Maine Cabin Masters (2017–…): Season 7, Episode 9 - The Foster's Re-renovation - full transcript
Many years ago, Chase's father Eric Morrill renovated the Foster's cabin. Owned by the Fosters since 1871, and even becoming a public swimming area at one point, the cabin has a personal history to Chase and Ashley. By adding a ne...
Today, we're here
in front of our camp,
goes back to our family
till... uh, 1871.
And you and Dad worked on it?
We renovated it
quite a few years ago.
Right now, the ants
have been tearing it apart.
Yikes!
We're not in yet.
She's not going in.
I don't know if he's got--
had that much practice
on this, you guys.
We might be hitting the camp.
Oh, gosh.
Great. Oh, yeah.
Oh... look at this.
It looks gorgeous!
This looks amazing!
-
Unbelievable.
This is so beautiful.
Welcome back!
Nice day for a walk.
Yeah, it's beautiful out.
Why did you bring me here?
Well... we have
a little history here.
My brother and my father
used to work...
on the Foster's camp
down here,
and I have a feeling that
my brother might be
up to something.
Is that Chase mowing the lawn?
Oh, Chase is mowing
memory lane for you.
There we go.
It's perfect.
He's gonna give us a ride.
He knows.
He has more of
the memories than I do.
We're in
Manchester today
to meet the Foster siblings.
They've got a camp that
my family has worked
for generations.
But it's not
family camp.
Nope.
It was just worked on by our family.
Mowing memory lane for us?
This used to be my summer job.
Miss those days?
No.
Actually, kind of a little bit.
So, what's going on?
Um, we are headed down to meet
Pam, Becky and Eric Foster,
old, old family friends.
Their parents are old family friends with our parents.
We're headed down
to check out their camp.
And you and Dad
worked on it?
We renovated it
quite a few years ago.
You want to drive?
Why don't you have some
bonding moments Ryan in the--
It's in neutral.
Okay.
Is this the gas paddle?
Yeah, that little square.
Right on your right. The little square.
What's the brake?
What's the brake?
The big pedals above it.
Nice job, Ash.
I do remember this place.
It used to be a beach club,
lot of my aunts
and uncles and my father
would lifeguard here,
would babysit here,
would work
the concession stand here.
Then, when they wanted
to turn it into a camp,
my father came.
Chase did a lot of demo,
and then my father came
and helped rebuild it.
Hey.
Hey.
How's it going?
Good to see you guys,
Yeah.
Hi, I'm Pam.
I'm Becky Foster.
And I'm Eric Foster.
Today we're here
in front of our camp,
goes back to our family
till... uh, 1871.
Back in the '90s, Eric,
Chase's and Ashley's dad,
uh, they fixed this up
for our generation,
so that we would
really enjoy the camp
and they brought
it back to life.
This used to be
like a summer...
Yeah, that's right.
1965 to '74,
there were 100 members.
Usually people from Augusta,
family members of
the beach club.
And it used to get crazy
at night out here,
I'm just saying.
But during the day,
it was a family place.
And... it was just great.
So, fast forward a few...
Yeah, yeah, then...
it's funny 'cause when
my father was my age,
he wanted to make the camp
nicer for all of us.
What are you looking
to get done now?
Number one, bathroom.
For whatever reason,
at 2:00 a.m.,
we all just have to go
to the bathroom,
and it's the worst walk.
Wait,
where's the bathroom?
Yeah... yeah.
Up the hill.
-
You get up and go there at 2:00 a.m.?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, my wife
doesn't like that so much.
Um, Eric found that--
that railing thing
at Augusta dump.
-
You know, it's been there for...
The course.
You know, and then
he made the cement stairs
which are still functional,
they're just all, kind of--
you know, how they've eroded over time.
Yeah.
And then just more of a cozy,
comfortable inside, you know,
the floor-the walls
and the floors and everything.
Um, better access and view
of the water.
It's weird, the windows are
kind of high, maybe,
I'm not sure why. But
when you're in the camp,
you don't always feel
like you're on the water,
which is kind of
a weird thing.
Two bedrooms at least.
Yeah, you'll see.
The two bedrooms that
are there now,
it's pretty bad.
So, if you have company,
you can hear
everything next door.
So, one of the things
in the camp is
the Foster's Restaurant sign.
So, that goes way back.
It used to be
Packard's Restaurant
in the '20s,
then my grandfather,
right out Cony,
got working there.
And, eventually,
they let him run it.
And then, eventually,
it became Foster's Restaurant.
Probably in the '40s
or '50s or something.
It became Foster's Restaurant.
Yup, that's right.
So, it was a very famous
restaurant in Augusta.
So, besides
the Foster's sign,
is there anything else
that's sacred in the camp
that you don't want to change?
The window.
Okay.
That window is really important.
Um, your dad put that there,
he found it somewhere,
and he thought it would add...
First of all,
it adds some light,
'cause it is a dark camp.
And it just looks-you know,
makes it look pretty.
-
So, that would be a thing.
Okay.
And there's also
a jelly cabinet
that's from our
great grandparents,
uh, that's-it's just hanging
on the wall in there,
just a little cabinet.
-It's purple now.
Your mom's favorite color.
Yeah, exactly.
You remember that.
That's right.
She painted it, Chase.
You guys are okay with
losing your camp
for most of the summer?
Yeah.
Yeah. We're good.
Okay, what do you have
to put into the project?
35.
Okay.
And if it goes up to 40, we-it would be fine.
Okay.
We're ready to get started.
We just need a set of keys.
Okay.
Great.
Great.
Thank you, guys.
Bye.
Good to see y'all.
See you soon!
Memory lane
to a time capsule.
It's so weird
the way it's chopped up.
Bedroom there.
We could check it out.
It's bigger than
it feels, huh?
Than from the outside.
It is.
Yes, it definitely
is bigger than it feels.
Okay, we've got this hallway
with a weird access
to the loft,
jelly cabinet that they
really wanted to keep.
And this bedroom.
Place is long.
How is it going down there?
I know, right? It's crazy.
It's way-it looks...
It's a lot bigger
than it looks.
On the inside
of the camp,
we are going to just
better utilize the space,
better access to the loft,
move that doorway from
the bedroom to the deck
into a more common area.
Get bigger windows that take
advantage of the water view,
to let more light in.
And we definitely need to get
a real bathroom in this camp.
Yeah, this has
a lot of potential.
It's not gonna
take much to... Wow!
-
This is big.
Oh, yeah,
this is a weird way
to get to the deck, huh?
So, this will be our
biggest challenge probably.
Figuring out how to get
the doorway out of the bedroom
onto the deck.
Right.
Change
the bedroom location.
I mean,
it's a great deck,
great location,
you're right on the water.
Yeah.
But you kind-
they had to cut into the room
to get the height,
whereas right here, you know,
you've got a dormer
where you could go up--
Move the door down?
You know, you move
it down to here.
That's gonna make all
the difference in the world.
Give you more privacy.
On the outside
of the camp, we are going to
level out the landscaping,
refurbish the metal handrail
down to the water,
use their 30%
one-time expansion
to take their half bath
and make it a full bath,
which allows us to install
a second octagonal window
in the gable end.
On the water side, we're gonna
shift the deck door
from the bedroom
to the living room.
And because we're
moving the door,
we're also going
to move the deck,
which allows for better
access to the lake.
And then we'll replace
the old windows
and give it a bright
new paint job.
Well, it's gonna be a fun one.
All right, I gotta
finish mowing that lawn.
All right. We'll call the guys
and come back.
This is the camp.
Does it look like
you remember?
Not at all.
Not at all?
It's kind of overgrown.
There used to be
not many trees.
Today we are at
the Foster Camp,
and my Aunt Sharon
and Uncle Leigh
are joining us for demo.
Kind of pull
back some trim,
pull back the paneling,
see what's going on
behind everything.
My Uncle Leigh is one of my
father's younger brothers.
Leigh also was a lifeguard
at the camp
back when it was
a public swimming area.
All right, let's go to work.
Okay.
Today should be
a really quick, fast demo.
The Fosters got all
their stuff out of there.
So, really we're just gonna
get in here, rip and tear...
and try and expose everything.
I got it.
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
who's the fairest of them all?
