A group of volunteers did demolition ahead of the beginning of Phase I of construction on the Main House.

Volunteer coordinator Mike Mattingly was joined by his son Jeff (a Prince George’s County firefighter), D.C. firefighters Scott “Smitty” Smith and Alex Graham, and Ted Smart of MDC Services LLC, our project’s construction manager, who is also a board member of the Home Builders Care Foundation.

The group removed all of the decking on the front and side porches, as well as the rails and soffits on the front porch. (The second-floor decking overlooking the waterfront already had been removed.)

“We probably removed 38,398 screws,” Mattingly said with a laugh. “It went very well. That was the end of the demo phase. The construction crew is ready to come in.”

Phase I of the renovation includes new front porch walls, ceilings, posts and decking around and through the screened-in side porch, as well as five new entryway stairs, new gutters, new metal roofs, new flat deck roofing, a wheelchair lift, an interior portable handicap ramp and an outdoor kitchen.

The decking will be Zuri Premium Decking, donated by Royal Building Products through HBCF, which is the nonprofit arm of the Maryland Building Industry Association. Royal Building Products also is donating lots of other trim, all of the fascia and cornice trim and porch columns, Smart said.

“It’s the most beautiful decking material I’ve seen ever,” Mattingly said.