the underside of the joint to avoid denting the wood.
Unbelievably tight joinery made the dismantling process both frustrating and inspiring. We softly tapped a handful of soft-wood wedges into the backside of the joint between stile and rail, and checked again and again to make sure that there were no pins or tiny nails or frass creating the unholy friction that prevented the stile from moving more than 1/32 per tap.
Panel Joinery, with end stile finally removed
Once we got the stile off, we thought we’d find a fox wedge, but there was none, just incredibly tight joinery, and stunning coping. The interior edge of stiles and rails are decorated with a thumbnail profile, and the thumbnails are coped to one another rather than mitered. Coping is the process by which the negative profile of one molding is cut into the backside of another. Good carpenters cope crown and other moldings when they meet at right angles to one another so that when the joint moves with humidity changes, the molding beneath the cope is revealed, rather than a gap. Some carpenters do it better than others, and this guy was among the neatest I have seen.
Coping detail, stile to rail
I took a lot of photos of the process; click on the slideshow below for more.
Marrett House Panels, laid out, from loft above. Photos by author
A year ago last April, just after rush hour, a man stole a Suburu in Cape Elizabeth, drunk-drove it to Standish, crossed two lanes of traffic, surfed a lawn and crashed into the Marrett House, coming to rest in its historic parlor. The stout framing members were fractured and the frame and panel wainscot splintered, but the wall’s 12-lite window survived. Not a single pane of original glass was broken. The plaster wall adjacent the window was thrust inwards and the split lath separated from the broken studs, but the 1847 wallpaper pasted to it remains intact. It’s wacky that, out of all the buildings along the way, the driver hit a well-preserved relic of the late 18th century, set well back from the road. And I can’t decide whether that’s good fortune or bad. Route 25 is a well-traveled road, and at least that part of the Marrett House is uninhabited.
Broken stile, just below window. Photo by Shawn Perry
The night of the crash, employees of Historic New England worked late into the night stabilizing and weatherizing the wall. In the following weeks, conservators carefully collected and organized the shards of woodwork and PTF assisted with flashing and estimated the repairs. When PTF came back to site three weeks ago, nearly every piece of splintered woodwork was inventoried and accounted for. Half of the paneled wall was still ajar, in place, and the other half lay in the barn loft, spread out like an exploded schematic.
Broken framing, shoved wall. Photo by Shawn Perry
This is an exciting and challenging project for us. The specifications are detailed and Historic New England requires strict oversight, but the process allows us to learn about other conservation technologies and refine our methodology. Museum clients prioritize conserving material and reversibility more than private clients. Where a private client might want a dutchman repair to a broken stile or rail, well-cemented to the original material, Historic New England wants to preserve the shards of original material, and a barrier layer of Paraloid B-72 between the epoxy and the original wood. While we usually would use West System, a brand of epoxy that has good adhesion, penetration and permanance, here the client requested Araldite, an epoxy that doesn’t penetrate the surface and, with a barrier layer, is ultimately reversible. Ultimately, it is much nicer to work with a client who really cares about their property rather than one who doesn’t really care what we do or how we do it. Fortunately, clients who don’t care about their building don’t choose PTF.
Shawn, the left stile, and mortising chisel marks from a hand-chopped mortise.
For me, the exciting part of this project is fitting together the shards of wood like a jigsaw puzzle. The task allows me to connect with the mind of the original builder, and explore his methods of construction, as well as reminisce about the 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles my aunt, my mother and I used to construct every Christmas. With all the work that Historic New England completed before we got there, I think the Christmas puzzles might have been harder.
Riven lath with the quality of stain-grade trim
The plaster hangs on individual riven lath, which fell out of fashion soon after the Marrett House was built. By 1800, most houses were built with split-board, or accordian lath, in which a single wide board, of low quality, is split and stretched down the studs. The riven lath at Marrett House is perfectly clear with impossibly straight, tight-grain; the kind of wood that many carpenters lament can’t be found today to be used for interior trim and parlor reproductions.