So my dad was
the one that did the remodel,
um, on this camp, originally,
in the '90s,
and so,
it's special to us that
we have Leigh and Sharon here
to rip and tear into it.
We could the see the examples
of how my dad built.
I used to work with Eric
and he'd say,
"Oh, yeah, I turned
the power off and...
you can take that
wall stuff down."
And next thing I know,
I had sparks flying everywhere
and he said, "Well...
maybe it's
a different circuit."
Instantly,
Leigh and Sharon walked in
and could recognize
the distinct building
style that my dad had.
This is pretty typical of dad.
What?
Sheet rock with no
mudding and taping.
Yeah.
Instead of
mudding and taping it,
he put a little
wooden strip up it.
Which I think
is kind of clever.
Don't you?
I hate mudding and taping.
That was the worst part.
My father was very
resourceful. He had tricks...
to keep cost down,
including two-piecing,
three-piecing trim.
Also, using sheet rock
and not worrying about
mudding and taping
and the time it took for that.
Sheet rock. Chase.
Why do you think
Dad put up sheet rock
instead of pine?
'Cause it was cheaper.
It was interesting
to do this cabin
because it was put
together like a puzzle.
So, people thought
Eric was, you know,
"Well, Eric's not
a finished carpenter."
But Eric had a great
mind and vision.
-
So it was very logical...
Yeah.
...how to take it off
and, consequently,
you could take boards
off in entire pieces.
So, my part today is
taking down all
the sheet rock.
So, I take out the screws
and rip this piece of
sheetrock back,
and I see
something terrifying.
No!
No, it's fine.
Nope, I'm done.
It's the first week
here at the Foster Camp
in Manchester, Maine.
Just to make sure
there's not a spider...
house behind here.
I saw a spider
and I was making sure
that there wasn't
a whole spider family.
'Cause you never know.
It was built from scraps.
Um, you know,
there was a lot of pieces.
I saw one piece of door trim
that was four-pieced.
You know,
instead of one long one,
he used four pieces.
He 45'd all his cuts.
And until you ripped it apart,
you would never know that
it was four pieces of wood.
Just 'cause
there's no door
doesn't mean
you need to come in.
Yeah, Gus.
Taking off the final piece,
this jelly cabinet that
the family wanted to save.
There were a couple of things
that the family mentioned
they wanted to save.
One was the octagon window,
the Foster's sign,
the third was
the jelly cabinet that was
mounted on the wall
painted purple.
There you go.
Medicine cabinet complete.
My work is done here.
My work is done here.
So far so good,
you know,
no real rot issues.
You know, everything
looks solid, there's no...
bounce to the floors,
anything like that.
Next big thing is going to be
pulling off
the small bathroom space
to frame up
something bigger
to get a full bathroom
in there.
We'll get Doug out here to
come up with a plumbing plan
to get a pump system in,
but everything looks solid.
One great thing
about this camp,
is that they actually have
a little bit of their
30% expansion left.
So, we're gonna utilize
coming off the back here.
You know, any camp built at,
I think, after 1988,
you could only get
a 30% expansion.
And I believe they were
allowed an 8 x 8 x 10
square foot in high area.
Lot of work to do coming up,
but this was--
just getting over here
ahead of time
was really important.
We're just gonna
excavate this some.
I guess it's a tool or some
people say it's a toy.
I've used some of
the machines before, you know,
so it's-a little more
time will be good, um,
but it's a game changer
for us, you know.
We don't have to wait for
Francis or someone to do this.
Uh, as long as I just
get some more practice
and don't hurt myself,
it'll be okay.
Yeah, you gotta break it in
a little bit.
So, that's why I picked a day
when no one was around.
So I'm gonna be over here,
I'm gonna pull it all
back some,
I'm gonna dig a hole
for the pump station
and then we'll start
rebuilding over that
and go from there.
After today,
we'll get the guys over,
we'll start framing
out the floor system
and then we'll go from there.
Then we'll tear onto the roof.
Great spot.
Good thing it's on a lake.
It's hot.
Hopefully this fog sticks around for a while.
Yeah.
It's the second week
at the Foster Camp.
Ashley and Ryan are not here.
Instead of having my aunt
and uncle, I got the, uh,
actual builders
here with me, so...
We've got Jedi, Dixie,
BT and Jay,
and we're gonna
focus on the bathroom floor,
framing up the new
patio slider door.
Ooh, we can save that 4 x 4.
Whoa!
So, right now as it stands,
the doorway to the deck
is in the bedroom.
They ended up cutting in
to fit the door.
So, what we're gonna do
is shift the doorway
into the main living area,
we'll put a slider door.
And so,
I'm just stripping this back
in order to bring
the wall back out...
to the same plane
as the rest of the camp.
You gain room in the bedroom,
you gain privacy
in the bedroom.
You gain a entrance
onto the deck that can
actually be used regularly.
A nice slider...
is gonna let more light
into the main camp
and make that
part feel larger.
So, I think
the benefit is there.
Right now,
we're tearing this all back,
because we're gonna put
a big sliding glass door here.
Thankfully,
we tore it all back.
Because right now, the ants
have been tearing it apart.
So, we've gotta
deal with this issue.
Up in Maine,
we don't have termites,
we don't have carpenter ants.
They do the same
amount of damage.
It's just one is a larger ant.
I mean, carpenter ants,
they like wood, moisture,
and that front had it both.
Oh, it just gets
better and better.
Yikes!
Oh, wow.
We found a home.
Jedi was
peeling back the walls
and found an active
carpenter ant colony.
Well, right now,
we're tearing this all back
because we're gonna put a big
sliding glass door here.
Um, thankfully,
we tore it all back.
Because, right now, the ants
have been tearing it apart.
So, we've gotta
deal with this issue.
Thankfully, it's not gonna
be much of an issue
'cause this is all coming
out to begin with.
Eradication.
Eradication.
They're gonna...
start building a new home,
'cause this one's done for.
Luckily, that entire
section got removed
and trashed. So...
hopefully, that takes care
of that. No more ants.
While Jedi and I are working
on the waterside of the camp,
Dixie's working
on the backside,
adding the addition
for the new bathroom.
So, the addition
is going to be 8 x 10.
It will have, you know,
a shower, toilet,
vanity, closet for
the hot water heater,
and do a pitched roof,
run it right into the existing
peak of the roof,
which will also
benefit the loft
and give it a little bit more
space in the loft up above.
156. This is 154.
So, we need to shift
this way one inch.
Uh, 153 and 7/8ths, so let's
put some diagonal bracing on
here quick.
So, that just
ensures that we're...
this is a square...
uh, true square.
So what we'll do is
we'll just
temporarily put
some diagonals in,
so our framing
does not move
when we go to, um,
install our pucks.
While Dixie, Jay and BT
were working on
framing up the platform
for the new addition,
Jedi and I
were working out front
and the goal is to get
the doorway onto the deck
out of the bedroom
and into the main living area.
And that involves just,
you know,
cutting everything back
and figuring out how
to head everything off
to support the roof system
and get a good-sized door
out onto the deck just
to make it more useful.
What a difference
that makes.
Right, it opened it right up.
So, we've stripped back
just about as far as we
need to. I'm just...
pulling that deck board,
getting this prepped
and ready,
so when it comes time
to move the deck,
it's just a matter of
unattaching it,
sliding it that way.
Next step, Jedi is working
on building a header.
Do you wanna slide it?
We should be looking good.
Looks good.
It's all done.
It's actually not a deck.
It's what you would
call a, um,
subfloor for a building.
-
Are you just floored by this?
I'm floored.
We're gonna frame
this outside wall, too.
The bathroom had
a small wash closet,
I guess, is the best
you'd call it.
It had a shower
and a sink.
But you would have to go
up the hill to the bathroom.
What?
You got a saloon door?
Yeah.
Bathroom door.
We'll get Doug in here,
do the plumbing, and we'll get
a real bathroom in here,
so you don't have to
leave the camp at night.
What do you think?
Think it looks great.
We done for the day?
We're done when sweat
gets right down to there.
We're done.
Next thing, really,
is just figure out this
roof pitch.
How we want to tie it in.
You know, I think
we're looking good.
-Yup.
Nice work.
Ready, Zeus?
Let's go swimming.
