First Thanksgiving in the Winery

We hosted our family of thirty one in the winery for Thanksgiving. What a wonderful time to have all our family around us as we celebrated the day and the first big use of the winery tasting room. It all worked out wonderfully.

Siding is Almost Done

The siding is almost done and the parking lot is in. We are waiting on the deck that will be off the front door that you can see on the second level in the photo. If you look close you can see the double basket press under the door. We had to move it our of the tank room on the first floor because the floor is having a two part epoxy coating applied.

New Floor with Stain and Clear Coat

Here is the new floor after the first clear coat. I will add a second after buffing and then it will be all ready for traffic. We will be hosting our family of 40 for Thanksgiving. Should be a great time in the tasting room.

CHEERS!

New Old Floor Boards Going In

The Ash and Oak floor boards we had milled from trees on our farm are being installed. They are random widths of 4, 6, and 10 inches. Here's a photo of them before they have been stained. I think I have gone through over 2000 floor nails to get the boards down.

Here are some photos of the stone walls in the tasting room before they were repointed and after. They are about two feet thick and make up three sides of the German Bank Barn we are converting into our winery.

Wood Floors Being Installed

The wood floors we had milled from trees on our property are being installed. They are Ash and Oak and where milled rough to one inch planks by a portable saw mill that we had come to the farm. From there we took them to the local planning mill to have then planned smooth on both sides and a tongue and groove put on them. They are in widths of 6, 8, and 10 inches. I love the knots and bits of bark that you can see when the floor is down. Should take me about a week to install. I will post photos of the finished product.

The old concrete floor for the tank room is being resurfaced and will get a nice two part epoxy coating. The new floor will really help keep the tank room clean and look beautiful.

Here Ben is digging a trench to hold all the underground electric lines. All the wires running from the utility pole to the side of the barn will be placed underground to give the winery a cleaner appearance.

So many things going on at the winery right now to get ready to open in March 2013. We finally jumped all in and are having the barn finished, equipment bought, driveway and parking lot installed, stone repointed and so many other things. Here are a few photos of the siding going up and the new parkinglot/driveway.

Young Cabernet Franc vines make their way up grow tubes next to the winery. We planted 100 to see how they would grow in the soil we have. The photo was taken mid summer. I really like using the grow tubes. They protect young vines from all kinds of harm until they are well established. They promote growth up the tube.

New Old Floor Boards Arrive

The trees that fell on our property, that we had milled into floor boards finally came back from the mill. I picked them up yesterday and loaded them into the barn tasting room so they could acclimate to the environment before they get nailed down. The mill planed the top and bottom and put a tongue and groove on each board. They came out great and are about 3/4 of an inch thick. After they get laid down I'll give them a light sanding, and stain/polyurethane them. Finishing them off with another light sanding. I laid out a few just to see what they would look like. This will all get done after the stone work inside the barn gets re pointed. Moving along slowly, but moving.

Off to the planning mill to have floors made from our own trees.

Sydney and Erin after loading all the rough boards from our trees.



The rough boards that we had cut from trees on our property is off to the mill to be cleaned up top and bottom and have a tongue and groove milled into the sides for a new floor. Sydney and Erin loaded all, yes all the wood into the trailer that was drying in the barn. They are my heroes as my back was acting up and I could not be of any help, except to direct. The new wood floors should be back from the mill in two weeks and then we will lay them down, stain and finish them. The wood is Ash and Oak and will last a lifetime.

The boards at the mill

Ceiling Fans Installed in the Tasting Room

A little more progress on the winery tasting room as we install ceiling fans. The raw floor boards will be going to the mill next week to be planned on both sides and have a tongue and groove put in them. Should take about two weeks to get them back and start laying them down. Once the floor is in we'll stain it. Should look beautiful. The wood is from trees on our property that were sawn into rough boards.

More Progress at the Barn

Lots of things going on in the barn now. The air conditioning/heat pump and the furnace are being installed now. The duct work is hung and will be similar to what you might see in a restaurant, hanging overhead and decorative. Right now the duct work is a silver color but will be painted to look like copper. The heating system is actually two systems, a combination of a gas furnace for really cold weather and a heat pump (to capitalize on our free electric from solar) for anything above 40 degrees.

Concrete Pad is Ready for Air Conditioning Unit

Framed out and poured the concrete pad Monday for the air conditioning unit to sit on. The air conditioner will sit outside the rear of the barn and the heating unit will be inside on the second floor with duct work running along the ceiling of the tasting room in an L shape. Suzanne had seen some beautiful copper duct work online but it was extremely expensive, so we came up with the idea of painting the tin duct work with copper paint. We tested a three foot section and it came out great. I will add a few photos of it later.

Drywall is all done

The drywall is all done and ready for paint. They finished up today and everything looks great. They even scribed the drywall right into the shape of the stone along the walls.

DRYWALL IS GOING UP, YEAH!

Before and After



The drywall is going up and it has made a huge difference. No more hanging insulation and bare walls. It should all be up and finished by the end of the week. Once it is dry we can start painting and getting the finished woodwork up.

THE BIG PUSH IS ON

The big push is on at the winery. So much going on and it feels great to be making some serious headway. It seems like all we have been doing is ripping things out of the barn for the last few years. Now we're having things put back into it. The solar panels are up and running, good by PECO. The insulation and electric are all done in the tasting room, ready for the drywallers to show up this Friday. It is a big room, should take about two weeks. The Ash and Walnut boards we had milled from our own trees are drying nicely and will go to the wood shop in Boyertown soon to have the tops planned and the tongue and groove sides milled into them for floorboards. They are going to look beautiful, random width as large as 10 inches down to 6 inches. The floor goes in once the heating and air conditioning is to be installed in May.

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Ronnovations

Working on the winery today, painting window frames and cutting grapevines in the sun. A long way to go. There is so much work to do but like the saying goes "you can eat an elephant, it takes one bite at a time." Above are pictures of the double basket hydraulic wine press, barn boards being painted in the barn/winery cellar, view out one of the front windows, window frame being restored and painted.