" -Well, I'm wondering why you haven't finished the demolition?"

" -Well, we're going to use the platform on the porch for our staging to do all the prep work. You can see, we have started removing some pane on the siding and prepping on up and it looks like you have actually added new siding up there over the door, right. Where the old porch had been framed and we've replicated the siding and milled some southern yellow pine, which the old siding was Cypress."

" -So why aren't you using Cypress."

" -We can't really get as good a grade of part of Cypress that they used. so we're using southern yellow pine."

" -That's a pretty good stuff though hard."

" -Very durable."

" -Yeah it's tough to work with. Now these columns are pilasters. Weren't they at the end of the house at either end?"

" -They were. They were part of the other porch and we're going to incorporate them into our new portico. The new entrance portico."

" -So you got them temporarily intact in place here?"

" -Right. Play around with the design. That exactly right and we've also taken the glass out of the front door and we put in the wood panels to match the original wood panels that would have been here. This of course is the original front door so you're taking great paints to restore it."

" -That's right."

" -We've done a lot more on the back side than on the front."

" -Well this is all in addition, it looks like you practically completed it."

" -Well, we've tried to make it fit in with the house and we've got all the siding up in its prime."

" -Yeah and then the roof on the porch is great and the arch window looks beautiful."

" -Thank you."

" -And of course this is all the same siding that we were looking at a minute ago, right?"

" -That's all southern yellow pine as well as with the moldings and the back bands of the door."

" -Your ceiling, is that typical kind of paneled look that you see a lot in Charleston?"

" -Right. Coffered wooden ceilings were very typical at this period. This is made with plywood and then you've added an over layered pine."

" -That's right."

" -Great."

" -What about the columns, are they new."

" -They are new hollow columns and tapered them. We think that the profiles would be in keeping with the original."

" -And they are also southern yellow pine."

" -That's right."

" -And then you are in the middle of putting windows in."

" -That's right. The last time you were here, you saw us make the jambs and now we have set a lot of the windows and here is one of the sashes we have had made by our millwork."

" -These are mahogany?"

" -That's right. Just like the siding issue, we don't have as good as Cypress to make sashes out of so we are using different woods and mahogany turns out to be less expensive than a higher grade of Douglas fir or something."

" -That's interesting and an imported wood is actually cheaper than an American product."

" -Yeah it is."

" -That's a shame. Now this looks like it's gonna be a fixed item. Is that right?"

" -Right. We typically we will make the upper sashes fixed because they are not operable and this will sit in like that and the lower sash will have spring balances which will enable them to be lifted and lowered."

" -Now do you get any criticism because it is not an authenticate way of having done a double hung sash?"

" -Not really. If people aren't gonna used the upper sash and this is a reconstruction, I don't see much point in making it operable."

" -That's the key. This is a reconstruction."

" -That's right."

" -It's not a restoration or something that was already in there."

" -That's right."

" -Well, last week, we saw you making all the sash frames on the job, have all the sashes themselves been made here?"

" -No, we've had a millwork firm locally make this."

" -Okay. So all you gonna do here on the job is what this man is doing, put the glass in and glaze them. Right?"

" -Right. We will bring the sashes in. We make sure they fit properly and prime them before we glaze them and now they're being glazed and he has done a wonderful job."

" -Nice technique. Just playing an old fashion glazing compound, right?"

" -That's right."

" -Okay."

" -Alright. What is happening upstairs?"

" -Well, let's go up and see."

" -Well, it doesn't look like too much progress has been made in here."

" -Well, we have taken the arch casing and doorways that were here and we've moved back to its original location where it was the original window for the stairwell. And you can't have a window here so instead you're putting mirrors in."

" -That's right."

" -And you can see were we put the original framing members with jack stud back in its original mortise where it was and here you can see the jack stud which was the side jamb of the window and the mortise and tenon joint which was cut out when the stud was removed."

" -So a kind of a restoration in that piece?"

" -That's right."

" Yeah. And of course by opening up here, you also get daylight flooding the staircase."

" -It's really nice."

" -Yeah this is just a simple wall that has been opened up, right?"

" -Right, we've thrown an arch in to make a little sitting area at the top of the stairs."

" -And then in one of the bed chambers here, we are pouring up the ceilings for dry wall and you can see."

" -What's this over here?"

" -Well, this was a doorway that had been cut out to the porch and we're replicating the moldings for the chair rail and the wainscoting."

" -Now, again this is plywood which is not the material that was originally used. Would not it would be more correct to restore with actual pieces of pine?"

" -It's gonna be painted and it's gonna look authentic so I don't really see any point in using original material."

" -It's an honest repair?"

" -That's correct."

" -Okay. Now you were saying pouring, I do see that the ceiling has all been poured out. You got some strings up there."

" -Right. We've leveled, the joists were fairly uneven when they were plastered so we have straightened them with 2 x 4s and here you can see we're repairing the missing cornice."

" -Yeah. That's all been pulled in plaster of Paris then you just applied the replicated leads, right?"

" -That's right."

" -Yeah. The dock work is all complete?"

" -All the dock work is in that you saw since installing last week."

" -Oh and look at these now. You've got an extra working in all these mantled pieces and she's just about done with these one, ha?"

" -Right. You can see the docks and all the paint has been removed from them delicately by picking them without using any chemicals or heat."