It's week three
at the Foster Camp,
and we're working on
getting the exterior
wrapped up
as quickly as possible
so that we can
start painting it
and then get the new roof on.
One, two...
We ended up
moving the deck because,
originally, the door to
the deck was in the bedroom.
We moved that door
into the main living area.
So, we shifted
the deck accordingly
so it lined up
with the door and...
it wasn't looking
into the bedroom.
It gave the bedroom
more space and more privacy.
The guys were
able to get the
bedroom windows reframed,
they got the deck moved,
they got the new
slider door installed.
And so, today, they're
working on getting the front
re-sided and closed in.
You know, get the soffits
all taken care of
so that we can get in here,
you know,
spray everything out,
paint the trim,
and then it's ready
to put the new roof on.
So, today,
we're here at Fosters.
Boys have put a good
charge on things,
sidings going back on.
Big project for us today is
framing the doghouse dormer.
And what we're
working on today is
we're figuring out
our rafter detail
for our addition.
Um, it's a little
tricky because,
uh, we have another roof line
in which we're coming into.
So, essentially, we're
gonna have two valleys.
So, what we're
working right now is
BT is cutting
our common rafters.
So, we're gonna string
all of our commons
until we get to
the end of the wall
and then, at that point,
they'll be our valley rafters.
So, there'll be
a compound miter cut on
the roof end and, uh, just
a miter cut on the top end.
So, it will be
a pretty technical, uh,
few rafters that we're
gonna have to figure out.
We're probably about
halfway through the build
at the Foster camp
in Manchester.
And, right now, we're working
on getting the exterior
completely wrapped up.
Jake's here painting the body,
painting the trim.
BT and Jay are
working on getting
the soffit trim finished.
Nick's working on...
finishing up the siding,
get that octagon window in
on the gable end of
the new bathroom addition.
The story goes that
my father found the original
octagon window
on the waterside
of the camp and put it in.
I had a octagon window in my
barn that I've had for years,
wondering what to
do with it, so,
you know, it's a pretty
steep gable pitch
in the bathroom addition.
So I decided to put my own
octagon window up in there.
We're gonna start working
on the floor system
for the loft area.
We've got a 6 x 6
that we gotta get in place.
And we'll notch out
for the beams.
From here on out, the build is
pretty much straightforward.
I think, the big unknown
as this point is landscaping.
We've gotta get
somebody in here
to start the landscaping.
There's a lot
of terrace levels
that need to be rebuilt.
So, we've gotta
kind of be out of their way.
So, that's why
we're trying to get
the exterior wrapped up,
so we can get
a landscaper in here
to do what we need
and not be in their way.
This past weekend,
our buddy Jake Audet
came up with
his landscaping crew,
and they did a heck of a job.
They really terraced it out,
gave them
a really nice fire pit
and kind of made the entrance
a lot safer
and easier to get to.
And also, they stopped the
flow of water coming down in.
They did an awesome job
on landscaping.
We're gonna get
more done in this week
than we have
probably the whole job.
Today we're
here at the Fosters'
on beautiful Cobbosseecontee.
Josh and I and Dakota
have been working on
laying the floors.
We got the two bedroom
floors laid this morning.
BT and Jay have been working
on sheeting the gable end.
We got Doug here working on
getting the plumbing
finished up.
We're really closing in quick.
We're not in yet.
Hey, wait, we got to
come out for a minute.
Come out.
This is our last chance.
Yeah, she's not...
she's not going in.
I think they might be
getting another shower.
Seventy-six and a half.
We're going to be
just about as tight
going through the next door.
Maybe less.
I'm not convinced.
We might have to get
a smaller shower.
Doug's gotta get going.
You know, rough-in plumbing
should have been done weeks
ago on a project like this.
We were taken by the shower.
We like to do
a nice 36-inch shower.
In this case,
it's not gonna happen.
The exterior is all done and
painted. It looks beautiful.
We're not gonna
break into that.
They're probably gonna
put you to work.
Well, that's no big deal.
As long as it's light.
You bring your
paintbrush today?
No, I didn't.
Chase has got one up there.
Hopefully.
The Foster camp
is coming right along.
I knew that there
was a lot of painting
and other projects
going on, so,
who's better to bring to
the painting days
as Wild Bill?
I love that fire pit.
I know, that's sweet.
What's going on, kids?
What can Bill do?
I brought him here.
Let's put him to work.
Yeah.
Chase needs help up at
the top of the hill painting.
Really?
I'll go give him a hand.
All right.
All right.
Give him two hands.
See you at lunch.
Okay, bye.
Bye.
So, I am painting
the interior trim.
It's going to be window trim,
door trim, mop boards.
Yeah, you name it.
If we need trim inside,
this is the color
it's gonna be.
Gosh! I better slow down.
I'm beginning to sweat.
That's not in your contract.
No, not the Union rules.
I know.
Sweating is not allowed.
Bill's been
my painting partner
since I was in high school.
He's got plenty
of stories to tell,
so there's never
a dull moment.
It's heavy.
I really need to think about
what I'm gonna do with this
jelly cabinet.
That bathroom's big
and there's probably
not gonna be any
cupboard space.
So, why not turn
that jelly cabinet
into a bathroom cabinet?
So, Bill and I are going to
put a white coat on it.
And this is something
that my dad used to
love to do all the time.
Oh, yeah, he loved
to do this stuff.
He did. So he'd put a solid
coat of the white on it
and then let it dry,
and then we'll sand it down.
So the pops of purple
will come through.
Mrs. Foster loves
the color purple,
so the jelly cabinet's purple.
Well, that camp has
beautiful whitewashed walls
and nice white trim.
So, that purple just
wouldn't really work.
Something my dad used to do is
to paint over the purple,
and then once it dries, um,
the next couple of days or so,
I'll come back with a sander
and kind of give it
a distressed look
and the purple accents
will come through,
but it won't be so
"Bah, in you face" purple.
Wow, looks pretty.
Now, let's let it dry.
Okay.
Before we start beating on it
and stressing it out.
Yeah, are we gonna hammer it
and do all that stuff
Dad used to do?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We'll take a chain and beat it.
Okay.
I'm down.
Yeah.
Yeah, so now, let's just
let this dry and, uh...
go check on Chase,
and we'll come back to it
and finish it off.
Okay, let's go.
Actually, let's go check on Ryan.
If it's
not dry enough,
we can stress it out
a different day.
What we're gonna do is
we're gonna put in
a sewage pump.
Think of it as this
big garbage disposal,
but a sewer system.
You know, the Fosters
never had a bathroom.
So, they were
constantly walking up.
This is a game changer
for them.
I think that's
the biggest change
and the only thing they really
wanted to see done.
They knew Chase was gonna
come in and continue
his dad's legacy, but,
give us that bath and that's
the one thing we want.
Watch out
of the way, Doug.
You might be too close, Ashley.
Oh, yeah, I see that.
Aren't you supposed to say
you were coming, sweetheart?
What's that?
Aren't you supposed to say you're coming, sweetheart?
I'm coming, sweetheart.
I don't know if he's got--
had that much practice
on this, you guys.
We rely on
so many other people
and thing are
"go, go, go" these days.
So, we thought, you know,
maybe if we had a machine,
we could, um,
you know,
help us dig sills out
and help with
the landscaping a little bit.
So, I-you know, I decided
to bring it over today.
I've been practicing
for free at friends' houses
and at my own house...
and I'm still not...
there yet.
Well...
take a seat for the show.
Oh, gosh, we might
be hitting the camp.
Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh!
I don't know if he's
had this much practice on
this, you guys.
Down right there, Doug?
Does your dad
know what he's doing?
You guys need your daddy
to dig you a nice, fresh hole.
Ryan got his hands
on this new machine.
He was working, like,
right beside the camp,
like within an inch
of the camp.
He came pretty close.
Whoa! Aah!
What is that?
It's probably a pipe.
Okay.
Nice job.
We didn't hurt the house.
We're gonna put in
a sewage pump and
all that stuff goes uphill.
Walking it down there
saved us a lot of time.
Now, we didn't have to wait
for Francis to come here,
dig that out,
leave his machine here,
go to his thing and come back.
Now the machine's here
and we dug that out and then,
uh, Doug will tell me
how we wanna
come back with the trench.
If we need it,
we can dig more trench,
but it makes us very versatile.