The quality of lath may have contributed to the survival of the plaster and wallpaper that hung on it. In the third photo, above, one can see the degree to which the wall was pushed into the room, and the damage to the studs. It should be noted that the original studs and sill were in unusually sound condition, and showed no signs of rot. The car hit the wall with enough force to completely sever the studs from their joinery.
The Marrett House project is already well on its way to completion. The stud repairs have been fit, the B-72 and epoxy arrived yesterday, and we will begin test-gluing the panels tomorrow. It’s a shame that such an historic artifact suffered from the random recklessness of a drunk driver, but the very qualities that lent this building its longevity allowed it to survive such an injury. Many of our historic buildings have suffered far worse from roof leaks and poor maintenance.
Marriage marks in stud and sill
I hadn’t seen before marriage marks like the ones used to align framing members in the west wall; I wonder whether they might be unique to the builder or to the region. Has anyone out there wandering the interwebs come across this type of marriage mark before?
For more photos of the marriage marks, riven lath and the rest of our process, click on the slideshow, below:
Arron and Jess in front of Seated Bear. Photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette, Portland Press Herald
On Sunday, the restoration of Bernard Langlais’ wooden sculptures was covered in a full page spread of the Maine Sunday Telegram. It was a pleasure to talk with Bob Keyes, and Shawn Ouellette, of the Portland Press Herald, and to meet the with the folks who raised the money to make this restoration possible. The Ogunquit Museum of American Art is still trying to raise money for the restoration of “Horse in Field.” We’ll start taking the lion apart tomorrow, and I can’t wait. Read the article, here.
Tony Grassi, owner of the Mill at Freedom Falls, will be discussing its rehabilitation with Jennifer Rooks on MPBN’s Maine Watch this week. The show airs Thursday, December 13 at 8 pm, Friday at 9 pm and Sunday at 5 pm. It will also be on the radio on Friday at 12:30 pm. Read more about our participation in the project here, but Grassi’s blog has better photos, so check it out!
David and the Moffatts. Photo by Deb Cram, from Seacoastonline.com
Our clients often comment on a pervasive artistic sentiment within the PTF crew. Shawn Perry and David Ford pursued careers in drawing and ceramics, respectively, before becoming timber framers. Ed and myself majored in art as undergraduates, and a portrait of Reese (scroll down) hangs in the National Portrait Gallery (Reese’s friend Megan Ledbetter took the photo, but I’ll use any flimsy excuse to brag). We think that our creativity and artistic curiosity add intangible benefits to our approach to carpentry, but sometimes those benefits are shown in stark relief. David’s painting of the temporary windows at the Moffatt-Ladd House are one such occasion.
While the window sash are being repaired, David and his crew cut and fit temporary inserts for the window frames. On the plywood inserts, he drew silhouettes of former residents of the historic home, and lined out muntin divisions. Volunteers from the New Hampshire Colonial Dames and the Museum’s seasonal staff finished the inserts by painting in the silhouettes. It is always a pleasure to work with committed volunteers and a special joy to see David’s artistic talents on display. Over the holidays, all of Portsmouth will have the chance. Please read more about the project from Seacoast online.
On Wednesday, the crew down at iFarm raised a new timber-framed kitchen ell. The modified English frame is based closely on joinery found in the late-18th century house. We based the size and location of the addition on evidence found in the house frame of an original, and now demolished, ell. Like the house frame, the reproduction ell is constructed of White Oak and Eastern White Pine, in addition to Spruce, a species dictated by engineering requirements. We worked with structural engineer Joe Fix, and architect Ben Nutter, as well as Howell Custom Builders, to build an historically accurate, traditionally-joined frame that met all Massachusetts building codes and regulations. Click on the slideshow below for more information:
At PTF, we have a passion for preservation. It’s been joked that Arron, our boss, wants to save every old barn and church steeple in New England, and that isn’t so far from the truth. This passion brings PTF to projects large and small, far and wide. Using the “my maps” function in Google Maps, we made the following map to show just how far. It took a little over an hour to create, and now we have a good illustration of our region for potential clients. Red markers indicate barn projects, Blue indicate churches and steeples, Green indicate museums and Pink indicate residences (residences are located by town center, not by street address). Click on each marker for a description of the project that took place there, and check back to our “Region” page, above, for updates on how far we’ve traveled.
