Montpelier Restoration Update - 12/12/2007
Plastering
The masons continue to apply the brown coat to the walls.
Electrical
Final trim out of the outlets is underway. A majority of the outlets will be installed in the baseboards or in the throats of the chimneys.
M-105 (Dining Room)
Ed Gomez has installed the back band around the fireplace architrave and has finished installing the corner beads.
M-112 (Old Dining Room)
Gene Lyman is installing the cap molding that runs across the top of the south wall’s wainscot.
M-109
Mac Ward is re-installing the door frame that leads into the enclosed period I stair. This door frame had been re-used by the duPonts in the cellar.
A circa 1764 brick that had been inscribed with what appears to be a floor plan was found on the east wall of this room. The drawing may show two rooms flanked by a central passage and the draftsman was most likely illustrating a plan for what is common known today as an I-house. Because the lines are slightly rounded and have soft edges, it is clear that the floor plan was drawn on the brick before it was fired. During the deconstruction we found a 1797 brick that had also been sketched on before it was fired. That brick, however, appears to be more closely related to Montpelier and shows a rough plan of the mansion’s portico.
M-116 (South Wing, East Closet)
Keith Forry continues to repair the recovered Madison-era door trim.
M-209 (Upper South Passage)
Dino Copeland continues to prepare this room for painting.
M-002 (North Cellar Passage)
The masons are laying the brick pavers on the floor of this space. Similar to Dolley’s kitchen, the bricks are being laid on edge in a herringbone pattern. The Masons are also preparing the masonry supports for the cellar stair, which the carpenters should start to install next week.
M-003 (1797 Cellar)
Les Lamois, Mark Gooch and Thomas Tyler are installing the pine floor boards over the wooden sleeper joists. Archaeologist Matt Reeves found evidence for the sleepers when the archaeology department excavated the cellars prior to the restoration. The boards are being butt jointed and then faced nailed in place with reproduction T-headed wrought nails. The ends of the boards are also not being staggered, like in modern floors, but instead they are being laid so that the joints line up (as was common in secondary spaces during the late-18th century).
M-008 (South Cellar Passage)
Bill Bichell and Keith Forry are repairing the door frame that leads into the circa 1765 cellar space. Multiple areas of insect damage at the bottom of the legs and deteriorated tenons necessitated the repairs.
The masons are also preparing the floor of the space for brick pavers. Stone dust is being used to level the floor and hand-molded bricks from Old Carolina Brick Company laid in a running bond pattern will be used for the pavers.
