Labor Day Progress on the Porch

Looked forward to making some progress on this 3 day weekend.   I am happy to say that we did make some noticeable progress.  Still a little bit more before we can start sheeting the roof and put the shingles on.  Sprinkling when we stopped working.  Looks like it might rain on Wednesday, but we will not get to the roofing part until a week or two.  Need to set up the scaffolding to be able to have easier access to the roof.  Neither of us bounce anymore and doing it from a ladder, isn’t going to do it.

Saturday I did a little bit of painting to areas I knew I wouldn’t be able to reach when the roof starts going up.

Sunday, Lynn put up the roof rafters and I began putting on the clips.  There were two rafters that had a twist in them so they are not battened down just yet, but when the scaffolding is put up we can tackle that job.  It was hard on Lynn, but he managed to do them with a lot of resting in between.  I am so proud of him.  I know he doesn’t feel good, but he will not let me hire it done.  He doesn’t want to hire anyone to do what he feels he can do.

Today, I spent the morning putting up the ceiling joists while Lynn used the nail gun on them.  We stopped around1:30 as we were both tuckered out.  This is all that will get done this weekend.

Tomorrow, Lynn has a consultation with the doctor that will be placing his pace maker.  I hope all goes well at that meeting as they have been unable to regulate his heartbeat with medication.    His heartbeat is always racing 110 to 140+ beats per minute, and that is the resting heart rate.  No wonder he feels exhausted all the time.  This has been happening over an extended period of time, so he hasn’t felt well in a long long time.

Things left to do are, sheeting and roofing, building the balusters, and making gates or doors.  Then a little more painting.  After that I need to finish taking off and replacing the crown molding and fascia on the side of the house, that needs to be done before winter.  Then I will be moving inside for the winter.  I can work outside in the heat, but I hate the cold.

Now for the pictures.

Annie, palm-nailing queen.

Ready to put the scaffolding up

A little detail of the roof rafters and ceiling joists

Kinzie waiting on the roof to her dog house, eh, I mean our porch

Side view. Not to bad for a novice carpenter.

A short Saturday post

Saturdays we don’t usually get very much accomplished on the porch.  But today I was pleasantly surprised as Lynn felt up to cutting a few boards.  I intended on getting some painting done, but decided to put on some of the joist hangers for the ceiling joists of the porch.  A little painting came later.

All the boards for the roof rafters and the spacers are cut and ready to be nailed up tomorrow.  While Lynn was doing that, I began to put the ceiling joists hangers on a 2×6, actually 2 2×6’s so far.  I knew I could do this with my handy dandy palm nailer, so that was my designated job.  With Lynn’s suggestion, it was a lot easier than how I was thinking of doing it.  That’s why I keep him around, for his wonderful, intelligent, winning disposition.  🙂  Well the first two for sure.

He said I should put the hangers on before we nailed the 2×6’s up on the wall.  Good idea, I can do that.  So I made sure I had the end hanger in the right place then centered the rest 16 inches apart.  Worked wonderfully.  Then we put up a chalk line and put up the first two board.  There is about 3 feet more to put up, but we have to do a little revising on that first.

After that, Lynn was done in, but I had a little more energy, so I decided to caulk some holes and put some primer on the eves and down one side to make ready for the two coats of green.  By that time, I was done for today.  Tomorrow the plan is to put up all the roof rafters and possibly some of the ceiling joist, plus put on the two coats of paint before I don’t have access to that area.  We would like to get up the sheeting on, but that is just too much to hope for.

So stay tuned for tomorrow’s update.

Annie, the happy weekend warrior.

Coming along. See all the roof rafters stacked on the deck? They will be on top tomorrow.

A little bright white primer on the corner, and it appears I will be painting some of the house this year. Ugh.

Vacation, Anniversary and a little porch work

Took a much needed vacation from work to celebrate our 25th Anniversary and to work on the porch and maybe a little rest.  The weather has been in the 98-100 degree range so that has hampered some of the work on the porch.  I love it, but  Lynn, not so much.  The mere mention of the heat and he is hunting for a cool corner, man cave, with a TV.

