You only realize how diminutive the scale is when there are figures all over it. Meet Dave, and his assistant Clayton, both of whom worked through all of my absurd concerns:
The ridge of the roof was so very off kilter mainly because the building had no ridge beam, only a series of independent rafters joined at an angle. Charming though this was, it had failed terribly over time, and a ridge beam had to be introduced:
Additionally, collar ties, or horizontal structural members, were added on both sides of each rafter. Though I was repeatedly assured these were unnecessary, I'm a belt and suspenders guy, and I never want to address this problem again.
I'd also like to show this odd little detail that as of yet I haven't mentioned:
This slotted stone is the stoop to the outbuilding (temporarily removed to jack up that side of the building); story goes, a past owner was friends with the caretaker of a cemetery (likely the lovely North Cemetery) who would give him obsolete stones. This stone was the foundation for a state tombstone, which would have been fitted into this slot.
We have several others in the yard, and large slabs of slate and white marble that I need to turn over -- no text is visible on any of them, but doubtless hidden somewhere.
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3 comments:
that is an example of ingenius re-use!
Gosh I can't wait to see what it's going to be like finished! You're living (one of) my dreams!
We have a number of old gravestones on our property, that date to the 1830s. They were taken up in the late 1800s from the graveyard where they originally stood, when the family's plot was upgraded to a larger, fancier tomb. The gravestones we have were variously used as (a) the seat of a garden bench, (b) under a gutter pipe to disperse water, and (3) as a retaining wall in the garden. We've since gathered them all up, and are awaiting their next use -- perhaps as a small graveyard on the property?
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