Entryway - Wooden Wedges, Tough Bricks and Mortar

Check out this more-than-a-century-old wedge of wood:

We can't tell what kind of wood it is, but its very dry and, therefore, lightweight.



Here's where they came from:

Can you see that thin line of wood? These wedges were used to even out the courses of brick; they became a part of the wall.
There were none of these showing on the outside, only on the inside where the lathe-and-plaster interior finish would cover them up.



These wedges were here, in the last three courses of brick, the only barrier remaining in the new door opening:


It took four hours of hard work and heavy tools to chip these bottom rows out of here!



It's good to know the old building is so tough.

Brick/Block Cutting, again

I do have pictures of drywall progress, but I'm pretty sick of drywall, so I'm changing the subject...

The window that faces Main Street is too small.
Okay, the window isn't really all that small, but you have to be standing up to see out of it (and for me, tip-toes help).

Remember when PC cut the door into the brick wall on the west side? Well, this was very similar, only the brick on this side of the building is just facade and not structural; the cinderblocks on the inside are the structural support.

They used the same saw, only this time they hooked it up to the hose to keep the dust down. You can see the water marks on the brick below the cut in this picture:





Here's a closer view:





And closer still:





And from the inside looking out:

Stripped Interior Pictures

I am finally posting interior pictures....




This is standing with my back to the street-side windows. The utility lights are the only lighting at this time (we really did completely strip the whole thing).
The double doors that will be cut into the wall are on the left, behind the blue scaffolding buck.
See the red snow shovel leaning against the wall on the right? Use that as a reference point and I'll show you around...

Here's the snow shovel again. The slats along the wall were used for hanging the wood paneling that was here for the dentist's office. We will be insulating and using some of them for hanging drywall. They'll be extended all the way to the real ceiling; these only go 8 feet up because of the drop ceiling (that we ripped out, too). The real ceiling is 12 feet.

Red shovel is in this one, too, but the camera just moved over a bit and PC stepped up to the window. Or what was a window. It's still a window, I suppose, complete with coal dust encrusted single pane glass and the pig-iron counter weights and pulleys. However the only thing to see is a block wall. The building on the east side was built well after The 123. Ironically, on the west side (where the main door will be) there are no windows because when The 123 was built in 1890, there was a building on that side. Now, it's the parking lot which will be used for building a sheltered entryway and outdoor seating.

We are incorporating this window space into the design (behind the counter shelving).

Moving on down the wall (camera is continuing in the same clockwise direction), this is the southeast corner. On the east wall, some of the paneling remains (it will be covered with drywall) and behind it is the original brick. The south wall is cinder block. This front face was redone in 1969 when the dentist office was originally constructed.

Here's a clear shot of the cinder block wall. This is the south end (street facing) wall. The cinder blocks stop at 8 feet and above it is a basic stud wall that was above ceiling tile level. The cinder block wall was behind 12" of blown insulation and another stud wall that was paneled. This front portion was the waiting room. It was partitioned to be very small, complete with closet and magazine rack. Even the door was separated with it's own sheltered entry. The entire first floor was dark and cramped; a very good dental set-up, but not so good for the open inviting Coffee House that we're constructing. The windows come down to back-of-the-chair height so you would have had to stand to see outside while reading a magazine and waiting for your turn in the destist chair. We plan to open that up more with windows extending down to table-top height. Perfect for sitting and sipping.

This 'step' here at the bottom of the wall is actually the top of the original cut-stone foundation. The floor in here was the typical wooden floor with a teeny-tiny crawl space that is seen in many of the other buildings in Grafton. Fascinating, but the wood tends to rot after 60-80 years or so. As near as we can figure, part of the necessary renovations in 1969 included pulling out all that old flooring -leaving plenty of room for the major plumbing & electrical installations that were necessary for the dental equipment-- and then pouring the concrete slab over it all.

And back around to the street-side door. That's the fire extinguisher I posted about here.

Just out of the picture to the left, is the door that opens on the stairs that go up to the second floor. We will still have this entrance, and of course the stairs will stay, but we plan to rearrange the floor design here before tiling. Stay tuned for more on that - tiling immediately follows drywall (which is next).

Next up will be construction pictures - drywall preparation.

More Dentist Stuff

X-rays:

Tooth shade guide:

Disposable tooth-grabbing cloths:

Other than the jar full of extracted teeth in various states of rot, I think this completes the collection of dental items found during deconstruction.

