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.
After a few weeks doing other stuff, I am finally back on the porch. Time is running out before we start getting the fall rain, so we have to get it done. Lynn hates working on it, so it is like pulling hen’s teeth to get him to work on it. He says I am working him to death. I have resorted to bribery. He would do most anything for waffles. Not to be mislead, he has some real health issues, and if all things work out he will be having a pace-maker inserted in in early October. I hope that makes him feel much better.
Yesterday, we did our grocery shopping. Creatures of habit, plus the dog and cats needed food. When we got back home, I did some painting and repairing and putting up tin to repair some of the fascia and made it critter proof. Didn’t work on it too hard.
Sunday, I got up with a plan. I was going to get some of the crown molding up and calked and more painting. Wow, did it turn out good, even if I do have to say so myself. It’s wonderful when you are able to see the vision in your head actually coming out the way you envisioned it. Also, lets talk about caulking. It’s a painter’s best friend and can cover up a multitude of mistakes. The crown molding went up just how I planned. Whew, I’m glad it did because I didn’t have a backup plan.
We were able to get 3 roof rafters up (that’s where the bribery came in). We are putting them up with blocking instead of joist hangers. Then we will have to do blocking along the end of the rafters too. The boards are twisting. We got kiln dried, but they still twisted. Very frustrating. It will take clamping and muscles to get them where we want them.
I need Lynn’s help with the nailing because, the darn nail gun weighs a ton. I wish Bostitch or Porter Cable or Makita would make a nail gun with the power of the big ones, but that a woman could handle. It is all I can do to take it off and on the porch. It’s awkward and heavy. Oh, did I mention, I am the tool packer, I pack to the porch and then pack it back into the house when we are done for the day. I see that as my contribution and my aerobic workout. Tonight I added moving about 30 2x6x8’s and 2x6x10’s from the side yard to the back yard. On my feet for 8 hours straight and I am tuckered out.
Doing this porch has been a challenge from the beginning, but so rewarding to see the fruits of my labors. I have to keep reminding myself why I am doing this project… and that is the porch was going to fall in on our heads. Maybe it will last for another 100 years.
Now for the pictures.
Annie, the weekend warrior back at it.
The crown molding’s looking goodA problem corner, had to do some creative patch work.Crown molding from the distanceThe building inspector, aka Kinzie.Tools of the tradeFirst Porch rafters.1 – 2 – 3 roof rafters. More next week
Well, I have the next 7 days off and I’m hoping to get some progress on the porch. Though the temperatures will be in the upper 90’s, it is at least a dry heat and we can somewhat work in the shade. Went to Home Depot yesterday and picked up more lumber and paint, plus ordered the crown molding that goes on the fascia.
Today I was excited about cleaning the house exterior which will actually be covered up. Then preparing the eaves by washing, scrapping and painting. Didn’t get too far in it when I was moving the ladder with the hammer still on the top. You guessed it!! The klutz that I am, the hammer fell on my head. Couldn’t believe I did that. I said some pretty awful swear words and got a gash of about 1 inch with lots of blood. Maybe the elderly shouldn’t be allowed to have sharp heavy implements. Or should be monitored closely. Remember a couple of weeks ago when Lynn accidentally hit me in the head with the 4 foot pipe clamp? Well, I had just gotten over that. Now this. Ugh, I think I will be getting a head ache from this one. I’m just glad it was my little hammer verses Lynn’s framing hammer.
You know when you are working on a 100+ year old house, you are going to find some remuddling. Well we didn’t escape that. Where the fascia boards and crown molding will go, the carpentry was cobbled up. it appears that maybe they couldn’t do it right from being on the roof so there is about a 2 inch difference in the opening from one end of the porch to the other. It is something we will have to just do some adapting because to do it the way it should be done would require reworking the whole roof on the house. That isn’t happening. The part that will needs to be modified is not structural. Somewhere along the line, someone put a pony wall in and laid the roof rafters on that which is well done. It was cobbling the extension of about 6 inches to accommodate the crown molding that is done incorrectly. The underneath fascia is straight and level, so that will stay. When you find something level on an old house you want to leave it alone. So I did get more old rotten trim boards off and a couple more will be coming down. So I washed then primed the fascia board with Kilz Premium Primer, (the best primer) and put one coat of paint which is a sage green/grey. I Like earth tones. I hope it will all come together in the end.
While I was doing the cleaning, scraping and painting on the eaves, Lynn was replacing the floor in our horse trailer. That needs to be repaired before we go on our trip in August to pick-up on 4 month old colt. We are naming him Cheyenne. I will post a picture of him when he was just a few weeks old. What a beauty he is. It has sparked some new life in Lynn. Something to look forward to.
Speaking of Lynn, we will be celebrating our 25th Anniversary on Tuesday. With all our projects and working on building our dream home and all the other projects in between, I am surprised we haven’t throttled each other. Those 25 years went really fast as I look back on it. We lost both our mothers, survived a major flood in 1996, back surgery in 2004, heart surgery for a stint in 2008 and numerous other life events. But the fact that it appears to have gone by quickly says that it was a happy 25 years.
More in a couple of days.
Annie, the klutzy carpenter.
1975 horse trailerLynn’s photo-opFascia problemsThe other end of the fascia
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 25th 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 postsSlats being primedPosts are doneSlats are doneSad looking trimMissing trimAbove the porch.
I guess better late than never, the footings are in for two posts. Four posts have their first coat of Kilz Primer. So the weekend hasn’t been a total failure.
