contractor walk thru
On a very, very cold November morning, Historic New England’s Property Care team met with ten window contractors for a walk-through at Beauport. The walk-through is a requirement to bid on the upcoming window conservation project due to the complicated sash units and intricacies of the house itself.
Preservation Project Manager Jodi Black; Property Care Team Leader Ben Haavik; Carpentry Foreman Bruce Blanchard; and Site Manager Pilar Garro provided on site assistance for interior tours and to field questions regarding the history and general maintenance of the site.
Questions included: Paint removal process– The steam box approach to paint removal was discouraged as Historic New England wanted to retain as much of the historic paint chronology as possible to provide information for future paint analysis. Therefore, it was determined that loose paint would be mechanically scraped and lightly sanded to prepare the sash for repainting. Sash unit removal– The windows at Beauport include fixed, casement, awning, and double hung units. From previous experience with the Carpentry Crew sash removal earlier this month, we understand that the fixed units were toe-nailed into place with finish nails. This means a lot of scraping, cutting nails, and tugging…
The Beauport Blog 