The Treasures you Find when Demolishing an Old Porch

Well the demo continues.  Working on the floor of the porch has been interesting to say the least.  While tearing up the floor we are trying to preserve some of the joists underneath as some of that wood is stronger and bigger than you can buy today.  Pulling up flooring of tongue and groove, rotting floorboards.  Cleaning up as we go along and putting all the old pieces of wood in the burn pile.  Boy are we going to have a bonfire when we are done.  We have to have everything burned before July 1st when the burn ban goes into effect through Labor Day.

This has been an adventure, I would rather have skipped.  Though looking ahead to the awesome porch I envision will be the payoff.  Assuming it turns out as nice as the picture in my head.

Now you are not going to believe what we found underneath those rotting board.  A tree stump, that they just built the porch around.  I am talking about a really really big tree stump!!  I believe it must have been cut down 90 to 100 years ago.

We have not uncovered the whole stump, but it looks to be about 3 feet in diameter.  I took a picture, but not sure how good it will show the enormity of it.   This house was built in 1898, but not sure when the porch was built.  Probably sometime in the 20’s or 30’s maybe.  The man that lived in this house before we purchased it had live her for almost 50 years and raised a family here.  I believe the porch must have been put on before he moved in.

This porch will be the last major repair/replacement we will have to make in this house.  All of the rest of the house has been renovated inside and the front porch was done about 5 years ago.  The only other thing I would like to change is the aluminum siding.  I really don’t like aluminum siding.  Oh, and maybe the windows.  They don’t leak but they have wavy glass in them, and though it is vintage, I don’t like to look through it.  I don’t want my vision though the window to be distorted, my eyes themselves will do that on their own.  Need to quit thinking about what I would still like to do to this house as I hope to get on with the Dream House we are building next door.  Remember that project?

I took some pictures of the back porch demo, I hope you can see some promise in them.  It really has nowhere to go but up, right?

Stay tuned for next weekend.

Annie, the novice porch planner.

what a dirty mess.

wow, what a stump

A tree stump

Standing back for a clearer view of the mess.

Lynn with the saws-all

Happy Memorial Day Weekend – Now for shopping

It is Sunday and tomorrow is Memorial Day.  On this Memorial Day my thoughts are out there for all those that served in the military so that we could enjoy our holidays and this Country of Freedom.  My thoughts are also on all those that are away from their families in a foreign country fighting for injustice around the world.  May God go with you all.

Maybe we will get the chance to BBQ out tomorrow, if I can tear myself away from working on the porch.  We did a little shopping just so I wouldn’t run out of things to do.  Hehe.

Spent a couple of hours in Home Depot.  I will post a picture of Lynn’s cart and My cart.  We got 10 bags of cement for our footings and we no sooner got them home and transferred them to a cart, and two bags busted.  Of course it has been sprinkling out and so I had the foresight to also buy a tarp.  So now they are sitting on a cart, covered with a tarp, until I can get the wholes dug.  That would be my job.  And a mighty tough job it will be as that ground is pretty dry and hard.  so I guess I will be putting some water to it.  Why make it harder than it needs to be, that’s what I always say.

Yesterday, Lynn was out there with the saws-all and took down all the roof rafters and ceiling joists.  He wants to make the ceiling higher than it was so that means the pitch will be a little less, but since I have decided on putting on a tin roof, it will be fine.  We have to compromise on some things, I guess! 🙂

This afternoon, if it doesn’t rain too much, I will start taking off some of the old decking.  Someday it will be all demolished and the building can begin.  I hope that “someday” will be this weekend.

I did get some pictures of my iris’, though not weeded yet this year, they are breathtaking.  I love plants that manage to thrive on neglect.  I did manage to buy a few plants for my planters and flower beds.  Just had to do something I love, working in the flower beds.  Mix a little fun with the work.  Work is Fun, Work is Fun, Work is Fun.  Still not convinced!!

Now, I wish you all a beautiful and relaxing Memorial Day.

Annie, novice porch builder.

Iris’ Memorial Day 2013. In need of weeding.

Lynn counting the joist hangers

Ann’s Cart

Lynn’s Cart. Lots of work there.

Blue Iris, Memorial Day 2013

I am passing the baton to my dear husband.

First attempt at removing sod on roof.

Nice and fertile soil with clematis vines

The project looks overwhelming.

Beginning to see some daylight

Working on not getting it in my mouth and up my nose.

Lynn get my back side. Standing on the ladder all day is tough

The is the last few feet of the sod and it was growing up the valley of the roof on the house.

This is what I managed to get done this weekend.

Final photo of the porch. Getting there.

This is the last picture of the day

Well my goal for today was accomplished.  I got all the sod off the roof and many of the boards.  It is ready to have the roof rafters and ceiling rafters taken down.  That is Lynn’s part of the project and he has this week to get it done.  As next weekend we will be removing  floorboards and seeing whether we will be using the joist that are there or whether we will be replacing those also.  Got the feeling, they will be replaced.

We are also planning on pouring the cement posts.  If we get that far next weekend, I will be a happy girl.

I had planned to wait until the project is done before showing you pictures, but I just can’t wait that long.  So I will be posting a few of the ones as we progressed to how it looks today.  Really had no way to go but up.

Annie, the demo queen.

Yippee!! Almost got the Back Porch Demo Done

Today I was determined to see some progress on demolition of the back porch.  Got up early so we could get the grocery shopping done and be home in time to work outside on the porch.  I had a plan, I implemented that plan, and things progressed well.  Set a goal of how far I wanted to get today, and almost reached that goal.  Hmmm I always  over estimate my ability.  My target was to get all the old shingles, sod and wood cross boards off the porch roof.  I only have about 4 more feet to go.  Should have it done by tomorrow noon.  That’s my next goal.

