The finished carriage house — a shingled building with three garage doors below and a guest apartment above, seen from across the lawn

River Road · Essex, Connecticut

River Road Carriage House

A new carriage house on the Connecticut River, and eleven years of work on the house standing next to it.

The carriage house came first: garage below, a guest apartment of under a thousand square feet above, designed by Stephen L. Lloyd of Chester, who had drawn the main house. Framed in the autumn of 2007 and finished the following May.

Then the main house, a room at a time and not in a hurry. The deck. Master bed and bath. Guest bed and bath. Kitchen, living room and front foyer. The front hall. Heat in the garage. Gutters. The lower level. Siding. Doors and hardware. Rot repair. And in December 2017, a contract for the entire roof.

The work ran from 2007 to 2018. Sapia was working on this house before that — Nick's father Sal had renovated for the same household for years before this run began.

The carriage house

From the specification: framing in Douglas fir, 2×6 walls at 16 inches. The floor system is 11⅞-inch TJI clear-spanning the garage, so there is no post standing in the middle of the bay below the apartment. Rafters 2×10 at 16 inches, sheathed in half-inch CDX fir. Twelve-inch poured foundation walls on 12×24 footings, waterproofed below grade, with footing drains in stone and filter fabric.

A deep utility trench cut through orange subsoil beside the building, running back towards the drive — January. Septic, well lines, and the underground electric, telephone and cable, all in one cut.

The finished carriage house from the front, three garage doors under a shingled wall with dormers above — Finished the following May.

Outside: white cedar sidewall shingles at a five-inch exposure, pressure-treated eighteen-inch cedar shingles on the roof over ice-and-water at the eaves and valleys, continuous ridge vent under cedar ridge boards, and primed finger-joint cedar for every piece of trim. A four-bedroom septic system went in with it.

Inside the garage level, looking at the paneled garage doors with transom lights above and a run of windows beyond — Inside the garage. Daylight over every door.

The guest apartment above the garage, furnished, under a run of arched windows in the gable end — The apartment above, under the arch that was framed in October.

The small kitchen in the guest apartment, cabinetry under a sloped ceiling with a chandelier over the island — The apartment kitchen, under the sloped ceiling.

Upstairs is one room lined in painted beadboard on the walls and the ceiling, with hickory floors and cabinetry built to match. A partial wall divides sleeping from living and carries interior windows, so the light crosses it. The garage floor below is epoxy.

II.

The main house, a room at a time

The living room ceiling opened up, joists and wiring exposed, plastic sheeting on the walls — May 2008. Ceiling open, wiring run.

The coffered ceiling built and primed, a grid of beams over a bank of windows — Five weeks later, coffers built and primed.

The finished living room, furnished, under the painted coffered ceiling with a fireplace and stair beyond — The finished living room.

The remodeled kitchen — white cabinetry, stone counters, a hickory-topped seating area at the island, terracotta floor, glazed upper cabinets — Kitchen by Gedney — marble counters, hickory at the island, terracotta underfoot.

Crew laying deck boards over new joists, the river visible beyond the rail — April 2009. Boards going down over the new frame.

The finished deck furnished with wicker seating, looking out over the lawn to the river — Four weeks later.

A carpenter fitting painted beadboard wainscot under a window, the wall below opened to studs and insulation — Beadboard scribed in under the window, wall still open below it.

The finished master bath, a tub set into a beadboard surround under a window, patterned wallpaper above — The tub face and the backsplash are the same board.

The walk-in shower, Mexican subway tile to the ceiling over a marble mosaic floor — Subway tile to the ceiling, marble mosaic underfoot, curbless entry.

The master bath is marble tile over a heated floor, with a beadboard double vanity, a spa tub, and beadboard run at the tub face and the backsplash. The walk-in shower is Mexican subway tile on a marble floor. The guest bath got a hexagon stone floor and a soaking tub against the same subway tile, with a vanity and a tub face built to match.

III.

The front hall, January to February 2011

The front hall before work — diamond-patterned wallpaper above a painted dado, an arched opening through to a room beyond — Before. Paper above, paint below, arched openings throughout.

A carpenter setting a horizontal board on the hall wall, boards already run below it — Six days in. Boards going on level, one course at a time.

The hall lined in raw horizontal boarding, wrapping an arched opening and running up beside the stair — Raw boarding around the arched opening and up beside the stair.

The boarding wraps the curved soffit of the arched opening with an even reveal, then turns the corner onto the stair wall, where the courses change from level to raked.

The finished hall in painted white boarding, looking through the arched opening down the length of the house — Painted, six weeks after the first board.

IV.

The lower level

Twelve hundred square feet under the house, done inside the existing layout.

Raw paneling set out on the lower-level wall, horizontal boards and a framed panel against a green wall — Paneling set out over the old wall.

The fireplace surround under construction, cabinets and shelves framed either side of the firebox — The surround going together around the firebox.

A long glued-up softwood desk top on trestles on the bluestone terrace outdoors, cable grommets bored through it — The desk top, made on the terrace in May, grommets already bored.

The desk top was glued up outside on trestles and carried in, as were the panels.

The finished lower level, furnished, with the built-in fireplace surround and paneled walls — Finished. Built-in surround, shelving and paneled walls.

The lower-level powder room, red walls, a gilt mirror over a pedestal basin — The lower-level powder room.

The lower level won Best Lower Level Remodel at the 2013 HOBI Awards.

Rot repair

The main house from the lawn — a large shingled riverfront house with a three-story bowed window bay — The three-story bay on the river side.

A structural post between two windows opened up, the timber blackened, split and failed through its depth — November 2016. A structural post between two windows, opened up.

The bowed bay stripped back to sheathing and framing with a spider lift standing in front of it — The bay stripped back to sheathing.

The bay re-clad and trimmed, the lift still standing in front of the finished work — Eight days later, closed back up.

The house a year later, shingled and trimmed, nothing showing of the repair — A year later.

Siding in 2014, off a sketch and a page of notes rather than a drawing set. Interior doors and hardware in 2015 and 2016. Then, in December 2017, a contract for the entire roof.

A corner of the front hall where level horizontal boards meet boards running parallel to the stair, beside the curved soffit of an arched opening

Where the boards change direction

One corner of the front hall. On the left the courses run level and wrap the curve of an arched opening, the reveal between them holding even all the way around the soffit. On the right the same courses run raked, parallel to the stair above them, and die into a cap that climbs at the same angle.

The two meet on a single miter, with no trim covering the join.

Eleven years, one house

Year by year, from the job records.

2007: Carriage house quoted, and framedEnd wall standing in November
2008: Carriage house builtSpecification 14 February; finished inside by May; ten invoices across the year
2009: The deckFramed and laid in five days in April, furnished by late May
2010: Guest bath, master bed and bathHeated marble floor, beadboard vanity, subway-tiled walk-in shower
2011: Front hall paneling · garage heat · guttersFirst board mid-January, painted by 24 February
2012: The lower levelTwelve hundred square feet, inside the existing layout
2013: HOBI Award · further workBest Lower Level Remodel
2014: SidingOff a sketch and a page of notes
2015–16: Interior doors and hardware · rot repairRot repair, November 2016
2017–18: The entire roofContract dated 12 December 2017

Recognition

Best Lower Level Remodel2013 HOBI Awards

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