What we have done since the last blog post, isn’t much to write about.  We went shopping and got more lumber.  2x6x8 and 2x6x10 for our roof rafters and ceiling joists.  More of those doohickeys that go on top of the posts and joist hangers, and ordered some crown molding that will be used on the trim on the house.  Not able to match the existing trim so we will just have to make due.  Picked out a sagey greenish grey for the trim.  Home Depot called today and said it will not be until Monday, so I won’t get to paint and instal it until a week from Sunday.  Ugh, I hate waiting.

What I did manage to do was put up a trim 2×4 and clean and prime and paint the fascia board underneath.  We also got some aluminum to put under the drip edge to further sheet the water from going down on the crown molding.  The actual trim board around the house is not a good design to keep the water from rotting it.  Living in a very dry climate most of the time tends to help it last longer.  So the aluminum will not be all that great to look at, but it will function better and besides, you really aren’t going to be able to see it that well, and it is only going over the back porch roof.

One of our main goals is to make it functional, nice to look at and keep the critters out.  At one point a few years ago, we had a family of squirrels living in our attic not to mention a very large (vacant) bees hive.  So what we intend to accomplish in the time remaining before the rain and winter weather comes, is to get the roof on and the molding replaced at least on the east side where we get lots of weather.  And call it good.

Lynn is actually incapacitated with his back, so we are basically at a dead stop at this time.  As much as I know about what to do, I don’t have the muscle to do it alone.  I did get some of the hardware on the posts, but we discovered that we actually need to cut a foot off of the posts to make the ceiling  and roof rafters where we want them.  It will still make for a shallow roof incline, but it will shed water and snow.  Also, it needs to be high enough for a ceiling fan, that we plan to put on the porch for ourselves and for Kinzie (our collie) to bask under.  The only thing I can promise is, it will get done before fall.

In the meantime, I get to kick back and read.  I most favorite thing to do.

Annie, the lazy-on-vacation carpenter 🙂

A little of the trim board.

Getting ready for the crown molding

Some post hardware goes on

Got some tools of the trade.

Prep Work Behind the Scenes

This weekend saw a little progress.  You know unless I am seeing a lot of physical progress, I refer to it as “a little.”  Yesterday after grocery shopping and having lunch, I went outside and screwed down the remaining decking.  Of course it took a couple of hours.  Slow but sure.  As I get older, it takes longer to get things done.

Today, I painted the 7 posts that I have for the porch.  They are 4X6 posts that will be used for the upright posts and the headers that the ceiling joists will be sitting on.  I know, confusing right?  At least it is for me, so I have to think about it and roll it around in my mind.  I see it kinda like a puzzle and all the pieces have to be put together in the proper order and, you just can’t rush it.  I am learning patients, everyday.

On another front when I was cooling off after lunch, I was cruising the internet in search of fascia moldings.  We have to replace the 5 inch molding along the roof line.  It has held up for 100 years and is finally looking tattered and torn.  In other words awful really really awful!!  We need to replace about 60 to 70 feet of it.  Of course I am not finding the exact pattern.   I think we will probably have to substitute something similar.  We cannot afford to have someone duplicate it exactly.  Even the ones that they have in the DIY centers are expensive.  It’s on the weather side of the house, so I would rather have pvc or urethane as it would hold up in the weather.  On the weather sides, we have a hard time keeping paint on wood.  I am open to any suggestions or if you are aware of a company that is affordable, I am all ears.

I am attaching photos of which I am truly embarrassed to be showing, that we have let it get this bad.  But the inside of this home had been the focus, then the front porch, now the back porch.  In between times we are working on the dream house.  I hope I at least get most of those projects finished by the time I retire.  That gives me about 4 years.

Back to painting.  I began painting some of the slats that will be on the railings on the back porch.  I finished 27 of them.  As with all my painting now, I begin with Kilz Premium Primer.  It is the best I have ever used.  It is exceptional in adhering to the raw wood and makes a great foundation for paint.  It also has to wear off my hands.  I tried many primers over the years and finally saw this primer in Fine Home Building Magazine.  If you ever need really good information, that is the magazine to buy.  We have found lots of good information in there.