FOR SALE – The Israel Demeritt House is a two-story, center-chimney, timber-frame dwelling, 40’ x 32’ with attached cape ell, 40’ x 21’. NH state historian, Jim Garvin, reports that it “is the best example so far identified in Durham of a two-story, center chimney house in the federal style.” Out of seven original fireplaces, three are incorporated within fully-joined raised panel walls. The remaining four mantels showcase the craftsmanship of Nathaniel Demeritt, the original builder, with reeded moldings derived from Asher Benjamin‘s A Country Builder’s Assistant (Demeritt’s own copy is housed at the New Hampshire Historical Society). Original crown moldings, chair-rail and casing are unique and have been preserved in nearly every room. The house also retains all original sash and corresponding “Indian” shutters. There are six bedrooms and room for two full bathrooms. The summer kitchen, 20’x 23’, is large enough to accommodate modern amenities with minimal retrofit of historic features. The house is dismantled, documented and preserved in its entirety. Please contact Arron Sturgis, (207) 698 1695, and peruse the articles below for more information.
View the architectural model of the building, in PDF form.
Read our series, “The O’Kane Notebook,” on dismantling the building, and the craftsmanship revealed in the process.
Read James Garvin’s report on the history of the building and its residents. You’ll never read a more well-written application for National Register status.
Peruse all of John Butler’s stunning photos of each interior and exterior wall, with trim carefully itemized and outlined, below:
Scraping paint off of a building is an exercise in endurance, as well as management. Not a very glamorous job, its importance in maintaining the protective coating of a building can be overlooked. Paint failure can ruin a building due to water infiltration and paint build up can hide the details that enhance the form of the building. The architect and the builder of the past worked together to imbue each building with qualities that one doesn’t see much of today. It is always a pleasure to reveal those details long hidden. It is a greater pleasure to extend the life of some of America’s most important buildings.
At the Moffatt Ladd House in Portsmouth, N.H., we are removing layers of lead and latex paint while repairing the trim and clapboards as the need presents itself. The fact that we are all carpenters may bring into question the relevance of the task at hand: Why didn’t we hire the job out? Some of us have been painters and have delved into the art and science, as well as the history of the trade. The skill required for this undertaking is well within our abilities, and our passion for preservation ensures that the job will be done right.
Scraping Bed Molding
With the right tools and procedures, work can progress at a rate that can maintain morale and avoid burnout. We have the means to sharpen the steel tools and keep a supply of the triangular carbide tips on hand. Sharpening and changing tips is part of the regimen. This breaks up the monotony while improving performance and, subsequently morale. We also don’t scrape for more than five hours a day. This allows time for the carpentry, which by this time is quite a treat. When enough ground has been covered, we can putty and prime. At the end of the day, there is a complete clean up, due to the lead.
Modillion, revealed
As we approach the completion of the third side of the house, those who have contributed have shown the resolve to see a grueling task to its end. The attention to details in craftsmanship, as well documentation, has enhanced the future of this beautiful museum house.
While at the library, I asked Librarian Bill Copeley to see the 1798 second edition of Asher Benjamin’s The Country Builder’s Assistantcontaining the signature of Nathaniel Demeritt. There are two other signatures in the book, Samuel Furber, dated 1816, and Gorden Demeritt, dated 1826. We could tell that much of the trim in the house was derived from Benjamin’s designs, but it would seem that they were derived from this very book. I was especially interested in the penciled notes in the margins. On the back of a plate with an example of a front elevation, someone wrote, “A Fine House.” More photos, below:
