New House Project in Montville, ME

Saturday started with rain and gales which prevented work, but this morning Gary Gale and his brothers Dan and Mike assembled the roof trusses.

The Gale brothers worked hard Thursday and Friday and put up the walls of the frame.

This afternoon Gerald Fowler, of Timber Frame Solutions in Unity, delivered the timber frame. Construction should start tomorrow.

Living here offers some wonderful opportunities for a bird lover. We spotted a pair of pileated woodpeckers next to the house site over the weekend. Last night I heard loons calling and an owl early this morning. The humming birds are delighted to find my flowers and a pair of nuthatches are regulars at the bird feeder. They seem to have no fear of humans at all and come very close as long as I am sitting still.

Joey Thornley Jr and Mike came back in the afternoon to finish the surface of the slab and did a really beautiful job. If I have to live with a cement floor for a while, it will not be too much of a hardship.

Today is the big day. Clear, sunny, cool and breezy. Perfect weather for pouring the slab. Joey Thornley, Jr turned up early and pouring began as soon as the cement truck arrived. It took two truck loads to complete the job. It was a bit of a tight fit for the big trucks, but they made it.

On Saturday, August 10th, Gale Gale and his brother laid the tubing for the radiant heating.

After rain stopped play yesterday, today dawned cool and sunny, perfect working weather. Mishka plumbing turned up first thing and installed the underground pipes for plumbing.

In the afternoon Joe Thornley turned up to prepare for pouring the slab.

After checking for a level surface they laid down 2″ of foam insulation.

The insulation is laid and forms are set ready for the concrete. All that is necessary now is to lay the wire reinforcement and tubing for the radiant heat.

While planning had been going on for years, the news that the sale of my previous home was really going through left very little time at the last minute to put a road in to enable me to live on site in a camper. A frantic call to Steve Lucas of Lucas Construction in Searsmont on the evening of July 12th had immediate results. On July 13th we launched Dolphin Dancer and sailed her around to her mooring in Camden. A telephone message from Steve sent us rushing to the land in the evening where his crew had already made a substantial start on cutting a road through the forest and rocks.

In a couple of days it was recognizable as a road, the progress was unbelievable! In under a week the road was finished and the house pad as well.

We put the camper there right away and by July 21st had moved out of the house and into the camper.

Moving 7 cats, plants and many possessions to the camper was a challenge! We are eating tomatoes, broccoli and green beans from the garden already though.

Our covered storage space was limited and much has had to be stored next to the camper. Finding anything is next to impossible. The cats love the land, but want out. The camper is OK, but too small for all of us.

After all these years of dreaming of the new home here, the Trues Pond Dam is leaking and the pond has gone. Hopefully the dam will be repaired before too long.
After quite a search for a good plumber we came across Mike Kee of Mishka Plumbing in Union. He came by this morning to view the site and plans and expects to lay the under floor plumbing tomorrow.

The builder is Gary Gale of Gale Force Builders in Swanville. He has experience with constructing these timber frame kits from Timber Frame Solutions in Unity who are supplying the timber frame and insulated panels. Here Gary Gale and his brother Dan are laying out lines for pouring the cement slab.