Dental Consultation

It looks as if school will be back in session today. I have enough time to post a picture or two before I start waking the kids....

Here's one side of an index card that we found in the deconstruction debris:

Can you see that? It's dated August 1971. The consultation fee, which is marked 'Paid,' is $4.00. Yes, I have my decimal placed correctly: it's $4.00.

$4.00! I haven't been in for a dental consultation in a while, but I'm pretty sure it's AT LEAST 10 times more than that now, probably more like 15-20 times more! I don't think inflation alone can be blamed for that mighty jump.

Phase II

PC has been scraping out the last remnants of the demolition.

We are now entering phase two of the Coffee House project!

What that really means is:

1. I have quite a few pictures that I want to share. Some are just shots of miscellaneous stuff that we've found in and around The 123 that I've never posted on here before and
2. PC is doing prep work for the drywall. However, we don't expect to even think about hanging drywall until (hopefully early) February.
3. We've spent some time laying out the floor plan! This part is fun (mostly) because all the hard work that's gone into gutting out and cleaning up has (finally!) paid off. The work is not over, not by a long shot, but the reality of creating a great new Coffee House for downtown Grafton is beginning to cause a bit of excitement for PC and I. Construction is so much better than deconstruction! (Remind me I said that when we get a few months in.)
4. We're going to be -sometime before the end of January- hanging a very simple sign on the outside of the Coffee House. The sign will serve as the Official Announcement (yay!). A few folks already know what all the activity at The 123 has been about, but for those who don't, we'll simply be pointing them towards this website.
5. AND, because we'll be pointing Grafton folks towards this website, I am going to be moving this blog and replacing our home page with a basic summary page rather than this rambling-bloggity-blog. But don't worry; I'm not going anywhere. I will still be updating and adding to this Blog, but it'll just be linked off of the main site. I will try to keep the navigation easy by making links simple and prominent. Notice I said I will try. That means I need your help with feedback to let me know I'm not screwing anything up too bad. If it's easy to find, I'm happy. If you get lost and can't figure out where anything went, then I'm screwing it up. Please let me know both ways, but be sure to tell me if you find a problem that I've overlooked. I will keep my email linked, too. However, if I screw that up, too, my email is mk@grafton123.com or mk@mkstover.com.

Stay tuned for pictures...

It gets worse...

...before it gets better.

PC with PPE

Here's PC with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) strapped to his face:

This particular PPE makes a normal breath sound exactly like Darth Vader sweating his way through a lightsaber duel.

All the insulation and general dust from tearing down, ripping out, and hauling away has the air pretty thick with stuff you'd really be better off keeping out of your lungs.

Fortunately, this phase of deconstruction will be over soon.

Fyr-Fyter Fire Extinguisher

PC found this 'Fyr-Fyter' in one of the little storage closets in the back of the 1st floor:

And, even though 'Fyr-Fyter' is an oddball name, this water-filled fire extinguisher was still fully charged. Because we didn't really believe it, PC pulled the pin and squeezed the handle and sprayed it all over the floor (sorry, no pictures of that) and then, to empty it, he took it outside and sprayed down the parking lot, too (sorry, no pictures of that, either).

What's really impressive is this:

Can you read it? It's March 6, 1969! And it still works!

And look where it came from:

It's from the Grafton Fire Department.

It's good to know that the Grafton Fire Department is reliable.

Another Sink Drain

I thought the other drain was probably the tool wash station for the dentist's office.
Maybe it was, but that didn't stop this drain from collecting it's share of tools, too.

Notice that this trap is plastic. The other one was stainless steel, which dates it as an older part.
If I had to guess, I would say that the original drain for this sink was stainless steel, too (all the sinks were installed at the same time). All those tools getting lost down the sink finally clogged it up and the newer plastic parts were used to rebuild it.

That's a lot of tools.

Here's a link to the original sink drain post: Lose Something?

More Weird Stuff in the Parking Lot

It's not the first...

(Click HERE and scroll down to the second sunflower picture for a link to the first post about weird stuff in the parking lot.)

...and I'm sure it won't be the last weird stuff in the parking lot.

Actually, it's a good thing because it means progress. The first floor is about 85% gutted.

Does anyone need cabinets for their garage?