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Vermont Farmhouse > Episode 10: Connected Home Update and Garage Doors

Touring the Calvin Coolidge House and the Burtch-Udall House

Project: Vermont Farmhouse, Episode 10, Part 2

Work is continuing in the garage, where new Clopay garage doors and Craftsman door openers are being installed. Tim Woods (from the Internet Home Alliance) is back on site to talk a little more about "connected home" solutions and to explain how the structured wiring and satellite dish will distribute information throughout the house.

Part 1: Touring the Calvin Coolidge House and the Burtch-Udall House: Bob meets University of Vermont professor Tom Visser in Plymouth Notch to visit the birthplace of President Calvin Coolidge and learn more about vernacular Vermont farmhouse architecture.

Coolidge's home is an excellent example of how a small farmhouse, over time, telescoped out to meet the barn, making it possible for a farmer to do his chores without venturing outside in the depth of winter.

The original house was built in the 1840s, with an addition in the 1870s, and another expansion in the 1890s. The house has a schist foundation and functional shutters. The front porch rockers date back to the Coolidge years.

The house rambles out beyond the kitchen, into the woodshed, then to the workshop, and finally into the barn. Across the street is an 1840 Greek Revival vernacular church with four simple pilasters across the front, each finished off with a small capital with an echinus molding. Bob joins University of Vermont professor Tom Visser at the Burtch-Udall House, a classic Federal-period house constructed in Quechee in 1785. The house is known locally as the Theron Boyd House. The main part of the house has gone through very few changes and still has the original windows, clapboard siding, even the original nails. A back ell extends behind the home - a 1820s brick addition in the 1820s Federal style with a row of four elliptical, arched openings. The first opened into the woodshed while the other were carriage bays. The back ell was originally a two-story structure but the second floor was destroyed when lightning struck the building in 1936. The house is another nice example of "connected" architecture in the sense that it extends from the main house to a kitchen addition to a workroom to a woodshed and then out to a storage room.
Part 2: Home Technology Update

The wooded New England setting, with quaint towns and covered bridges, provides the perfect backdrop for building a traditional Vermont-style farmhouse.

Bob works with the Quechee Lakes Development Company to build a residence that hearkens back to the past yet satisfies the needs of a family in the new millennium.

Also from Vermont Farmhouse

Episode 4 - Framing and Wiring for the Future
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Description:
Framing work progresses, as Dan Enright and crew work on the home's hip roof, as well as the truss system over the garage. In the basement, Bob talks to Tim Woods (from Internet Home Alliance) about the special wiring that is being installed to make this farmhouse a "connected" home.
Episode 5 - Exterior Update
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Description:
Bob tours the exterior of the farmhouse project in Quechee, VT, where windows have been installed, Weyerhaeuser siding has gone up, and the roof framing has been finished. Also, there is a new bulkhead door.<br> <br> Installation of the home's standing seam metal roof is also underway. Pat Cloutier (from Cloutier Construction) is on-site putting down some Georgia-Pacific redwood decking. And Bob Ryley is on board to help Pat trim out some columns on the back porch with WindsorONE engineered lumber.<br> <br> Bob takes a trip to the Cobb Hill Co-Housing Community to learn about some of the farming techniques being practiced.
Episode 6 - Flooring and Interior Trim
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Description:
Bob tours the interior, looking at the finished drywall and insulation. In the living room, a new Shaw pre-finished hardwood floor is being put down. David LaFosse (from LaFosse & Co.) is on hand to talk to Bob about the process. In the kitchen Ryley and Pat Cloutier are busy putting up trim around the windows.
Episode 7 - Exterior Painting and Kitchen Cabinet Installation
Episode 8 - Finish Trim and Cabinet Installation
Episode 9 - Stone Wall Construction and Covered Bridges
Episode 11 - Kitchen Update and Bathroom Tile Installation
Episode 12 - Home Entertainment and Carpet Installation
Episode 13 - Project Completion

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