Towle's Hardware & Lumber Company
Dixfield, Maine
Original Construction Blog
Welcome! This site is dedicated the new construction of the new Towle's Hardware & Lumber Company store my father and I are building in Dixfield. It is a very exciting project for both us and we are looking forward to honoring the past generations the store has been in our family while creating an updated, modern hardware & lumber retail space to support a larger inventory and attract new customers. I'm hoping this site can serve as a virtual view to all of my supportive family and friends and any others that are interested in this project that might not be close by. The site will be maintained in a "blog style" with a web camera that will update photos every three minutes. If you have any comments or questions you can email me at ctowle@hotmail.com.
October 29, 2008:
Photo 1: View from Weld Street
Photo 2: View from Weld Street
Photo 3: View from the far corner of the lot at US RT 2 and US RT 142.
I'll have more photos coming up soon. There will never be stores built like our old hardware store so it is a sad day. It is nice to see the new building "rising up" to take its place.
September 23, 2008:
Photo 1: Sign over the old store that we've moved.
Photo 2: Trying to direct customers around the corner to the yard entrance with this sign.
Photo 3: Front counter areas along with filled aisles.
Photo 4: UPS Shipping and FAX counter.
Photo 5: Cash Register counters and paint department featuring the entire Dutch Boy line of products.
Photo 6: Building materials aisle.
Photo 7: Looking down the back wall.
We are officially open in the new building! The last week has been full of very long days and nights. It really amazes me how much my grandfather and father were able pack into the old the store. Customers will think that we already increased our inventory but there are really only a few new displays of new products. Verizon/Fairpoint arrived yesterday and all the phone lines were moved over to the new building and all services are live. It was a little strange this morning NOT going in to the old store first to see everybody. Please come check out the new store! We are all very proud of it. There is still a lot of work to be done and moving to do but I'm relieved operations are now moved to the new building.
September 15, 2008:
Photo 1: New aisle dedicated to fasteners and small specialty items. 4 times what we had before.
Photo 2:Standing in the back corner by my Dad's office looking down the aisles.
Photo 3:Housewares department being finalized.
Photo 4:Standing in manager's office looking out over the two counters.
Things are moving along very quickly and we have begun to move inventory into the new store. It's amazing what the same products look like in their new locations! The aisles are coming out great and displays are very exciting to see. It's still unclear exactly how long we will need to be closed and Dad hasn't made the final call on that yet. I know I'll be moving computers on Sunday and Monday. Also, Monday Fairpoint/Verizon will be showing up to get phone lines moved with me. I will post info as soon as we decide.
As I stated in my last post when we finish moving most of the inventory store customers will need to use the "yard entrance" or "back entrance" for probably most of October while the old store is emptied out and eventually demolished. Hopefully, everyone will be patient with us as work to get the new departments set up and organized correctly.
September 3, 2008:
Photo 1: Looking from grain building entrance to the counter and main entrance areas. New floor completed.
Photo 2: Looking from the counter area to the back of the store. New floor completed.
Photo 3: Siding work on back side of hardware store.
Photo 4: Side of hardware store facing Town Parking Lot / Town Office /Post Office
Photo 5: Actually had some requests for Dad and I to be in a photo so here it is. :-)
With flooring finally installed in the new retail space it really won't be much longer now. The "poured" floor came out great. It seems like a very durable product and will be low maintenance, non-skid, and look great! Siding work has continued while everyone had to stay away for awhile. The siding is looking great on everything and it won't be long now.
I'll be posting more details in a few weeks but Dad and I think we should be operational in the new building by the end of September. It will involve the hardware store to be closed for a maximum of 3 days while we execute a very large move of inventory. When we re-open in the old store customers will need to use the "yard entrance" or "back entrance" for probably most of October while the old store is emptied out and eventually demolished. Hopefully, everyone will be patient with us as work to get the new departments set up and organized correctly.
August 21, 2008:
Photo 1: One of the 20' garage doors
Photo 2: Attic staircase (cold storage). Sq Ft = retail space of old hardware store!
Photo 3: Attic Staircase
Photo 4: Light Panels being installed
Photo 5: Pegboard directly attached to far wall
Photo 6: (left to right) Computer Room, Screen/Windows Repair, Bathroom, Propane Tank/Closet
Photo 7: 3 Phase 400 Amp Service
Photo 8: Electrical Entrance Mounted on Weld Street Exterior Wall
Photo 9: Waiting for CMP (Again)
Photo 10: Cement Board Siding Being installed on back exterior wall
Photo 11: Grain Storage face siding and new door installed.
