Verdict is in, the porch will be coming down

Well, I have to back track on what I thought yesterday as we uncovered the porch ceiling.  The structure of the back porch is definitely undersized.  The roof rafters are only 2×4’s.  Need at least 2×6’s for the span.  So it all comes down.  Plus one is split, and that explains the sag in the roof.

Armed with a saws-all and a wreaking bar I proceeded to start dismantling the back porch which even had square nails in it.  Just to give you an idea of how old it actually is.  Tearing away the ceiling and looking underneath yielded some surprises.  A couple of ceiling rafters are just cobbled together.  I don’t know how it has lasted this long.  They will soon be replaced by new rafters and a redwood deck.

Had to stop early because I got something in my eye.  I had my glasses on, but should have had goggles.  There was so much dust and dirt that I felt like I breathed all of it into my lungs.  Tomorrow I will be armed with goggles, hat and face mask.  This is not girlie stuff.  Should have listened to Norm Abrams “There’s nothing more important than safety goggles.”  Or something like that!!

I had to laugh, as all last night Lynn kept telling me that I needed to go to work today, as they really needed me.  Then he accused me of trying to work him to death.  Now I am exhausted, my eye hurts and the Excedrin hasn’t started working yet.  He must have put a whammy on me.

Getting cleaned-up and ready to go to my second creative writing class at the local library.  Get to hear one of my favorite author’s speak.

I have been taking pictures, all along, of the progress of this little miss-adventure.  I will share those when it is finished.  Hopefully, that will be in the next couple of weeks.  As I will need to refocus on the Dream House once again.  Oh, I hope this doesn’t cut into the budget too much, but a little more than I expected.  It will be worth it in the end.  I keep telling myself this.  🙂

Annie, the demolition diva

I’m back, more than a month later, but still optimistic!

My last blog on this site was March 11, 2013, full of optimism, then the weather didn’t cooperate.  Ugh!!  About 1 1/2 months later I’m still filled with optimism.  Took some days off work so the back porch can have my undivided attention.

You know when you have this picture in your head of how you want something to turn out?  Well I have one of those in my little bitty brain and I can’t wait to make it real.

Climbed the ladder and started pulling off shingles along with my “sod” roof.  I did take pictures but will not post them until it is finished because I am just too ashamed that I let it get in this shape.  It wasn’t as if I didn’t have anything else to do!!

For the next 4 days sunny and beautiful weather is expected.  So I will be enjoying the great outdoors working on my back porch.  My daughter is coming from California and will probably get here on Sunday and I hope she is well rested when she gets here.  Hint, hint.  There will definitely be some runs to Home Depot for some redwood, cement and some shingles.

I have two hydraulic jacks holding up a corner of the porch floor, but it appears that we are raising the floor, but the roof is not raising with it!! Hummm, that means that we have to find another way to shore the porch roof up about 2-3 inches another way.  Our plan is to save the roof joists as they are solid, then rebuild the porch under it.  It might be that we will have to just tear it all down, but I think we can do it this way better as we have the tongue-and-groove ceiling and I want to keep that.  I really wish I had someone that was handy and not afraid of heights to assist with this project.  Wishes and hoping doesn’t get the job done.  So tomorrow as soon as it hits 50 degrees I will be hard at work.

We have those 10″ cement tubes that we will use for the footings of the porch, so that means that I will be digging down 2 feet to the frost line, then mixing cement.  Lucky me, we at least have a little cement mixer that Lynn loves to operate.  You know it is one of those “man toys” of his.  I will take pictures of that this weekend when we get that far.  See I said “when”, not if….

Remember this is not the dream house, as that comes immediately after this back porch project is done.  This project has kinda demanded my attention as it is disintegrating before our very eyes.  That will be the last major repair project on the little house we live in.  Then its back to the “dream house,” and the fun lift.

I plan to get all my little projects done so that when I actually retire from my “paying job”, I can sit on my front porch (in the dream house of course) and drink iced tea and enjoy the view.

Until tomorrow,

Annie, the reluctant carpenter