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Brick by Brick

An abbreviated visual history of Hose 8’s rebirth.

Renovation photos courtesy clint clemens

1 Drilling the 800-foot-deep geothermal well, which will cool and heat the 5,000-square-foot house.

2 Contractors install new interior framing tied to the old foundation and existing brick shell of the fire house.
 

3 While repairing cracks and other structural problems, workers discovered that the original mortar gluing the old bricks together had lost its bonding power. The turn-of-the-century mortar had been made with beach sand, which disintegrates over time.

4 25,000 of the bricks are carefully dis-assembled, cleaned, labeled and stored in the new basement.
 

5 The crew from ESHI Construction stands on top of the new concrete foundation, which was built inside the old stone one. A system of floor joists and large bolts ties into the foundation, resulting in an ultra-strong structure. Thick steel plates (visible in front of the crew) transfer the weight of the building to the new foundation, bypassing the old one.

6 Masons reconstruct the brick walls, preserving most of the original details. Four windows were saved for the restored firehouse; the rest are replicas.

7 One of the few exterior changes was a huge new copper skylight, which illuminates the top two floors of the house.

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