All right, so this
is going to Tom's.
This handrail's in
rough shape.
It's getting donated to
the local skateboard park?
We figured
we'd take it up to Tom and...
powder coat it.
He'll cut out another
piece of metal
that says "Fosters" right in
the center piece there.
So, this is the jelly cabinet
that Bill and I
painted the other day.
It is all dry.
And now, I am going
to sand it down
and see if I can get some
of that purple to pop out.
The look that I'm achieving is
just like an old rustic look.
Mrs. Foster does love purple,
so I still wanna have
the purple come through
but just not in your face.
The solid purple
was just too much.
The solid white, you know,
it would've been okay.
But something-a piece that
old, it gives it a cool look
if you can kind of
make it look old.
You know,
this is an old piece,
and so it's nice to give it
even more character.
This is an old technique
that my dad taught me
a long time ago.
He used to do this to...
a lot of his old pieces.
He used to make new furniture
and then try to make it
look old.
They're not gonna have
any other cabinet
or storage space
in the bathroom,
so this will just help
and give them extra
space to put things.
I think, I'm just about done.
I'll probably just
wipe it down,
clean it up a little more.
But overall, I don't think
I'm gonna sand it anymore,
'cause I don't want any more
of the paint to come off.
That's the exact look that
I was looking for.
I love the purple
coming through
and I can't wait to see
how it looks in
the bathroom at the camp.
I think it came out great.
I'm really excited to hang it
up in the Foster camp.
And now the Fosters
have an Ashley piece.
Back at Mainely Handrails,
I am dropping off
the handrail
from the Foster camp.
Hey, Tom.
Hey.
How's it going?
Not bad.
Next project for ya.
Yeah.
We ask a lot of Tom.
We love working with him.
We need to get it done,
done well and done fast, so
we're bringing it up to Tom.
Thanks, Tom.
Yeah, thank you.
Tom is going to
cut out the name Foster,
set it into it, clean it up,
powder coat it
and we'll put it back down as
the handrail to the water.
Oh, wow! Look at that.
It's basically at
the last week here at Foster,
there's light
at the end of the tunnel.
We've got a few trim pieces
we have to install,
and as usual,
last but not least,
the kitchen.
Dougie's here today
wrapping up the plumbing, so
we should be able to give
Ashley plenty of time
to get in here
and do her magic.
Over the last week,
my design team and I
were able to get in,
clean it, decorate it.
Meanwhile, the construction
team had come in
and was installing
the smaller shower
and the ladder to the loft.
Our family has
a lot of history at this camp,
so it was nice for us
to be able to come in and...
you know, fix it up and...
give them back
a really cool camp.
All right.
There you go, still purple.
Still purple on the inside,
but look.
It's just muted a little bit.
I did that's special technique
that Dad used to do.
Lovely.
Doesn't it look good?
Yup.
I think they're gonna love it.
Still has Mrs. Foster's
purple on the interior.
I can't wait to
show it to them.
They're gonna love it.
They are.
They're gonna love this whole place.
Let's go get changed.
Jelly cabinet looks great
as a bathroom cabinet now.
Adds some storage
space in the bathroom
which was needed,
and we were able to redo
something that was
important to them.
That's it.
Thanks for helping me.
Sure thing.
Looks good.
Let's go meet 'em.
It looks awesome.
Oh! It's beautiful.
It's beautiful.
Oh.
Oh!
They brought their parents.
It doesn't look
like our camp at all.
Look where they put the other window.
Oh!
-
So everyone will see it.
Oh, my gosh. I love that!
That's amazing.
That is amazing.
Hi.
Hello.
Oh, my gosh!
I love where the window is.
It looks great.
We came
to the wrong place.
-
We're at the wrong place.
I know!
I love the color, too.
It looks awesome.
This is so beautiful.
Welcome back!
Yeah.
It looks fantastic.
Oh, my gosh.
It's good to see you,
Mr. and Mrs. Foster.
I'm sure there's a lot of
memories with my father
and family down here
and your family as well.
We were able to tear down
the original bathroom and...
enlarge it and build this.
We went with
a gable peak, just to match up
to the existing roof peak.
-
I had to add my own octagon.
That's...
Got a double-
a double--
Father and son, yeah.
Yeah, really nice.
Can we get an Ashley one, too?
Next 50 years.
We had our Audet's
Landscaping come in and just,
you know,
kind of level it off,
give you more...
-Beautiful.
...open hangout area outside.
The railing!
Oh, yeah, yeah...
That's an Eric Morrill.
Oh, my gosh. Yeah, we noticed that.
Yeah, we heard the story
about the metal handrail
down to the dock.
Beautiful.
So, I decided to
pull it out, brought it up
to Mainely Handrails,
they sandblasted it,
powder coated it and
inset your name into it and...
Oh!
-
It's so nice.
...yeah.
It's straight, it's solid.
Isn't that wonderful?
Really nice.
All right, now you can head on in.
Okay.
Yay.
Yay.
Wow.
Wow, look at this...
It looks gorgeous.
This is amazing.
-Unbelievable.
Wow.
This is so beautiful.
Walking into the camp,
the first thing
that I definitely noticed
was how open
and how clean and how...
everything just... It didn't
look like the same place,
it was so perfectly organized
and just exactly the cabin
feel we were looking for.
This is
what we pictured,
but didn't know how to do it.
Yes.
This is amazing.
The wall and the roof
system in this part is
original.
We stripped it
right back to everything.
We know you wanted
to get the doorway
to the front porch
out of the bedroom.
So, we were able to get,
you know, a large slider,
let more glass, more light
into the space.
Yeah.
So, you still
have two bedrooms.
Just how cheerful
and bright and open it was.
It was just amazing
'cause we'd sit there,
we have such
a beautiful spot here,
but it was so dark.
And with the new sliding glass
door to go out on the deck,
it's amazing.
Yeah, go check out
the new bathroom.
This looks so much bigger.
Oh, my goodness.
And we have a toilet.
You'll notice...
-
Oh! The jelly cabinet!
...the jelly cabinet.
Mrs. Foster is gonna kill me, but I took the purple
just toned it down a little.
That's perfect.
But I still kept a little bit
of purple for you.
My grandparents
lived in Massachusetts.
They sold their house,
and my grandmother said,
"No. We can't sell
that jelly cabinet,"
'cause it was really old.
Yeah, I know.
Of course.
Well, now it's still here.
So now, it's here...
That's awesome.
Yeah, it really is.
It's had a history in itself.
Oh, look at this. Why does
this have so much more space?
What do you think, Dad?
Very nice.
Isn't it beautiful?
Looks even better
than I even pictured.
Like it... there's just
so much extra stuff, like,
the kitchen is so pretty
and things like that
that I didn't even
expect any of that.
All right, well, let's
head out to the front deck.
Oh, my gosh, look at this.
Guys, you can't believe this.
A big thing was
getting that door out of
the bedroom.
So, we got the door out,
we closed it back in
and we were able to
get a larger window in
the bedroom just to really
take advantage
of the water view.
And we ended up
shifting this deck
probably about three feet...
towards the front of the camp.
It looks great.
-It looks beautiful.
It really does.
You had $40,000 for
the project, the big thing was
getting a bathroom,
getting the doorway
out of the bedroom,
and just an overall
freshening up of the camp.
We know, you wanted to be
back before the end of summer.
We're right on that deadline, so...
I think we're there, we just
have to... hand the keys back.
All right, excellent.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
I think I'm gonna stay here, Dad.
Good move.
You got the skills.
Yeah.
We're taking off now,
but you know that
you are not done with us.
Yes.
We'll be back.
Not to do work though.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
Bye, guys. Yeah.
This is amazing.
Enjoy it.
We will.
They so delivered,
we're so happy.
I can't even--
I think I'm still
overwhelmed and I just
can't say enough.
And they absolutely delivered,
they always do.
I can't wait for the rest of
the family to see this place.
They're just going to love it.
This is exactly
what we wanted
even though we never
would have been able to
figure it out ourselves.
It's just wonderful. And it
will be great for our kids
and our grandkids.
I'd like to thank
the Cabin Masters.
They do such an awesome job.
