As 2023 winds down and Christmas approaches it's realization that yet another year of my unknown time here on earth is soon to end. Wait, I just re-read that, the year is ending, not my time, but who knows, as I always say, "When it's time to go it's time to go". As I took a picture of the front of our house, it's actually the back of the house, but really the front. It's the only house on Route 29 that doesn't face the river, but once lloked over a vast forest behind the house. Recently I've realized Theresa and I have done a lot of work since we purchased it in May 2018. Below is how the home looked when
we got it and then below after we did some landscaping and flower box construction. Since then we have painted a lot of the house and finished the driveway project. The driveway project started simply as me just kicking some loose macadam on the lower part of the driveway in front of the house. One piece was loose, then two, and that started this project. So I checked with the ladies who
grew up in the house. It was Mom, Dad, and seven girls. On the old fuse boxes you can see where everyone slept as the rooms are designated by name. So they told me the driveway was cobblestone, and went from in front of the house all the way down a long driveway to River Road. In the 1970's a parcel of the larger property was sold and the driveway became shared when a home was built by the new owner next door. It was then the driveway was blacktopped over.
So while kicking the pieces around I saw that underneath was a belgium block apron. Lauren was doing two-a-days at the gym at that time so she gladly accepted the challege to break up the driveway for us to discover what was underneath. What I found was a curved apron that really didn't
didn't match the contour of the new driveway. So, since it wasn't just pick up the blacktop and dust off the block it became a project started and left for another time, that was fall 2021. But in my defense it was the same time that I had the manlift on the property doing manlift type things.
And with the start of the this year I found myself juggling between my private practice and teaching at Essex County College, and then the striped bass showed up....so forget any work around the house. I had my son Sean come out and put some days in. The only way to do this was to remove all of the blocks and stones and reset them. Each one weighed about 25 pounds and were set in like concrete after nearly 100 years of traffic from Model T Fords in the 1920's to oil delivery trucks today. It became a thing. Big hole, stacks of stones, part of the driveway blocked off, and really no idea what I was doing.
Early on I knew that due to the shape of the current apron we wouldn't have enough to square if off, so I went to my favorite place to shop, Facebook Marketplace. There I found, by the grace of God, the same sized blocks that I had dug up. So for $300, a little less than $1 apiece, Theresa and I went down to Bordentown and dug and loaded up with what we needed to complete the project.
It took air chisels to break up the dirt around each block and lots of pinched fingers when lifting them out to reset. After months of part-time work the apron was done. Before all of this I had picked up part of the driveway and replaced it with 3/4" clean stone. Right idea but wrong stone. They don't compact well and you always had loose footing and when it snowed they always got caught in the snowblower. By spring I found myself picking up stones 50 feet into the grass. So I had to come up
with a different plan for the rest. Now deep underneath, and I haven't confirmed this by an archeaological dig just yet, is a cobblestone driveway similair to the ones you see in the old parts of the cities. Not belgium block, but the smooth water-worn stones taken from the river, most likley the Delaware. But at this time I decided to pass on the big dig and remove what was left in front of the house and cover it with 3/8" stones. These compact well, freeze solid with rain and snow in the winter,
and hopefully won't get picked up while snowblowing. We'll see about that. My ace #1 helper was the muscle behind the success of this project. While I was at work, and she in between jobs, she picked up about 7 tons of blacktop and loaded it into a dump trailer. At some point in the last year one of those "we're doing work in your neighborhood" guys came by and gave me a price for a new driveway...$10,000. That just confirmed we were doing the right thing by attacking the DIY project
ourselves. It might have cost us $250 to get rid of all the blacktop by bringing it ourselves to a recycling center in Trenton. By early this month all of the blacktop was gone and it was time to start shoveling the 3/8" stones onto the driveway. So when I reflect on whay at times I missed that blitzy striped bass bite in late November and early December this one of the reasons why. But I got the stones down before that big rain, which helped settle them in, and before we had freezing temps. We're into the stones for about another $250. So for the removal, new stones, and supplemental blocks we're in for about $800. In spring, before the bass show up, or maybe after, I am sure it'll take another few tons of stones to level it out and hit any sparse spots. These old homes, oh these old
homes. Built to withstand mortar attacks from canon fire, craftsmansip into the smallest of details, not all that well insulated abd drafty, they are the antithesis of what is a love/hate relationship. (I don't know if antithesis is the right word there but it sounded good).They can also become a money pit depending on how you approach them. Another visit we got was the Replacement by Anderson guy. His eyes lit up when I told him we had 57 windows, so for around $750 a piece, installed of course, well do the math, $42,000, and "they would pay for themselves in heating costs", in like 200 years. So I will continue to plug away at the windows myself. I love the
the smell of burning lead-based paint and the cerebral edema side effects it has as it swells your brain. I can't tell you how labor intensive re-doing windows is. Take them out, tricky at times, take out the broken or scratched panes, remove the old caulking, replace the glass, rechaul them, then paint and reinstall. That's only about 10 hours per window. But in the end they look sweet and may be a little
more thermodynamic, if that's the correct word. Hopefully by spring the kitchen will be all done and you'll be treated to another The Old House post. Funny thing is, by the time I am done the only person who'll benefit is Theresa's new husband after I croak. Hopefully wherever I land, Heaven I hope, I won't have to look down and see workers from the next new owners just undoing all of the stuff we had done. Priorites this winter, outside of work, kitchen and herring flies!
