Hello from the snowy winter in Maine,

I hope you are having a great new year and things are going just the way you planned them (and better) for your family and friends . Over the past several months we have had a very busy and exciting time here at old house parts. We have been doing everything from designing and building some really cool old kitchens to removing the millwork of a 1920's convent (just to name a few).

Bob, our wood wright of over 5 years now, has been collaborating with me to build some very unique kitchens with both function and style. He is just finishing up the kitchen for unit 4 at the Ross Block which has a french country theme along with all of the additions in the unit . The cabinet fronts are made from the attic boards from the convent I mentioned. The soon to be owner is very excited to start
enjoying her new old space (see pictures).

Just a couple weeks before Christmas I received a call from a demolition company in New Hampshire. They had the contract to demolish a 100 plus room 1920's convent in Malden, Mass and wanted to know if I would be interested in bidding on the picking rites.

Going with the theory you can never have enough old doors, I jumped in the truck and headed to Mass. All the while keeping in mind Mike's concern about the fact the door floor was full and the first floor already had a couple hundred doors that would not be finding a home on the second floor, at least not in the near future.

My bid was two days late so they gave it to another salvage company, it was a bummer. After a couple days I received another call from the demo company and they said the other salvage company was all done with their picking and asked if i would I like to come and bid on the remaining mill work. This was the week before Christmas but none the less we were there the next day or so and five days later had a couple Ryder trucks full (see pictures).

To our surprise the other salvage company had only taken the glass knobs (without the roses or mortise locks), pews, and not much else! You really have very little time with these demolition projects.

To give you an idea, Bob and I were in the attic the first day when one of the demo guys yelled up to us (in pitch dark). They said that we had better move to the other side of the building because they were taking the wrecking ball to the steeple. He did not need to tell us twice, and about 3 minutes after we relocated, they started breaking up the top part of the steeple.

A couple hundred doors later, we were all done. In reality, we could have spent another week there but they could not delay the demo any longer. We got some really great doors , windows , trim, attic boards, and pine wainscoting.

Because there was no electric and the first floor windows were boarded up we had to wear head lights to see and only use cordless tools. Picture yourself walking in the pitch dark through a 30,000 square foot convent that has been vacant for 15 years or so with things strewn everywhere and broken glass on the floor! It would have made a great movie set for an old Hitchcock film.

My father in law Emil gave us a hand and had a ball. Nick, who was visiting from his cross country bike ride trip, also helped out. Nick worked for us from the age of 14 to 20 and just made the 5,000 mile bike trip to california. It was nice to have him working with us on this project. He is a hard worker and knows what he's doing.

We had a nice story written on us in February's country living magazine, page 111 if you happen to pick it up. (www.CountryLiving.com)

Another up and coming project is converting two sets of Pontoons into old house parts house boats. One will be 32 feet ( the honey mooner) and the other will end up being about 44 (the liveaboard). Perfect timing to have one built to suit? Just let us know.

Thanks again for your interest in our company and we hope to see you here at the freight house.

Tom, Mike, Bob, Dick , Joan and last but certainly not least, Napolian (also responds to Joy or Fat Cat or the shaking of anything that sounds like food)

ENJOY,

Tom Joyal, President
The Old House Parts Company
1 Trackside Drive
Kennebunk, Maine 04043
Phone: (207) 985-1999
FAX: (207) 985-1911