In November, Canjoe John and his trusty assistant Zach spent a good bit of time finishing out the new Protective Stone Skirt that was installed over the last year. While the stone skirt does much of the hard work, it intentionally doesn’t rise up to meet the logs. This is to prevent the logs from laying in water which will eventually cause them to rot.

This is one of those moments where we are improving on history. Prior to 2004 the Homestead sat directly on the dirt, which was the cause of the decay that nearly toppled it.

So, as Canjoe and Zach started the finish out process they first filled the gap with Red Brick. Note that the wall is intentionally set back under the logs by several inches to keep rain drops from splattering back up onto the wood.

The Red Brick serves as the foundation for the “Chinking” process and gives the Daubing something to stick too. Otherwise, it would just run through to the other side. In days past the pioneers would have used anything available to fill the larger parts of these gaps, but we have brick available to us and it decay’s very slowly, so it was the preferred method in our case.

Next up is the Daubing, which is the mud like mixture you see between the logs. It’s a mud mortar like mixture that helps reduce drafts in the Home.

With the process finished it now looks like this:

You will notice in one of the pictures a small opening. This is the designated entrance for the crawl space. A period specific door is being crafted for that purpose, but was not ready at the time these photos were taken.

Next up, we will be running electricity to the 2nd floor of the Homestead in order to install a light. It is dangerously dark when the shutters are closed and they need to be opened in good weather to let the building breathe properly.

Also coming soon is a period specific hand rail for the stairs and protective posts around the opening to keep anyone from accidentally falling into the opening. Remember, that the upstairs will never be opened to the public, but that doesn’t mean no one will ever go up and down the stairs.

So, I know that Mud and bricks aren’t the sexiest thing to discuss, but in this year a little mundane is very welcome to me.

Happy New Years!