Donned my hat, my work clothes, my goggles and my face mask and proceeded to removed the sod roof.  Got about 5-6 hours work on it, and this girl is pooped.  What I have discovered is that I am capable of doing most anything I set my mind too.  This project is not how I wanted to spend this summer, so I am trying to get it done so I can go back to the Dream House.

Lynn has made the shopping list of the lumber, joist hangers, pressure treated posts, cement, and various other assorted building items.  I would like to go get this stuff tomorrow, but that may be pushing things a bit this weekend.  And, I may just sneak over to the garden supplies and pick out some flowers for the flower beds.  They are pretty neglected this spring as the porch has demanded my attention.

Oh, the plus side, I have numerous starts of Clematis which I removed from the roof to give my friends and van buddies.

I can’t wait to share the pictures of this little task with you all, but want to wait until it is almost finished.  It is embarrassing as to how bad it looked.

I had planned to put on asphalt shingles to match the house roof, but for the last couple of days, I was thinking how nice a metal roof would look and sound.  Love to hear the rain on a metal roof, takes me back to my childhood.  What do you think?  I have roofed with asphalt shingles before, but have never tried to instal metal roofing.  Well that is where the internet is a wonder, I will just Google it.  May have to get some assistance on that, as I am a might too old to be getting on a roof.  Oh, and I haven’t shared this idea with Lynn yet.  Don’t know what he will think of that.

This project, and all my other projects are do-it-yourself, because my budget will not let me do otherwise.  I think we are all feeling the pinch a little with the high price of fuel.  Most of our expendable income is spent on getting back and forth to work.  Hey, but that gripping is for another blog.  If you have dreams and you want to make those dreams happen, you just need to roll up your sleeves and get to work.  I am fortunate enough to be in relatively good health with lots of energy.

I will try to post an update tomorrow, after I finish my sock fairy duties.

Ann, the porch demo queen 🙂

Happy Mother’s Day

This weekend didn’t go as planned.  Thought I would have more done on the porch, but with a little distraction this week it didn’t pan out.

Spending my time working 40 hours a week, I just seem to be out of steam when I get home.  The last thing I want to do is go out in the heat and finish the porch.  That being said, it is always on my mind, and will get done as soon as I get the energy.

This week I ended up in the emergency room with Lynn.  At first they thought it was heart trouble, but thank goodness that wasn’t the case.  He had muscled our cement mixer out of the home it has been sitting in for the last 5 years or so, and pulled something in his left arm and got tendinitis.  If you have ever had tendinitis, you know how painful that can me.  So he wasn’t getting around very good and needed my assistance.  But when it comes right down to it, I’m just feeling lazy and after all, it is Mother’s day.  🙂

The weekend wasn’t a total waste, I walked a 10k at the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede yesterday.  Not bad for a 61 year young cantankerous old gal.  I got lost on the path and since I was last and so far behind, I didn’t have anyone to follow.  What a hoot.  Excuses, excuses!!  Though my time was 1 hour and 47 minutes.  Not too good, and it was darn hot.  So I cooled down in the air conditioned car, then decided to go home and take a nap.  I don’t think that was the way it was supposed to go.  It was a challenge for me, but I should have been in better shape.  I came, I concurred, and I went home…..

Back to the porch….  I did go out and look at it today, then came back in and said “It’s Mother’s Day and I’m going to sit on my butt and write this blog.”  In the famous words of Ms. Scarlet O’Hara, “I’m not going to think about that today, I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

Happy Mother’s Day everyone, and I’ll see you next weekend.  I promise 🙂

Annie, a lazy mother/grandmother

The Demo Diva is going strong

Good Afternoon,

Okay, I have stopped ripping things apart on the back porch, at least for this weekend.  Status update.  I have been removing the sod roof on my back porch and have discovered that it has two layers of wood shakes, and 3 layers of asphalt shingles and at least 3 inches of sod with a clematis vine intertwined.  It is at least 8 feet deep and I have about 2 more feet to go before I have all the stuff off the roof.  Then it is time for the skill saw operator (my husband) to cut the 2×4 rafters down.  I am amazed that they held all that weight.  But they were real 2×4’s from about at least 70’s years ago.  Been leaking for the past 12 years that we have lived here.  This house was what you would call a fixer-upper.  This is one of the last projects we need to do to it.  All the other work has been done.  A comfy little place.  Am still excited that in another month or so, I will have a new porch.  Then I will post pictures.

Next week being “Mother’s Day,”  I will be going to the local Home Depot and shopping for cement, 2×6’s for the porches new roof and 2×6’s for the floor.  I have this vision on how I want it to turn out and I have to see if it turns out how I envision it.

The weekend didn’t start out exactly how I wanted it to, but I am on track again.  Had a little bit of a melt down, but a good nights sleep and beautiful weather today, has made all things right with the world.  I do believe this is the dirtiest job I have ever done.  Had my hazmat polyester hideous outfit on with a hat, scarf around my nose and mouth and pink goggles, a pry bar, hammer, and pruning shears and I set out to tackle the job.  Almost done with the demo, then we will see what the eaves of the house looks like.  Critters have been getting in there so I know it’s not going to be pretty.  Again, I will take pictures to post later.

Now that I have showered, and in my jammy’s, I have to tackle the “sock fairy’s duties” and do a little reading to help me chill out.  I do have a quilt that I am working on in my spare time.  Then it is back to work tomorrow.  You know, the one I get paid for.  I guess you would say I am the “Weekend Porch Warrior.”

Take care and I will update next weekend.

Annie, the Demo Queen