On Monday evening we started work to install a new automatic teller machine at the First National Bank in downtown Northfield. This new machine has all the “bells and whistles” and will have a capture image to be able to accept checks for deposit. It of course will also dispense money like any ATM. We did our work in the evening, getting the opening all prepared for the bank equipment folks to slide the unit into position Tuesday morning. We are now patching up the wall. In short order the machine will be ready for customer use.
Last weekend Ellen and I were at our lake cottage in the Carlton County area of Minnesota. The woodland flowers were out in full
bloom. The trillium were spectacular and full. It is a bit early for them to be so full, but I’m guessing the warm spring got them going early. The little blue flowers are also all over the more open areas.
While I was at the cottage I finished up another birdhouse. I make birdhouses for fun when I’m at the cottage. It is a perfect rainy or cold weather project to do in my little woodshop in the basement. No two of them are the same type. 
This current model has two dormers on the roof, one on each side of the main roof ridge. I put in trims to create “windows” in the dormers and flashed the dormers with scraps of brass. The lower portion of the walls are fashioned with log style construction…the gable end walls have board and batten siding. The front porch has a couple of posts. Fun stuff!
We finished up our kitchen remoding project. It looks great and should serve the owners well over the next decades. The cabinets for
this job are custom made cherry cabinets finished with a very light stain. The home is in a wooded rural setting and the cherry gives a very organic feel to the cabinets. The designer called for some cherry ceiling trim. The ceiling trim has plinth blocks in the corners and a ceramic tile is routed into the wood. The tiles have a leaf motif that also provides a nice attachment to the woods around the house.
The countertop is a material called paperstone. I’ve not used it before but it seems to be a great product. It doesn’t have the cold feel
that stone countertops can have. The range hood is a stainless steel unit that vents up and out the sidewall. The owners selected a drawer type microwave oven. You press a button and it opens, press another and it closes. It can be locked to keep children from opening it. When there isn’t an easy location to place a microwave oven above the countertop, this drawer type unit makes a lot of sense.
We managed to construct the foundation for our office expansion in spite of some heavy rains. We installed the footings last Friday
which kept us up out of the wet soils as we erected the forms and placed concrete for the foudnation walls on Monday. The walls are 8″ thick reinforced concrete, with a ledge to accept the floor on the inside. The aluminum forms are light to put in place and create a fine, smooth wall surface. After the concrete set we removed the forms and applied rigid insulation to both the interior and exterior surfaces of the foundation wall. This extra amount of insulation pays off greatly in guarding against heat loss and helps keep the floors warm as well. To protect the insulation we cover it with a reinforced fiberglass material that is gray. Once the grade is brought up it looks great and keeps the insulation secure and tight.
Two weeks ago we started finishing work on one of the concominiums at The Crossings in Northfield. The Crossings are located just
north of the Second Street bridge along the Cannon River. The unit we are finishing for a client is a two bedroom, two bathroom model. As with all the living units on the east side of the building, this one has fabulous views of the Cannon River and Carleton College. I can imagine nice mornings sitting on the patio deck overlooking that tranquil scene.
We are using cherry cabinets, doors and trims in this unit. We’ve removed some walls, added a set of pocket doors, and are working at installing final finishes now. Workers are laying the ceramic tile in the bathrooms and will start shortly on the wood flooring. In short order the countertops and plumbing sinks and trims will be installed.
We completed the site work for our office expansion project. We had a bit of a turn of events in that the water and sewer services 
were not stubbed into the building lot as anticipated. That meant we had to open the street and attach to the existing sanitary sewer line and the existing water line. The water line in this area is a big one….16″….so we had a firm come down to do what is called a ‘wet tap’ on the water main. This is a slick process that involves strapping a machine to the water main and drilling a hole in it while the main is pressurized with water. The end result is a nice clean connection to the water main for our water service. We did a similar connection to the sanitary sewer, using a core drill to drill into the reinforced concrete pipe.
After all that work was completed and the services extended into the building location, we prepared the trenches for the foundation footings. We laid in a base of crushed concrete in the trenches and compacted it with compaction equipment. This provides a very solid base for the building foundation.
April 26, 2012 – 11:55 am
With the economic downturn in the construction economy I found that I had excess facility space and some excess equipment, so I decided to consolidate and sell one of my buildings. One of my over arching goals always has been to provide the most cost efficient operation I can, which in turn allows my customers to receive the best value for their construction dollar. Paying taxes and maintaining unnecessary space did not fit that formula. So, yesterday I sold my main shop/office building to the Northfield Hosptial for use as an ambulance garage headquarters. The facility is a perfect fit for their Emergency Medical Services (EMS) that serves this area. They have 5 ambulances and about 35 staff members. This facility will allow all ther functions, including a training room, to be in one location.
So this morning we started site work on an office expansion on the builidng next door to the one I sold. We’ve organized like crazy
the past few months and have our equipment in the building. Now we need to complete the office expansion and make a move to the new space….not an easy thing to do while operating with other jobs. But it is exciting to be creating new space.
We are in the final phase of the work on our kitchen remodel project. The cabinets have been installed, the existing wood floor
patched, new interior doors installed, and much of the painting has been completed. We are working at installing the new wood trims at the existing windows and new patio door. The exterior deck is complete and looks great. We used Trex for the deck surface. The railing is a combination of Deckorator posts and rails and Trex steel balusters. I like the dark color of the balusters as you tend to “look through” the railing when looking out from the house. The custom countertops should arrive shortly allowing us to complete everything.
The past couple of weeks we have been working on repairs to the Hauge Lutheran Church in rural Kenyon, MN. Like many early wood frame 1900 church buildings, this one needed some repairs on the steeple. Steeples are up high and not easily observed so they often do not receive regular attention. In addition, steeples generally have trim details that are even more detailed than other areas of the church building. Our first task in making the required repairs was to erect scaffold so that our workers could safely deal with the carpentry work. We devised a plan to place scaffold sections, planks and braces around the steeple that worked well for everyone.
Our work mainly involved removing decayed shingle siding and reflashing areas. We used solid copper flashings as they do not 
deteriorate like standard galvanized steel flashings. We want this work to last a long time so it is wise to use quality materials. Once the copper flashings were in place we then installed new red cedar shingles back in place. The main framing members on the steeple all were solid and in good condition.
We replaced vaious mouldings and trim boards and painted the steeple. It looks great and should serve the congregation well for many more years.
The base cabinets for our kitchen remodel were set in place last week. Yesterday the folks fabricating the countertops came to
measure. They did it the old fashioned way by creating a template from hardboard. The countertops are a product we have not used before so I’m excited to see them in place. The ceilings and walls have been finished as well. We have also been working at updating the exterior deck. It is receiving a new top of Trex material along with a new railing.
