Featured Projects: Suffield CT- New Garage and Screened in Deck

: The owners are very happy to be able to keep the snow off the cars again!

: They really go the extra mile on the details. Even the door latches are custom and will soon have that old-wooden, authentic look!

: Country Carpenters in Hebron, CT is supplying the garage. They have some very nice post and beam style structures. Home & Hearth always works to provide the customer with advice for what is best for the customer, not for us. So, while we would have loved to build the garage ourselves, it made more sense to have Country Carpenters provide it. They have a set of designs and pre-cut all the pieces so they can assemble the structure very quickly. And since that’s all they do, they’re faster and cheaper than we are for building a similar structure.

: Pretty beefy! I don’t think this thing will ever fall down or blow away!

: We are using all cedar for this decking. The eventual screen porch over it will be of cedar as well.

: The new floor for the garage.

: Royal Home Construction in Agawam did another fantastic job on the masonry. Vlad Koslov and his guys have never failed to be meticulous and great to work with!

: Excavation and footing for the new garage

: And here we are with the posts installed. We’ll be using Trex Elevations steel beams for the first time. They permit us to span a greater distance and reduce the number of supports needed

: It’s helical pile by Techno Metal Post. Rather than dig holes to fill with concrete for footings for the new deck, we had TMP drill these piles into the ground for supports. They measure the resistance and calculate the loadbearing until they achieve the proper numbers required by code. Much easier and faster than the old way!

: some serious rim rot behind the old steps where the new deck with connect to the house. No worries, we can fix it.

: Much better view of the yard! Now we just need to get the historical commission and building department to approve a new design so we can start building!

: We pulled some wood from it to see if we could reuse it, but the wood lacked sufficient character and was a bit nasty smelling.

: This is an old barn we have been called upon to rebuild. It wasn’t actually as old as it looks and was in really bad shape, as you see.

Featured Project: Agawam Fireplace Repair

: This client’s fireplace looked OK, but it hid a nasty secret.

: The fireplace is an insert with a round chimney pipe surrounded by a wood-framed chimney clad with vinyl siding.

: The client noticed some moisture on the basement floor beneath the fireplace when MassSave came to do an energy audit. Water stains were visible and she said they had experienced problems in the past which someone else had repaired, but she had no idea the problem had returned. What we see here is the rim joist completely rotted and black and the other framing severely decayed. The plywood which forms the floor of the fireplace beneath the self-contained gas insert is rotted through.

: Upon investigation, we noticed that the top of the chimney had been constructed badly with inappropriate siding trim coil forming the principal cover and patched even worse by the last contractor who merely glued pieces of rubber over it!

: Water would drip straight down the chimney until it plinked on top of the galvanized metal fireplace insert (the backside of which is visible here) before dribbling down the back of this box and soaking the wood. Fortunately, only the bottom couple of feet of the chimney were damaged. We removed the mantel and fireplace, tore-up the floor and hearth, repaired the framing, sheathing, and floor and put the siding back on.

: We had a local metalsmith make a new galvanized top to our specifications and installed it on the chimney. Note that it has creases for strength and is sloped down on all four sides. This slipped over the vent pipe at top and had a piece of tubular counterflashing. With some high-temp sealant, it won’t leak again for a very long time, if ever.

: We completed the project by reinstalling the fireplace and mantel with some new tile on the face and hearth. Beautiful!

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