I
t's amazing how little impact the foundation retrofit has had on the exterior of the building. That surprised both of us as we thought it would be much more obvious. This photo shows the front left corner of the house. It's less than 12 inches high, hardly noticeable. As they are doing this in sections in order to keep the house safe and secure (we live here, you know!), we feel fortunate they have worked hard to keep the inn looking neat and tidy.We have called all guests who made reservations for Sunday through Thursday nights to make them aware of the oft-changing circumstances. So far only one couple chose to stay elsewhere, all others have stayed. Their comments: we're up by 8 am anyway, and the historic mansion basement is far from available rooms, so the noise is negligible or at least tolerated until they go out wine tasting for the day; typically by 10 am. At the end of their day they return home to the inn and the work has been completed for the day and the grounds tidied up, and they can fully enjoy their room, the tub, a quiet night in front of the gas fireplace with a glass of wine, and a full night's sleep. Until today guests didn't believe any work was actually taking place!We want to thank the construction crew as they have not made any significant noise until around 9, sometimes later. We should have a few more days of jackhammering to finish cleaning out the basement, and then the noise will be reduced significantly as they build the framing and eventually pour the concrete. We are expecting more jackhammering the week following Valentine's Day Weekend to finish the last 1/4 of the house, and then we should move quickly to completion after that. As already stated, all historic mansion rooms are closed during the week, and we put significant discounts on the garden suite rooms for midweek stays.