Things are still on schedule as pieces begin to fall in place. Dad and I are starting to lay out the timeframe for moving. We should have some exact dates for the days the hardware store will be closing for moving. It's great to see the siding start to go and HVAC and ceiling frames being installed. It really won't be too much longer at this point. Many customers of both stores have been asking about the date the old store will be coming down. That's still a moving target at this point. We won't really know until we begin moving. Ideally, we would like to have the old store down by Thanksgiving so we can get a base coat of paving down before snow falls. It would be nice to avoid the muddy situation we had with the Corner Store parking area last spring.
August 11, 2008:
Photo 1: Roofing completed. Garage Doors framed for installation.
Photo 2: Staircase (to nowhere right now). But will be completed.
Photo 3: Long view back to old store.
Photo 4: Main entrance doors installed which match Corner Store door theme.
Photo 5: Insulation work being completed.
Photo 6: HVAC ducts being installed.
Photo 7: Entrances to the repair, storage, receiving area.
Well it finally stopped raining long enough for me to get out and take some pictures. We've had almost daily showers here for the last 4 weeks. It's getting a little crazy. Fortunately, enough of the building has been completed to keep working on sealing up walls undercover of the new roof. Roof shingles have been installed on all the new construction. The original attached building will be getting matching shingles at some point but not the priority right now.
On the hours during the day that it was nice the carpenters began construction of the staircase to get up to the attic truss space. This will be used exclusively for storage and seasonal displays. The only access will be through the new grain building. All of our grain inventory has now been moved to its new location and the only space is being insulated and reconditioned for its new use as our store room, receiving and repair area.
July 28, 2008:
Photo 12: I think this is a neat shot. It's taken across the street from the hardware store on Weld street. It's starting to show how significant a building this will be. Many have asked if the buildings were connected but as you have seen here they are not.
Photo 11: This is the back side of the retail space looking back toward Weld street.
Photo 9 & Photo 10: Front of the grain storage space. Small garage door for deliveries and main door. You can see we've already started moving tonight with the inside shot.
Photo 8: This is the view from the Weld street entrance looking down toward the lumber and building materials. You can see the front face of the grain building and the back entrance to the hardware store.
Photo 7: It was a little late when I took this but this photo is shot from the back door entrance looking at the main entrance. To the left as you come in will be the retail counter and in the corner will be the Manager's Office. (Ed's office!).
Photo 6: Inside view of the space for the 2 20' garage doors. The space is prepped for pouring concrete soon.
Photo 5: Another shot of the grain building from Town Parking area.
Photo 4: This is standing behind the firestation taking a shot of the back wall. You can see the soffit work is all completed and the roofing on the retail space and grain shed has been finished.
Photo 3: In this photo you can see most of the two 20' garage doors and the final end piece where my Dad's office will be.
Photo 1 & Photo 2: We knew on paper the main entrance to the new store was going to get very close. Well it ended up even closer than we thought. The final trusses over the entrance required us to remove the small apartment porch over the back side of the store and we need to cut into the old store back stairwell to fit all the new roof work.
We are at a point now where the building features are starting to take place and I can give better detail of what you are seeing in the photos. The hardware store team has started to empty the original Weld street building where we stored all of our grain to its new location in the grain storage area. This space will be converted to a receiving/storage/window- screen repair/general workshop. Employee restroom and the entrances for power/telephone/Internet services will all be located in this space.
July 14, 2008:
Photo 1 · Photo 2 · Photo 3 · Photo 4 · Photo 5
A very busy two weeks here and we continue to make great progress. Trusses came for the grain building today so the crane was here to lift those pieces in to place for the carpenters. The roofers also arrived to continue on the front face of the building. The front of the building is really starting to take shape now which is exciting to see. Because little "finish work" is required in the grain storage area we are hoping to move existing inventories early next week from their current location--the adjacent building facing Weld Street. The original building will be the new "receiving area" and we are going to need to clear out of that space to allow electricians to move in and bring in the new service. The roof will be replaced with matching shingles and the building will receive the same cement siding that the new Corner Store has which will also match the new store.
July 02, 2008:
Photo 1 · Photo 2 · Photo 3 · Photo 4 · Photo 5 · Photo 6
Dodging daily thunder storms has been challenging but things are still moving along quickly here. Sheathing on all 4 sides of the main retail space has been completed. Additional bracing requirements for the trusses has been completed and eaves are being installing this week. If the weather holds the roofing crew may even be here Sunday to begin shingling the roof. The HVAC crew also arrived this week to install the base units for the heating/AC units which can be seen the photo taken from Weld Street.
Happy 4th everyone!
June 18, 2008:
Photo 1 · Photo 2 · Photo 3 · Photo 4 · Photo 5 · Photo 6· Photo 7 - Photo 8
There has been a lot of concern this week about showers and thunderstorms blowing through the area but the crew has been able to work around them The trusses for the main building arrived Monday and the crane arrived Tuesday. The trusses are engineered and span the entire 60' width of the new store's main floor. After decades of placing inventory on and around chimneys, columns and posts my Dad and I were in agreement that we should have a clear and open floor and a tall ceiling to place inventory. This will be achieved by this design.