And I know that there are
so many other people,
Chase, Ashley,
there's Dixie, Jedi,
Ryan, I mean,
it's a whole crew, I mean...
it's amazing. I mean,
we couldn't have asked for
a better...
a better transformation
for this camp,
it's just-it's crazy.
in front of our camp,
goes back to our family
till... uh, 1871.
And you and Dad worked on it?
We renovated it
quite a few years ago.
Right now, the ants
have been tearing it apart.
Yikes!
We're not in yet.
She's not going in.
I don't know if he's got--
had that much practice
on this, you guys.
We might be hitting the camp.
Oh, gosh.
Great. Oh, yeah.
Oh... look at this.
It looks gorgeous!
This looks amazing!
-
Unbelievable.
This is so beautiful.
Welcome back!
Nice day for a walk.
Yeah, it's beautiful out.
Why did you bring me here?
Well... we have
a little history here.
My brother and my father
used to work...
on the Foster's camp
down here,
and I have a feeling that
my brother might be
up to something.
Is that Chase mowing the lawn?
Oh, Chase is mowing
memory lane for you.
There we go.
It's perfect.
He's gonna give us a ride.
He knows.
He has more of
the memories than I do.
We're in
Manchester today
to meet the Foster siblings.
They've got a camp that
my family has worked
for generations.
But it's not
family camp.
Nope.
It was just worked on by our family.
Mowing memory lane for us?
This used to be my summer job.
Miss those days?
No.
Actually, kind of a little bit.
So, what's going on?
Um, we are headed down to meet
Pam, Becky and Eric Foster,
old, old family friends.
Their parents are old family friends with our parents.
We're headed down
to check out their camp.
And you and Dad
worked on it?
We renovated it
quite a few years ago.
You want to drive?
Why don't you have some
bonding moments Ryan in the--
It's in neutral.
Okay.
Is this the gas paddle?
Yeah, that little square.
Right on your right. The little square.
What's the brake?
What's the brake?
The big pedals above it.
Nice job, Ash.
I do remember this place.
It used to be a beach club,
lot of my aunts
and uncles and my father
would lifeguard here,
would babysit here,
would work
the concession stand here.
Then, when they wanted
to turn it into a camp,
my father came.
Chase did a lot of demo,
and then my father came
and helped rebuild it.
Hey.
Hey.
How's it going?
Good to see you guys,
Yeah.
Hi, I'm Pam.
I'm Becky Foster.
And I'm Eric Foster.
Today we're here
in front of our camp,
goes back to our family
till... uh, 1871.
Back in the '90s, Eric,
Chase's and Ashley's dad,
uh, they fixed this up
for our generation,
so that we would
really enjoy the camp
and they brought
it back to life.
This used to be
like a summer...
Yeah, that's right.
1965 to '74,
there were 100 members.
Usually people from Augusta,
family members of
the beach club.
And it used to get crazy
at night out here,
I'm just saying.
But during the day,
it was a family place.
And... it was just great.
So, fast forward a few...
Yeah, yeah, then...
it's funny 'cause when
my father was my age,
he wanted to make the camp
nicer for all of us.
What are you looking
to get done now?
Number one, bathroom.
For whatever reason,
at 2:00 a.m.,
we all just have to go
to the bathroom,
and it's the worst walk.
Wait,
where's the bathroom?
Yeah... yeah.
Up the hill.
-
You get up and go there at 2:00 a.m.?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, my wife
doesn't like that so much.
Um, Eric found that--
that railing thing
at Augusta dump.
-
You know, it's been there for...
The course.
You know, and then
he made the cement stairs
which are still functional,
they're just all, kind of--
you know, how they've eroded over time.
Yeah.
And then just more of a cozy,
comfortable inside, you know,
the floor-the walls
and the floors and everything.
Um, better access and view
of the water.
It's weird, the windows are
kind of high, maybe,
I'm not sure why. But
when you're in the camp,
you don't always feel
like you're on the water,
which is kind of
a weird thing.
Two bedrooms at least.
Yeah, you'll see.
The two bedrooms that
are there now,
it's pretty bad.
So, if you have company,
you can hear
everything next door.
So, one of the things
in the camp is
the Foster's Restaurant sign.
So, that goes way back.
It used to be
Packard's Restaurant
in the '20s,
then my grandfather,
right out Cony,
got working there.
And, eventually,
they let him run it.
And then, eventually,
it became Foster's Restaurant.
Probably in the '40s
or '50s or something.
It became Foster's Restaurant.
Yup, that's right.
So, it was a very famous
restaurant in Augusta.
So, besides
the Foster's sign,
is there anything else
that's sacred in the camp
that you don't want to change?
The window.
Okay.
That window is really important.
Um, your dad put that there,
he found it somewhere,
and he thought it would add...
First of all,
it adds some light,
'cause it is a dark camp.
And it just looks-you know,
makes it look pretty.
-
So, that would be a thing.
Okay.
And there's also
a jelly cabinet
that's from our
great grandparents,
uh, that's-it's just hanging
on the wall in there,
just a little cabinet.
-It's purple now.
Your mom's favorite color.
Yeah, exactly.
You remember that.
That's right.
She painted it, Chase.
You guys are okay with
losing your camp
for most of the summer?
Yeah.
Yeah. We're good.
Okay, what do you have
to put into the project?
35.
Okay.
And if it goes up to 40, we-it would be fine.
Okay.
We're ready to get started.
We just need a set of keys.
Okay.
Great.
Great.
Thank you, guys.
Bye.
Good to see y'all.
See you soon!
Memory lane
to a time capsule.
It's so weird
the way it's chopped up.
Bedroom there.
We could check it out.
It's bigger than
it feels, huh?
Than from the outside.
It is.
Yes, it definitely
is bigger than it feels.
Okay, we've got this hallway
with a weird access
to the loft,
jelly cabinet that they
really wanted to keep.
And this bedroom.
Place is long.
How is it going down there?
I know, right? It's crazy.
It's way-it looks...
It's a lot bigger
than it looks.
On the inside
of the camp,
we are going to just
better utilize the space,
better access to the loft,
move that doorway from
the bedroom to the deck
into a more common area.
Get bigger windows that take
advantage of the water view,
to let more light in.
And we definitely need to get
a real bathroom in this camp.
Yeah, this has
a lot of potential.
It's not gonna
take much to... Wow!
-
This is big.
Oh, yeah,
this is a weird way
to get to the deck, huh?
So, this will be our
biggest challenge probably.
Figuring out how to get
the doorway out of the bedroom
onto the deck.
Right.
Change
the bedroom location.
I mean,
it's a great deck,
great location,
you're right on the water.
Yeah.
But you kind-
they had to cut into the room
to get the height,
whereas right here, you know,
you've got a dormer
where you could go up--
Move the door down?
You know, you move
it down to here.
That's gonna make all
the difference in the world.
Give you more privacy.
On the outside
of the camp, we are going to
level out the landscaping,
refurbish the metal handrail
down to the water,
use their 30%
one-time expansion
to take their half bath
and make it a full bath,
which allows us to install
a second octagonal window
in the gable end.
On the water side, we're gonna
shift the deck door
from the bedroom
to the living room.
And because we're
moving the door,
we're also going
to move the deck,
which allows for better
access to the lake.
And then we'll replace
the old windows
and give it a bright
new paint job.
Well, it's gonna be a fun one.
All right, I gotta
finish mowing that lawn.
All right. We'll call the guys
and come back.
This is the camp.
Does it look like
you remember?
Not at all.
Not at all?
It's kind of overgrown.
There used to be
not many trees.
Today we are at
the Foster Camp,
and my Aunt Sharon
and Uncle Leigh
are joining us for demo.
Kind of pull
back some trim,
pull back the paneling,
see what's going on
behind everything.
My Uncle Leigh is one of my
father's younger brothers.
Leigh also was a lifeguard
at the camp
back when it was
a public swimming area.
All right, let's go to work.
Okay.
Today should be
a really quick, fast demo.
The Fosters got all
their stuff out of there.
So, really we're just gonna
get in here, rip and tear...
and try and expose everything.
I got it.
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
who's the fairest of them all?
So my dad was
the one that did the remodel,
um, on this camp, originally,
in the '90s,
and so,
it's special to us that
we have Leigh and Sharon here
to rip and tear into it.
We could the see the examples
of how my dad built.
