The Mill at Freedom Falls - Freedom, Maine
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Construction Techniques

6/11/2012

19 Comments

 
Aaron, after the scaffolding was put up right close to the first floor supports, saw that he would want to propose changing the plan for reconstructing the first floor supports that will be much more in keeping with the original layout.  We will have removed three layers of flooring on the first floor, carefully removing what we can save and re-using the good stuff for the underlayment of the floor so it will look as it does today from within the foundation.

By the end of May the deck was built to provide access for building the northern wall.  Rod and his two sons have rigged up a pulley from steel I-beams stretched across scaffolding outside the building.  They move stone onto the deck with the skidder, then drill a hole in the stone, insert a threaded sleeve, then screw in an eye-bolt.  Then they just hoist the stone or granite block and lower it into the hold.  Down there, Rod’s nephew sets the stone in place on wet cement laid on top of the footing.

Picture
After drilling granite with holes, these threaded sleeves are inserted, and into them goes an eye-bolt to which the hoist is attached for lowering the stone into the basement.
Picture
Hoist ready to lower the granite down.
A zip line runs from a locust on the Luhn property through the open west wall, through a northern window and then attaches to a maple down our property toward Pleasant Street.  The zip line lifts the huge hemlock beams and slides them over to the Mill to be set in place.

Another cool thing we saw was an “Archimedes” rig for determining the level of the floor.  Not yet using lasers, so they used a water tube on the second floor to figure out how much each part of the floor needs to be adjusted to have everything level so as to counter sagging of as much as 10 inches.
Picture
"Archimedes" at work. This is the system for determining how much each part of the building needs to be raised to obtain a level floor. No laser technology being used here!
The western wall has steel plates on all the posts, with jacks rigged to the plates.  This is how they lift the whole west wall to slide in new sills.
Picture
West end of original mill building supported by jacks so rotted sill can be removed and replaced.
The next design focus has to be on getting the details set precisely for the turbine installation.  The discovery here is that most of the floor is large stone and rubble, rather than ledge, so placing the penstock has become easier and may not require chipping away at ledge.  This team will have to try to save as much of the old wheelhouse as possible; we will probably be able to save about half of the hole where the old penstock entered as well as the remains of the old turbine to the west of the penstock entry point.

You can see why it’s exciting to be here every step of the way!
19 Comments
Stephanie link
6/12/2012 03:19:12 am

These pictures are amazing, as is your mill! I've added your site to my Google feed reader and can't wait to continue on this journey with you and your family. Edna forwarded your site to me and I think it's wonderful. I"m going to read your posts to my daughter (age 6) as soon as she wakes up, and we'll learn about your corner of the world from ours in Los Angeles.

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9/23/2012 06:48:25 pm

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sandra bryant labranche whitter
7/1/2012 01:40:45 am

It is exciting to see the work on the mill, many happy years of my childhood were spent at the mill, in the sawdust or the office. Walking on the dam was a summer joy. The office had once been Effie Flye's Millinery Shop, this for some reason was fascinating to me as a little girl. The Bangs and Knight Store was close enough for Popsicles and sodas, close enough to keeps us kids happy for a few pennies. My father and uncle lost a finger tip and a thumb respectively at the mill, several babies were born during what seemed like work breaks at the mill, The days in this small town mill sometimes brought salesmen and customers from Boston; a chore was to keep Mr. Black, the dog, from getting into a car and riding south to the city.
There was sadness as well, in the 50's as the time of plastics arrived my grandfather was hit by a truck and killed, my uncle died very young of a heart attack and my family came apart. Dad rejoined the US Army and we moved to Maryland. I was 15. A long history of our family and the mill was over. Presently, my son who grew up in Maryland is exploring his Maine roots and has discovered The Mill at Freedom Falls. This makes me happy.

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    This blog follows the process of rehabilitating the mill and restoring hydropower to the dam at Freedom Falls in Freedom Maine.

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