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.

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

: 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.’

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

: The fastest way up the lighthouse

: CCI did a wonderful job on the stone

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

: 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.

: Moving heavy lexan pane for a storm window

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

: CCI workers on the dock

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

: Workers reach lighthouse by crane

: Dave and Nat in the lamp room

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

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

: 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.

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

: Back in Malden, Wyatt makes bronze sleeves for portholes

: 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.

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

: Doing the heavy lifting

: 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.

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

: This Old House host & producer talk to Dave

: This Old House visits The Graves

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

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

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

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

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

: The zip line and the oil house

: Tugboat, barge & crane

: View from the parapet

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

: More dock work

: Hauling heavy lexan panes

: 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.