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LIMESTONE FARMHOUSE |
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HERITAGE RESTORATION
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In the 1970's and 1980's the property was neglected and has required major restoration of the house and of the land to achieve the pristine condition evident today. Each step of the detailed restoration has endeavored to return the property to its original state.
The elaborate interior doors, trim, and red pine flooring of the original house remain in place. A period addition has been carefully completed using restored 19th century maple flooring. The pine trim of the addition is directly patterned on that of the original house.
There are four gothic windows each with exquisite arch stonework while the remaining windows are camber arched. The roof is cedar shingle while the evestroughs are of copper. All of the rooms have 9.25 feet ceilings and the thick stone walls provide for 20 inch window sills. The complete exterior of the house has been re-pointed by an expert stonemason.
The period addition houses a cathedral ceiling garden room with a floor to ceiling stone fireplace. The maple- floored kitchen with its exposed fieldstone wall has a designer Aga stove, custom fitted maple cabinetry and an antique pine centre island. The kitchen bay window overlooks the garden.
The large adjacent dining room has a slate floor and paneled wainscoting. The library has custom fitted shelving with period trim and crown molding. Glass paneled doors in the ante-room open on to a natural stone patio area. The large basement level provides excellent opportunities for workshop and storage facilities.
Modern foam insulation has been applied to the house. The plasterwork was removed to achieve placement of this insulation and a team of Italian artisans were engaged to re-plaster the interior walls and to re-form plaster duplicates of the original ceiling decoration.
The central electricity supply is 400 amps. All wiring and plumbing was renewed in 1990. Heating and air conditioning is achieved by means of a ground source geothermal unit installed in 2004. This geothermal unit is extremely efficient and operates from its own dedicated well. The groundwater source in this region is a constant 51 degrees year round and this allows the geothermal technology to provide excellent heating throughout the winter and cooling throughout the summer.
The foundation of the house is built directly on bedrock. This has ensured that all stonework has remained in perfect condition.
The original porch was completely recreated, including the curved pine rafters - each cut from a solid piece of pine.
The pine stairway is original. Two newel posts were duplicated from an original to restore the complete stairway.
The windows were duplicated and replaced with similar camber topped units in 1990. To retain the ambience of the original house antique poured glass window panes with their usual delightfull timeless imperfections were collected and utilized together with modern glass to form the sealed units necessary for modern thermapane efficency.
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Energymatch.com article on Geothermal Ground Source heating
Geothermal heat pump consortium
Canadian natural resources site on geothermal heating/cooling
Designer Aga cook stove ( 4 oven unit ) (downloadable PDF  )
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