I used to work with Eric
and he'd say,
"Oh, yeah, I turned
the power off and...
you can take that
wall stuff down."
And next thing I know,
I had sparks flying everywhere
and he said, "Well...
maybe it's
a different circuit."
Instantly,
Leigh and Sharon walked in
and could recognize
the distinct building
style that my dad had.
This is pretty typical of dad.
What?
Sheet rock with no
mudding and taping.
Yeah.
Instead of
mudding and taping it,
he put a little
wooden strip up it.
Which I think
is kind of clever.
Don't you?
I hate mudding and taping.
That was the worst part.
My father was very
resourceful. He had tricks...
to keep cost down,
including two-piecing,
three-piecing trim.
Also, using sheet rock
and not worrying about
mudding and taping
and the time it took for that.
Sheet rock. Chase.
Why do you think
Dad put up sheet rock
instead of pine?
'Cause it was cheaper.
It was interesting
to do this cabin
because it was put
together like a puzzle.
So, people thought
Eric was, you know,
"Well, Eric's not
a finished carpenter."
But Eric had a great
mind and vision.
-
So it was very logical...
Yeah.
...how to take it off
and, consequently,
you could take boards
off in entire pieces.
So, my part today is
taking down all
the sheet rock.
So, I take out the screws
and rip this piece of
sheetrock back,
and I see
something terrifying.
No!
No, it's fine.
Nope, I'm done.
It's the first week
here at the Foster Camp
in Manchester, Maine.
Just to make sure
there's not a spider...
house behind here.
I saw a spider
and I was making sure
that there wasn't
a whole spider family.
'Cause you never know.
It was built from scraps.
Um, you know,
there was a lot of pieces.
I saw one piece of door trim
that was four-pieced.
You know,
instead of one long one,
he used four pieces.
He 45'd all his cuts.
And until you ripped it apart,
you would never know that
it was four pieces of wood.
Just 'cause
there's no door
doesn't mean
you need to come in.
Yeah, Gus.
Taking off the final piece,
this jelly cabinet that
the family wanted to save.
There were a couple of things
that the family mentioned
they wanted to save.
One was the octagon window,
the Foster's sign,
the third was
the jelly cabinet that was
mounted on the wall
painted purple.
There you go.
Medicine cabinet complete.
My work is done here.
My work is done here.
So far so good,
you know,
no real rot issues.
You know, everything
looks solid, there's no...
bounce to the floors,
anything like that.
Next big thing is going to be
pulling off
the small bathroom space
to frame up
something bigger
to get a full bathroom
in there.
We'll get Doug out here to
come up with a plumbing plan
to get a pump system in,
but everything looks solid.
One great thing
about this camp,
is that they actually have
a little bit of their
30% expansion left.
So, we're gonna utilize
coming off the back here.
You know, any camp built at,
I think, after 1988,
you could only get
a 30% expansion.
And I believe they were
allowed an 8 x 8 x 10
square foot in high area.
Lot of work to do coming up,
but this was--
just getting over here
ahead of time
was really important.
We're just gonna
excavate this some.
I guess it's a tool or some
people say it's a toy.
I've used some of
the machines before, you know,
so it's-a little more
time will be good, um,
but it's a game changer
for us, you know.
We don't have to wait for
Francis or someone to do this.
Uh, as long as I just
get some more practice
and don't hurt myself,
it'll be okay.
Yeah, you gotta break it in
a little bit.
So, that's why I picked a day
when no one was around.
So I'm gonna be over here,
I'm gonna pull it all
back some,
I'm gonna dig a hole
for the pump station
and then we'll start
rebuilding over that
and go from there.
After today,
we'll get the guys over,
we'll start framing
out the floor system
and then we'll go from there.
Then we'll tear onto the roof.
Great spot.
Good thing it's on a lake.
It's hot.
Hopefully this fog sticks around for a while.
Yeah.
It's the second week
at the Foster Camp.
Ashley and Ryan are not here.
Instead of having my aunt
and uncle, I got the, uh,
actual builders
here with me, so...
We've got Jedi, Dixie,
BT and Jay,
and we're gonna
focus on the bathroom floor,
framing up the new
patio slider door.
Ooh, we can save that 4 x 4.
Whoa!
So, right now as it stands,
the doorway to the deck
is in the bedroom.
They ended up cutting in
to fit the door.
So, what we're gonna do
is shift the doorway
into the main living area,
we'll put a slider door.
And so,
I'm just stripping this back
in order to bring
the wall back out...
to the same plane
as the rest of the camp.
You gain room in the bedroom,
you gain privacy
in the bedroom.
You gain a entrance
onto the deck that can
actually be used regularly.
A nice slider...
is gonna let more light
into the main camp
and make that
part feel larger.
So, I think
the benefit is there.
Right now,
we're tearing this all back,
because we're gonna put
a big sliding glass door here.
Thankfully,
we tore it all back.
Because right now, the ants
have been tearing it apart.
So, we've gotta
deal with this issue.
Up in Maine,
we don't have termites,
we don't have carpenter ants.
They do the same
amount of damage.
It's just one is a larger ant.
I mean, carpenter ants,
they like wood, moisture,
and that front had it both.
Oh, it just gets
better and better.
Yikes!
Oh, wow.
We found a home.
Jedi was
peeling back the walls
and found an active
carpenter ant colony.
Well, right now,
we're tearing this all back
because we're gonna put a big
sliding glass door here.
Um, thankfully,
we tore it all back.
Because, right now, the ants
have been tearing it apart.
So, we've gotta
deal with this issue.
Thankfully, it's not gonna
be much of an issue
'cause this is all coming
out to begin with.
Eradication.
Eradication.
They're gonna...
start building a new home,
'cause this one's done for.
Luckily, that entire
section got removed
and trashed. So...
hopefully, that takes care
of that. No more ants.
While Jedi and I are working
on the waterside of the camp,
Dixie's working
on the backside,
adding the addition
for the new bathroom.
So, the addition
is going to be 8 x 10.
It will have, you know,
a shower, toilet,
vanity, closet for
the hot water heater,
and do a pitched roof,
run it right into the existing
peak of the roof,
which will also
benefit the loft
and give it a little bit more
space in the loft up above.
156. This is 154.
So, we need to shift
this way one inch.
Uh, 153 and 7/8ths, so let's
put some diagonal bracing on
here quick.
So, that just
ensures that we're...
this is a square...
uh, true square.
So what we'll do is
we'll just
temporarily put
some diagonals in,
so our framing
does not move
when we go to, um,
install our pucks.
While Dixie, Jay and BT
were working on
framing up the platform
for the new addition,
Jedi and I
were working out front
and the goal is to get
the doorway onto the deck
out of the bedroom
and into the main living area.
And that involves just,
you know,
cutting everything back
and figuring out how
to head everything off
to support the roof system
and get a good-sized door
out onto the deck just
to make it more useful.
What a difference
that makes.
Right, it opened it right up.
So, we've stripped back
just about as far as we
need to. I'm just...
pulling that deck board,
getting this prepped
and ready,
so when it comes time
to move the deck,
it's just a matter of
unattaching it,
sliding it that way.
Next step, Jedi is working
on building a header.
Do you wanna slide it?
We should be looking good.
Looks good.
It's all done.
It's actually not a deck.
It's what you would
call a, um,
subfloor for a building.
-
Are you just floored by this?
I'm floored.
We're gonna frame
this outside wall, too.
The bathroom had
a small wash closet,
I guess, is the best
you'd call it.
It had a shower
and a sink.
But you would have to go
up the hill to the bathroom.
What?
You got a saloon door?
Yeah.
Bathroom door.
We'll get Doug in here,
do the plumbing, and we'll get
a real bathroom in here,
so you don't have to
leave the camp at night.
What do you think?
Think it looks great.
We done for the day?
We're done when sweat
gets right down to there.
We're done.
Next thing, really,
is just figure out this
roof pitch.
How we want to tie it in.
You know, I think
we're looking good.
-Yup.
Nice work.
Ready, Zeus?
Let's go swimming.
It's week three
at the Foster Camp,
and we're working on
getting the exterior
wrapped up
as quickly as possible
so that we can
start painting it
and then get the new roof on.
One, two...
We ended up
moving the deck because,
originally, the door to
the deck was in the bedroom.