I follow the primer with Behr Paint Semi Gloss from Home Depot .  We have so much dust here that the Semi Gloss sheds the dust easiest.  It has shown to be a good paint and holds up well.  I don’t get the paint with the primer in it as that is unnecessary when using the Kilz Premium Primer.  We shop at Home Depot as it is the only DIY center close to us.

Next weekend begins my vacation.  I am going to take a week off to work on the porch and celebrate our 25^th Anniversary.  25 years of DIY, I am surprised we have made it this long, working together on these project we tend to have some short tempers.  My husband is dreading it, because he said I am trying to work him to death.  He dreads the weekends and says he feels guilty if he isn’t out there working alongside of me.  That bothers me because I don’t want him to feel that way.  I know that he does as much as he can, I just wish we could afford to pay someone to get this done, but until I win the lottery, I guess this is as good as it get.  I think you have to play the lottery to win, hmmm, I guess we won’t be winning the lottery any time soon.  Hopefully, we will include a few fun things, like going to breakfast at the Maple Counter and lunch or dinner at a good restaurant.  Can’t be all work and not play.

Well it is back to work tomorrow (the paying job) for another week, then some much needed vacation time.

Until next weekend, stay out of the heat, and I’ll see you later.

Annie, the happy porch lady 🙂

Final coats on the posts

Slats being primed

Posts are done

Slats are done

Sad looking trim

Missing trim

Above the porch.

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.

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

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

One more weekend left with the lift

Ever have one of those days? Yeah, one of those days, when you shouldn’t touch anything electronic or anything that can in any way hurt you. Ugh. I took Saturday off and rested a little and thought I would get lots done today. Well, I don’t usually get all that I envision done, but today was pretty pitiful.

I did finish painting the 42 shakes that we had cut. So I can draw a line through that on my list.  It will at least finish the one dormer. Through the winter we should get the others cut and I can start painting in the spring.   Only about 200 more.

Now for post #3. You would think after I had done two of these it would get easier. Didn’t happen. This one was a son-of-a-gun. I thought I was being really careful, but I managed to really bungle this one up. Not a total loss as I can fix it, but still not easy. The bad part is, in prying it apart I dropped the one side (the heavy side) right on my baby toe. It is broke. I don’t need a Dr. to tell me that, but there just isn’t anything that you can do, but try not to aggravate it. Needless to say it slowed me down a little.

Lynn was snapping and snarling the whole day too.  Got to love it, can’t wait until I retire and we get to enjoy each others’ company 24/7.  He did manage to get up in the lift and put some of the metal around the fascia.  We are using metal as the wood will not hold a paint finish of any kind on the front which is the weather side.    Getting ready to add more siding or work on the other dormer.  Next weekend we will try to put the other stain glass window up.  Anyway that is the plan.

I am back to work now and won’t be able to keep dogging Lynn, but hopefully he will try to get some more done before we take the lift back a week from Monday.  So next weekend with be a busy one.  Then it will be clean-up time and take all the paint and glues and all things that can’t freeze into our storage closet, so they can make it through our cold winters.

The plans for next spring are to get started earlier and maybe rent the lift for a couple of months.  The bad part about spring is we tend to get more rain and the weather isn’t quite as predictable.  We haven’t had any measurable rain for about 3 months now.  But it feels like it may be a cold winter.

I did take a few pictures and hope to have a picture of the completed dormer next weekend.  With all my grumbling today, I really love working on this dream house and can’t wait to see it completed so I can get started on a potting shed, maybe a chicken coop, paint and clean up the horse paddocks and on and on and on……

Boy my little pinky hurts and it is turning black and blue.  Looks like I will be wearing flip-flops a few more weeks.

Annie, the clumsy novice carpenter.

House wrapped before the porch was put on

House with the porch added this was the end of 2011

10-7 progress

1st finished post

Working on the posts on the front porch

Just a little more and the dormer is finished