You should be able to tell in some of the photos that the trusses contain the frame of an "attic truss". This will be used only for storage of out of season displays and miscellaneous needs. With the pitch going as high as it was there was no reason not to try to use some of this space for storage. It will be a very large room up there spanning the entire 100' width of the store.
The current Towle's Hardware has a total of 7 staircases within and around it. We will now be going down to 1 single staircase that will not be used nearly as often as we have had to use in the old store. It will be a big relief and easier on the employees and customers to move to a single floor inventory.
The progress has been great so far. The faster we can start moving into the new building the better off we will be.
June 4, 2008:
Photo 1 - Photo 2 - Photo 3 - Photo 4 - Photo 5 - Photo 6
Framing has been under way all week and it's been fun to start seeing the walls go up. Here is a couple photos of framing going around the main retail space. Photo #6 I took in the Town Office Parking lot. You can start to see what the entire corner lot will look like in 2009.
June 2, 2008:
Photo 1 · Photo 2 · Photo 3 · Photo 4 · Photo 5 · Photo 6· Photo 7
We've had huge progress since my last post. In this short amount of time the entire floor of the new store has been poured with the exception of where the garage doors are going. The carpenters arrived today which was great to see and have begun framing.
What's been fun for me has been comparing this project to last year. We engaged our general contractor earlier this time around and I think the economy downturn has provided extra capacity from lack of other projects to focus on our site. Here are some interesting comparisons.
Pouring the foundation forms: convenience store (c-store): completed: June 11, hardware store (h-store): May 15
Pouring the cement floors: c-store July 14, h-store: May 28
Truss installation: c-store Aug 2, h-store: June 16! (estimated)
We know we ran out of time last year before winter hit so Dad and I have been pushing forward to get the hardware store completed as quickly as possible. It will take much longer to move the hardware store than the convenience store due to the inventory. We're not sure exactly how that's going to work yet. When we talked to the builders this AM they seemed to lay out a pretty good goal of focusing first on the inside of the building and all aspects of it first. This way we may be able to begin moving as early as late August. Exterior work would continue simultaneously as we (Towle's employees, Dad, me) move the hardware store over to the new store. It seems like a good plan and will buy us as much time as possible.
Although this is a bigger building than the c-store, the hardware store is a MUCH simpler building. For example no coolers or kitchen or gas pump infrastructure to worry about. It really is going to be simple box attached to the existing grain building.
May 18, 2008:
Ok. I think I'm all caught up here. The web camera seems to be working well now and I've posted all the photos collected so far. Monday Coleman Concrete will be returning to take down the forms along the grain building and main entrance pieces. Mark (Marwin Construction) will begin backfilling around the foundation and start preparing grading for pouring the floor. Electricians will also be in the week to lay some conduits in the foundation. So, there should be a lot of activity if you happen to check the camera out during the day this week.
May 12, 2008:
Photo 1 · Photo 2 · Photo 3 · Photo 4 · Photo 5
These photos show the trenching and poured walls for the grain building, entrance, garage doors, and office. We do get close to the back corner of the original hardware store with the new main entrance. When the old hardware store does come down in the fall there will certainly be some issues to deal with.
May 8, 2008:
Photo 1 · Photo 2 · Photo 3 · Photo 4
These photos show the poured walls for the 60X100 retail space.
May 7, 2008:
These photos show the poured footings for the 60X100 retail space.
May 6, 2008: Ground Breaking
Photo 1 · Photo 2 · Photo 3 · Photo 4 · Photo 5 · Photo 6
A familiar site again seeing Marwin Construction's equipment back on our site. Most of the time was spent trenching the 60X100 retail space in order to prepare to start pouring footings.
Camera Layout
This construction camera has a different view than the c-store camera and the layout isn't as familiar as the corner of US 2/US RT 142. To help identify what you are looking at I saved a photo and labeled it to help show the major areas.
March 25-28, 2008: Lumber Building Removal
Photo 1 · Photo 2 · Photo 3 · Photo 4 · Photo 5
After months of working to empty out the old lumber building it was time to dismantle the steel post-and-beam structure. My Dad was able to find someone that was willing to reuse the truss and roofing pieces with us keeping the steel beams for later use.
November 4, 2007: Railroad Car Removal
Photo 1 · Photo 2 · Photo 3 · Photo 4 · Photo 5 · Photo 6
As many of our customers know, through the years we have collected an interesting array of sheds, garages, storage bins and ad hoc buildings to store lumber and other building materials and products. I always thought the most unique structure was the full size insulated railroad car that my Dad had placed on the lot back in the mid '80's. The location of the railroad car was in the exact spot where the new grain shed will be located. So, in the fall '07 my Dad sold the railroad car. The customer paid for the crane to move it to it's new location.