We moved that door
into the main living area.
So, we shifted
the deck accordingly
so it lined up
with the door and...
it wasn't looking
into the bedroom.
It gave the bedroom
more space and more privacy.
The guys were
able to get the
bedroom windows reframed,
they got the deck moved,
they got the new
slider door installed.
And so, today, they're
working on getting the front
re-sided and closed in.
You know, get the soffits
all taken care of
so that we can get in here,
you know,
spray everything out,
paint the trim,
and then it's ready
to put the new roof on.
So, today,
we're here at Fosters.
Boys have put a good
charge on things,
sidings going back on.
Big project for us today is
framing the doghouse dormer.
And what we're
working on today is
we're figuring out
our rafter detail
for our addition.
Um, it's a little
tricky because,
uh, we have another roof line
in which we're coming into.
So, essentially, we're
gonna have two valleys.
So, what we're
working right now is
BT is cutting
our common rafters.
So, we're gonna string
all of our commons
until we get to
the end of the wall
and then, at that point,
they'll be our valley rafters.
So, there'll be
a compound miter cut on
the roof end and, uh, just
a miter cut on the top end.
So, it will be
a pretty technical, uh,
few rafters that we're
gonna have to figure out.
We're probably about
halfway through the build
at the Foster camp
in Manchester.
And, right now, we're working
on getting the exterior
completely wrapped up.
Jake's here painting the body,
painting the trim.
BT and Jay are
working on getting
the soffit trim finished.
Nick's working on...
finishing up the siding,
get that octagon window in
on the gable end of
the new bathroom addition.
The story goes that
my father found the original
octagon window
on the waterside
of the camp and put it in.
I had a octagon window in my
barn that I've had for years,
wondering what to
do with it, so,
you know, it's a pretty
steep gable pitch
in the bathroom addition.
So I decided to put my own
octagon window up in there.
We're gonna start working
on the floor system
for the loft area.
We've got a 6 x 6
that we gotta get in place.
And we'll notch out
for the beams.
From here on out, the build is
pretty much straightforward.
I think, the big unknown
as this point is landscaping.
We've gotta get
somebody in here
to start the landscaping.
There's a lot
of terrace levels
that need to be rebuilt.
So, we've gotta
kind of be out of their way.
So, that's why
we're trying to get
the exterior wrapped up,
so we can get
a landscaper in here
to do what we need
and not be in their way.
This past weekend,
our buddy Jake Audet
came up with
his landscaping crew,
and they did a heck of a job.
They really terraced it out,
gave them
a really nice fire pit
and kind of made the entrance
a lot safer
and easier to get to.
And also, they stopped the
flow of water coming down in.
They did an awesome job
on landscaping.
We're gonna get
more done in this week
than we have
probably the whole job.
Today we're
here at the Fosters'
on beautiful Cobbosseecontee.
Josh and I and Dakota
have been working on
laying the floors.
We got the two bedroom
floors laid this morning.
BT and Jay have been working
on sheeting the gable end.
We got Doug here working on
getting the plumbing
finished up.
We're really closing in quick.
We're not in yet.
Hey, wait, we got to
come out for a minute.
Come out.
This is our last chance.
Yeah, she's not...
she's not going in.
I think they might be
getting another shower.
Seventy-six and a half.
We're going to be
just about as tight
going through the next door.
Maybe less.
I'm not convinced.
We might have to get
a smaller shower.
Doug's gotta get going.
You know, rough-in plumbing
should have been done weeks
ago on a project like this.
We were taken by the shower.
We like to do
a nice 36-inch shower.
In this case,
it's not gonna happen.
The exterior is all done and
painted. It looks beautiful.
We're not gonna
break into that.
They're probably gonna
put you to work.
Well, that's no big deal.
As long as it's light.
You bring your
paintbrush today?
No, I didn't.
Chase has got one up there.
Hopefully.
The Foster camp
is coming right along.
I knew that there
was a lot of painting
and other projects
going on, so,
who's better to bring to
the painting days
as Wild Bill?
I love that fire pit.
I know, that's sweet.
What's going on, kids?
What can Bill do?
I brought him here.
Let's put him to work.
Yeah.
Chase needs help up at
the top of the hill painting.
Really?
I'll go give him a hand.
All right.
All right.
Give him two hands.
See you at lunch.
Okay, bye.
Bye.
So, I am painting
the interior trim.
It's going to be window trim,
door trim, mop boards.
Yeah, you name it.
If we need trim inside,
this is the color
it's gonna be.
Gosh! I better slow down.
I'm beginning to sweat.
That's not in your contract.
No, not the Union rules.
I know.
Sweating is not allowed.
Bill's been
my painting partner
since I was in high school.
He's got plenty
of stories to tell,
so there's never
a dull moment.
It's heavy.
I really need to think about
what I'm gonna do with this
jelly cabinet.
That bathroom's big
and there's probably
not gonna be any
cupboard space.
So, why not turn
that jelly cabinet
into a bathroom cabinet?
So, Bill and I are going to
put a white coat on it.
And this is something
that my dad used to
love to do all the time.
Oh, yeah, he loved
to do this stuff.
He did. So he'd put a solid
coat of the white on it
and then let it dry,
and then we'll sand it down.
So the pops of purple
will come through.
Mrs. Foster loves
the color purple,
so the jelly cabinet's purple.
Well, that camp has
beautiful whitewashed walls
and nice white trim.
So, that purple just
wouldn't really work.
Something my dad used to do is
to paint over the purple,
and then once it dries, um,
the next couple of days or so,
I'll come back with a sander
and kind of give it
a distressed look
and the purple accents
will come through,
but it won't be so
"Bah, in you face" purple.
Wow, looks pretty.
Now, let's let it dry.
Okay.
Before we start beating on it
and stressing it out.
Yeah, are we gonna hammer it
and do all that stuff
Dad used to do?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We'll take a chain and beat it.
Okay.
I'm down.
Yeah.
Yeah, so now, let's just
let this dry and, uh...
go check on Chase,
and we'll come back to it
and finish it off.
Okay, let's go.
Actually, let's go check on Ryan.
If it's
not dry enough,
we can stress it out
a different day.
What we're gonna do is
we're gonna put in
a sewage pump.
Think of it as this
big garbage disposal,
but a sewer system.
You know, the Fosters
never had a bathroom.
So, they were
constantly walking up.
This is a game changer
for them.
I think that's
the biggest change
and the only thing they really
wanted to see done.
They knew Chase was gonna
come in and continue
his dad's legacy, but,
give us that bath and that's
the one thing we want.
Watch out
of the way, Doug.
You might be too close, Ashley.
Oh, yeah, I see that.
Aren't you supposed to say
you were coming, sweetheart?
What's that?
Aren't you supposed to say you're coming, sweetheart?
I'm coming, sweetheart.
I don't know if he's got--
had that much practice
on this, you guys.
We rely on
so many other people
and thing are
"go, go, go" these days.
So, we thought, you know,
maybe if we had a machine,
we could, um,
you know,
help us dig sills out
and help with
the landscaping a little bit.
So, I-you know, I decided
to bring it over today.
I've been practicing
for free at friends' houses
and at my own house...
and I'm still not...
there yet.
Well...
take a seat for the show.
Oh, gosh, we might
be hitting the camp.
Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh!
I don't know if he's
had this much practice on
this, you guys.
Down right there, Doug?
Does your dad
know what he's doing?
You guys need your daddy
to dig you a nice, fresh hole.
Ryan got his hands
on this new machine.
He was working, like,
right beside the camp,
like within an inch
of the camp.
He came pretty close.
Whoa! Aah!
What is that?
It's probably a pipe.
Okay.
Nice job.
We didn't hurt the house.
We're gonna put in
a sewage pump and
all that stuff goes uphill.
Walking it down there
saved us a lot of time.
Now, we didn't have to wait
for Francis to come here,
dig that out,
leave his machine here,
go to his thing and come back.
Now the machine's here
and we dug that out and then,
uh, Doug will tell me
how we wanna
come back with the trench.
If we need it,
we can dig more trench,
but it makes us very versatile.
All right, so this
is going to Tom's.
This handrail's in
rough shape.
It's getting donated to
the local skateboard park?
We figured
we'd take it up to Tom and...
powder coat it.
