Restoration, 2014

Joe Rallo of CCI Construction removes the century-old grout from between each of the granite blocks, starting at the bottom.

On-site restoration began in 2014. Initial work included:

recovering boulders from the original breakwater and rebuilding a functional replacement;
repairing damaged granite blocks at the lighthouse base;
removing hundred year-old grout and replacing it with new grout made from the original quarried granite on the lighthouse and oil house;
sandblasting, sealing and repainting the walls and ceilings of all 7 levels;
removing block glass windows and building and installing faithful oak-and-brass reproductions of the original casement windows;
building authentic reproductions of the original hardwood interior doors;
pulling up the replacement tiles of the floors and installing new flooring;
cleaning out the oil house;
power washing the granite tower and the oil house;
cleaning and polishing the interior glazed bricks of the lighthouse;
and a whole lot more.

We also began work to make the lighthouse habitable, repairing the massive timbers of the more modern dock, improving natural light and ventilation, building kitchen and bedroom woodwork, and designing electrical and plumbing systems.

: Bucket brigades were vital to removing debris to be hauled ashore

: Ken and Chris apply white finishing paint to the interior of the watch room.

: Richard Green passes by on the flybridge of the ‘Freedom,’ coincidentally capturing Pedro glazing the windows of the lamp room.

: CCI workers on the dock

: We took out all the block glass windows. Two US Coast Guard officers are seen tending to the light and fog power system

: Lynn and Wyatt inspect the newly installed port hole. Wyatt made the bronze sleeves for each of the 6 port holes.

: Ken Phillips installs a red oak casement window he built, modeled after a rotted original

: Master carpenter Karl Phillips on a This Old House shoot

: Nat and Dave take a break in the watch room

: Dave and Nat in the lamp room

: Karl is on the outside of the window as This Old House films him

: Pedro is up on the lamp deck, a hundred feet above the rocks, glazing the windows. Also see the new oak-and-brass casement windows, faithful reproductions of the originals, set in the stone tower. Photo by Richard Green, who was passing by on the ‘Freedom.’

: The last work trip out of the 2014 season. Pedro, in the bright green jacket, is headed up to the lamp deck to glaze the windows.

: A National Park Service ranger tweets a picture of This Old House’s Richard Trethewey and his sons in the lamp room

: Tugboat, barge & crane

: Doing the heavy lifting

: Dave admires the restoration of the bronze lamp room

: Crew from This Old House visits Graves

: Safe transfer of the 1905 lamp room panes, so they can be stored ashore

: Pedro glazed the glass panes of the lamp room in October 2014.

: A hundred feet above the rocks, Pedro glazes the lamp room glass.

: Richard Trethewey of This Old House looks in through the porthole

: More dock work

: Monday paint crew: Chris, Mike, Lynn, Ken (crouching), John, Jack, Dave.

: Larry doesn’t stop until the whole steel ceiling is painted.

: Saturday paint crew: Mike and Carolyn (standing at top), Josh (seated at top), Kat and Dave (hanging off right side), Keith and John (standing).

: Workers reach lighthouse by crane

: The century-old curved panes travel safely over the rocks via zip line

: This Old House visits The Graves

: Keeper Dave rows the dinghy out to the boat after a long day of painting. Kat is in the bow; Josh and Carolyn are astern.

: CCI did a wonderful job on the stone

: Mike and Lynn take a break from painting on September 1, the 109th anniversary of the first lighting of Graves Light. Lynn’s hand shows that she was painting black that day.

: Joe Rallo of CCI repairs the stone masonry

: CCI’s Mike Sylvester is suspended 80 feet so he can repair damaged granite blocks. (2014)

: Hovering above the shallow lagoon on the leeward side of the ledge, we see the green that indicates shallow water with a sandy bottom.

: Sunday paint crew: Sue, Allison, Mike, Shane, Andrea, Jack and Lynn.

: This Old House host & producer talk to Dave

: Karl Phillips looks at how he’ll install the first authentic window reconstruction

: This Old House films Dave describing Ken’s re-creation of the original windows

: Looking up at the restored bronze of the lamp room

: Building a zip line to haul irreplaceable 1905 glass panes from the oil house

: Webmaster Mike primes the iron rods that hold the roof together

: Back in Malden, Wyatt makes bronze sleeves for portholes

: We had a reproduction made of an original US Light House Service banner, similar to what would have flown from Graves before the USLHS was merged into the US Coast Guard in the 1930s.