Techbuilt Renovation

Main Room Floor and Beams

The main room is getting close to completion and it looks great. This room is the entire ground floor of the original Techbuilt house plus half of the second floor (which we opened up by removing two bedrooms).

We particularly love the 8" wide plank “character grade” oak floors in the main room. We went with the extra wide planks so that much of the character of the wood would show.

Some great knots and wormholes!

Interestingly, character grade is less expensive than the prime of select grades of wood flooring, which is an added bonus since we prefer character grade.

Character grade generally refers to prominent color variations and a large amount of characters such as knots, open checks, and wormholes.

The metal beams that were installed to reinforce the structure of the Techbuilt part of the house after the two bedrooms were removed have been painted glossy black and they are AMAZING!

Choosing Soapstone Kitchen Countertops

In ten degree late December we journeyed to New Hampshire to choose our soapstone slabs.

Mike Myers, an owner of Jewett Farms took us out to look at the slabs. Each has different qualities of color and veining.

We chose Santa Rita Venata from Brazil. It was the most “alive” of the choices. Since our cabinets will be light grey, we wanted the counters to be more of a showcase.

We like soapstone for a variety of reasons besides its beauty.

• Soapstone is non-porous which makes for an extremely functional and virtually worry free surface. Red wine spills, coffee cup rings, drips of balsamic vinegar are not a worry.
• Soapstone can withstand direct heat allowing pots and pans to move directly from range to counter without trivets or any fear of damaging the surface.
• Soapstone doesn’t require a chemical sealer nor chemical based specialty cleaning products. You can clean with something simple like vinegar and lemon juice.

We will apply a coating of mineral oil to darken the stone and enhance the natural veining.

We Now Have One House

After a year of construction, the barrier between the original Techbuilt house and our new addition has been removed.

We chose to live on our house during construction. This proved a challenge because we didn’t want to get in the way of the builders.

When we first started construction in November 2015, a barrier was built between what would be the new part of the house and the original part. In July 2016 we moved over to the new side and the barrier was rebuilt so the builders could renovate the existing Techbuilt house. The barriers served to allow for a living space for us separate from the construction on the part of the house.

This week, the barrier was removed and the main floor installed. For the final two months of construction, we’re in one house!