The first several days were spent fixing the structural issues. The cracks in the foundation were filled. The wood rot? Cut out and replaced with new flooring. Old holes in the walls? Replaced with new paneling after new wiring was installed.
At first it was all done with hand tools despite how grueling the work was. The team gave a loud cheer as the geothermal generator started running. One of the electricians had wired up an old chandelier that she'd polished back up for electric lights, and -- for probably the first time in the De Spells' lives -- electricity lit up a room. As more of the wiring was installed and power was flowing into the old house, the power tools came out, speeding up the process exponentially.
It was loud, of course, which meant that a lot of time Scrooge and the twins would be outdoors until they were called in for one thing or another. Not that there wasn't anything for them to do. With the installation of the water pump and its filtration system, plans for a greenhouse were already being drawn up with some preliminary ideas to allow for maximum usage of each square inch both horizontally and vertically thanks to the proposed hydroponics system. Scrooge had challenged the De Spells to challenge his team, telling them to draw up a list of every plant they thought they might even think of needing for their work. And there were also ideas tossed around for an attached potions building, allowing the twins to go directly from the potions work area to the greenhouse. Some even brought up the idea of having a way to get there directly from the house so even if there was a storm, the greenhouse and potions building would still be accessible.
By the end of the week, the basic repairs of the house were finished. The last piece put in place was a glorious circular stained-glass window that looked more like a painting than simple stained glass bearing the view of a flock of ravens flying over Vesuvius. It had been a bit tricker to make this from the same impact-resistant glass as all the other new windows, but it was worth it.
Scrooge waved to the last of his workers as they headed home for the weekend before turning back to the twins. "Well now. Not a bad start, eh?"
no subject
At first it was all done with hand tools despite how grueling the work was. The team gave a loud cheer as the geothermal generator started running. One of the electricians had wired up an old chandelier that she'd polished back up for electric lights, and -- for probably the first time in the De Spells' lives -- electricity lit up a room. As more of the wiring was installed and power was flowing into the old house, the power tools came out, speeding up the process exponentially.
It was loud, of course, which meant that a lot of time Scrooge and the twins would be outdoors until they were called in for one thing or another. Not that there wasn't anything for them to do. With the installation of the water pump and its filtration system, plans for a greenhouse were already being drawn up with some preliminary ideas to allow for maximum usage of each square inch both horizontally and vertically thanks to the proposed hydroponics system. Scrooge had challenged the De Spells to challenge his team, telling them to draw up a list of every plant they thought they might even think of needing for their work. And there were also ideas tossed around for an attached potions building, allowing the twins to go directly from the potions work area to the greenhouse. Some even brought up the idea of having a way to get there directly from the house so even if there was a storm, the greenhouse and potions building would still be accessible.
By the end of the week, the basic repairs of the house were finished. The last piece put in place was a glorious circular stained-glass window that looked more like a painting than simple stained glass bearing the view of a flock of ravens flying over Vesuvius. It had been a bit tricker to make this from the same impact-resistant glass as all the other new windows, but it was worth it.
Scrooge waved to the last of his workers as they headed home for the weekend before turning back to the twins. "Well now. Not a bad start, eh?"