He'll cut out another
piece of metal
that says "Fosters" right in
the center piece there.
So, this is the jelly cabinet
that Bill and I
painted the other day.
It is all dry.
And now, I am going
to sand it down
and see if I can get some
of that purple to pop out.
The look that I'm achieving is
just like an old rustic look.
Mrs. Foster does love purple,
so I still wanna have
the purple come through
but just not in your face.
The solid purple
was just too much.
The solid white, you know,
it would've been okay.
But something-a piece that
old, it gives it a cool look
if you can kind of
make it look old.
You know,
this is an old piece,
and so it's nice to give it
even more character.
This is an old technique
that my dad taught me
a long time ago.
He used to do this to...
a lot of his old pieces.
He used to make new furniture
and then try to make it
look old.
They're not gonna have
any other cabinet
or storage space
in the bathroom,
so this will just help
and give them extra
space to put things.
I think, I'm just about done.
I'll probably just
wipe it down,
clean it up a little more.
But overall, I don't think
I'm gonna sand it anymore,
'cause I don't want any more
of the paint to come off.
That's the exact look that
I was looking for.
I love the purple
coming through
and I can't wait to see
how it looks in
the bathroom at the camp.
I think it came out great.
I'm really excited to hang it
up in the Foster camp.
And now the Fosters
have an Ashley piece.
Back at Mainely Handrails,
I am dropping off
the handrail
from the Foster camp.
Hey, Tom.
Hey.
How's it going?
Not bad.
Next project for ya.
Yeah.
We ask a lot of Tom.
We love working with him.
We need to get it done,
done well and done fast, so
we're bringing it up to Tom.
Thanks, Tom.
Yeah, thank you.
Tom is going to
cut out the name Foster,
set it into it, clean it up,
powder coat it
and we'll put it back down as
the handrail to the water.
Oh, wow! Look at that.
It's basically at
the last week here at Foster,
there's light
at the end of the tunnel.
We've got a few trim pieces
we have to install,
and as usual,
last but not least,
the kitchen.
Dougie's here today
wrapping up the plumbing, so
we should be able to give
Ashley plenty of time
to get in here
and do her magic.
Over the last week,
my design team and I
were able to get in,
clean it, decorate it.
Meanwhile, the construction
team had come in
and was installing
the smaller shower
and the ladder to the loft.
Our family has
a lot of history at this camp,
so it was nice for us
to be able to come in and...
you know, fix it up and...
give them back
a really cool camp.
All right.
There you go, still purple.
Still purple on the inside,
but look.
It's just muted a little bit.
I did that's special technique
that Dad used to do.
Lovely.
Doesn't it look good?
Yup.
I think they're gonna love it.
Still has Mrs. Foster's
purple on the interior.
I can't wait to
show it to them.
They're gonna love it.
They are.
They're gonna love this whole place.
Let's go get changed.
Jelly cabinet looks great
as a bathroom cabinet now.
Adds some storage
space in the bathroom
which was needed,
and we were able to redo
something that was
important to them.
That's it.
Thanks for helping me.
Sure thing.
Looks good.
Let's go meet 'em.
It looks awesome.
Oh! It's beautiful.
It's beautiful.
Oh.
Oh!
They brought their parents.
It doesn't look
like our camp at all.
Look where they put the other window.
Oh!
-
So everyone will see it.
Oh, my gosh. I love that!
That's amazing.
That is amazing.
Hi.
Hello.
Oh, my gosh!
I love where the window is.
It looks great.
We came
to the wrong place.
-
We're at the wrong place.
I know!
I love the color, too.
It looks awesome.
This is so beautiful.
Welcome back!
Yeah.
It looks fantastic.
Oh, my gosh.
It's good to see you,
Mr. and Mrs. Foster.
I'm sure there's a lot of
memories with my father
and family down here
and your family as well.
We were able to tear down
the original bathroom and...
enlarge it and build this.
We went with
a gable peak, just to match up
to the existing roof peak.
-
I had to add my own octagon.
That's...
Got a double-
a double--
Father and son, yeah.
Yeah, really nice.
Can we get an Ashley one, too?
Next 50 years.
We had our Audet's
Landscaping come in and just,
you know,
kind of level it off,
give you more...
-Beautiful.
...open hangout area outside.
The railing!
Oh, yeah, yeah...
That's an Eric Morrill.
Oh, my gosh. Yeah, we noticed that.
Yeah, we heard the story
about the metal handrail
down to the dock.
Beautiful.
So, I decided to
pull it out, brought it up
to Mainely Handrails,
they sandblasted it,
powder coated it and
inset your name into it and...
Oh!
-
It's so nice.
...yeah.
It's straight, it's solid.
Isn't that wonderful?
Really nice.
All right, now you can head on in.
Okay.
Yay.
Yay.
Wow.
Wow, look at this...
It looks gorgeous.
This is amazing.
-Unbelievable.
Wow.
This is so beautiful.
Walking into the camp,
the first thing
that I definitely noticed
was how open
and how clean and how...
everything just... It didn't
look like the same place,
it was so perfectly organized
and just exactly the cabin
feel we were looking for.
This is
what we pictured,
but didn't know how to do it.
Yes.
This is amazing.
The wall and the roof
system in this part is
original.
We stripped it
right back to everything.
We know you wanted
to get the doorway
to the front porch
out of the bedroom.
So, we were able to get,
you know, a large slider,
let more glass, more light
into the space.
Yeah.
So, you still
have two bedrooms.
Just how cheerful
and bright and open it was.
It was just amazing
'cause we'd sit there,
we have such
a beautiful spot here,
but it was so dark.
And with the new sliding glass
door to go out on the deck,
it's amazing.
Yeah, go check out
the new bathroom.
This looks so much bigger.
Oh, my goodness.
And we have a toilet.
You'll notice...
-
Oh! The jelly cabinet!
...the jelly cabinet.
Mrs. Foster is gonna kill me, but I took the purple
just toned it down a little.
That's perfect.
But I still kept a little bit
of purple for you.
My grandparents
lived in Massachusetts.
They sold their house,
and my grandmother said,
"No. We can't sell
that jelly cabinet,"
'cause it was really old.
Yeah, I know.
Of course.
Well, now it's still here.
So now, it's here...
That's awesome.
Yeah, it really is.
It's had a history in itself.
Oh, look at this. Why does
this have so much more space?
What do you think, Dad?
Very nice.
Isn't it beautiful?
Looks even better
than I even pictured.
Like it... there's just
so much extra stuff, like,
the kitchen is so pretty
and things like that
that I didn't even
expect any of that.
All right, well, let's
head out to the front deck.
Oh, my gosh, look at this.
Guys, you can't believe this.
A big thing was
getting that door out of
the bedroom.
So, we got the door out,
we closed it back in
and we were able to
get a larger window in
the bedroom just to really
take advantage
of the water view.
And we ended up
shifting this deck
probably about three feet...
towards the front of the camp.
It looks great.
-It looks beautiful.
It really does.
You had $40,000 for
the project, the big thing was
getting a bathroom,
getting the doorway
out of the bedroom,
and just an overall
freshening up of the camp.
We know, you wanted to be
back before the end of summer.
We're right on that deadline, so...
I think we're there, we just
have to... hand the keys back.
All right, excellent.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
I think I'm gonna stay here, Dad.
Good move.
You got the skills.
Yeah.
We're taking off now,
but you know that
you are not done with us.
Yes.
We'll be back.
Not to do work though.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
Bye, guys. Yeah.
This is amazing.
Enjoy it.
We will.
They so delivered,
we're so happy.
I can't even--
I think I'm still
overwhelmed and I just
can't say enough.
And they absolutely delivered,
they always do.
I can't wait for the rest of
the family to see this place.
They're just going to love it.
This is exactly
what we wanted
even though we never
would have been able to
figure it out ourselves.
It's just wonderful. And it
will be great for our kids
and our grandkids.
I'd like to thank
the Cabin Masters.
They do such an awesome job.
And I know that there are
so many other people,
Chase, Ashley,
there's Dixie, Jedi,
Ryan, I mean,
it's a whole crew, I mean...
it's amazing. I mean,
we couldn't have asked for
a better...
a better transformation
for this camp,
it's just-it's crazy.