Had a humdinger of a headache when I woke this morning, but a couple Excedrin and a few hours more of sleep and I am a new person.
The progress on the porch renovation didn’t go as fast as I anticipated this past weekend. But we are playing catch-up. I took Saturday off from construction as on Friday and Saturday I participated in the Relay for Life, Cancer relay. This was my first time participating in this worthwhile event. Cancer has been a killer for many of my family members and friends. Through research more people are living longer and beating this dreaded disease. My Aunt being one of those. She has lived the past 5 years, that she wouldn’t have had just 10 years ago. Her cancer has begun to grow again, so she is undergoing Chemo again. All I can do is pray and feel like I am helping through doing the Relay for Life. If you get the opportunity, participate in this event near your home. They make birthdays.
Back to the back porch. Hauled old decking out to the burn pile and did some clean-up and dug the footings. Then it started raining on Sunday and that was the end of that. Couldn’t pour concrete during the rain.
So this afternoon, my hubby and I mixed up some concrete and I managed to prime 4 of the posts that will be holding the roof of the porch up. I will be painting them white and will have white railings on a redwood deck. Through experience with doing a lot of painting on my “Dream Home”, I have found that you need to use a good primer or it just will not hold up in our climate. Though our weather is not as wet as the west side of the state, we do get a lot of wind in our area and any wood surfaces that are facing south have a hard time holding paint. Our porch is on the north side of the house so it won’t get that wind, but when you find a good primer, you stick with it. We now always buy Kilz Premium Primer because that is the most durable. Just touting the Kilz as maybe you can learn from my experiences. By the weekend I will be able to put 2 coats of paint on them.
Got a little side-tracked when I went into the dream house and saw the post from the front porch (of the dream house) which had 3 sides glued together (last fall) and needed the 4th side glued on. So I took a little detour and worked on the Dream House post. Wasn’t going to work on that until I finished the back porch. Actually, now that I think of it, the back porch IS the detour.
Again, back to the back porch. The posts going under the deck will be pressure-treated and hidden so they will not be painted. I am really excited about the progress, even if it is slow. I can’t wait to take the pictures of the finished porch. But in the meantime, here are a few photos from this weekend.
I had my last ride in the lift this morning. I managed to paint a small section of the shop along the side. I would have liked to have gotten more done, but it started to get a little windy and I was just plumb tuckered out anyway.
Took some photos of the house which still has a lot of work to be done. Will work on the outside next spring and summer. Nothing has been done to the inside. It just has framed interior walls. The steps in the entryway going up to the second floor has been done but rough risers and treads are there until we get the walls sheet rocked. Don’t want to ruin new oak stairs. Lynn built those about 2004 around the time he had back surgery. He built them so strong, they will be standing long after the house drops around them. It will be a grand entry when it is done.
We did not get the last stained glass window in. It will have to wait for next spring/summer when we rent the lift again.
Brought all the left-over cans of paint inside so they won’t freeze. Cleaned the lift up so there won’t be a clean-up charge. Sun Rental will come and get it tomorrow.
Each year I make a calendar for the family and this year the theme is ‘The Year of the House.’ I put photos of what we did this year in there to share with the kids and my Aunt Betty in Michigan. She likes to see it pictures of this area and the house. Walgreens had a sale Buy one and get two free. Which only applied to the first 3 but I ordered 8 of them. I couldn’t believe it but they were ready to pick up today. I just put the order in last night! I am amazed at today’s technology.
It has been wonderful sharing our trials and tribulations during these last few months. As this has been a 17 year journey so far, I have lots of reflections that I will post a few time a week. This coming week I am going out of town combining work with pleasure. Going to a seminar, but staying with my Son and Grandkids in the Seattle area for just a couple of nights. Which means it will be a very busy week. Without further a-do, here are the latest pictures.
Annie, the tuckered-out novice carpenter
The Dream is getting closer.
A view from the sidewalk 10-14-12
Still need to paint the upper gable of the shop. I painted a little of this, this morning, but not photo yet. Our horse, April, just enjoying the cooler temperatures.
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
Last full day of vacation. Lynn and I worked until about 3:30 for Lynn and I put in another hour.
Lynn spent about 4 hours in the lift painstakingly cutting and fitting all the acorn cedar shakes one at a time. I think we are going to run out before we get this one side done. Lynn thought that he would finish that side today but didn’t happen. Ran out of energy before he could finish. I’m sure he will be up there tomorrow while I’m at work.
The last thing we did was remove another post and put the finished one in its place. Oh, it sure is an improvement. Now post #3 is sitting on my back deck waiting for me to take it apart and start working on it.
In the meantime, I have to paint some more cedar shakes. We have 42 cut and ready to paint. I put the primer on the edge then on the top surface. Tomorrow I will add the red which has to be two coats then two coats of the sage green. Looks like I will only have about an hour of work after I get home each day this week. I guess it will be Lynn’s night to cook tomorrow.
I have been taking pictures each step of the way. Every year I take photos that I have taken during the year and make a calendar to send to the kids. This year’s calendar will the be “The Year of the Dream Home.” I am thrilled that we have got done as much as we have. We waited rather late in the year to get out there and get started. We had a wet spring, and I thought we were going to hire some work done as Lynn just wasn’t feeling very well. But in the end, I just made an executive decision. Oh, Lynn hates those. Decided that I had waited long enough, and I went and rented the lift. He thought we should have fixed the “bucket truck.” Oh that is a whole other story. I’ll fill you in on that in another reflection post. Anyway, he thought it would just cost too much. Well, it did cost a lot, but it has been worth every penny. For one thing it has forced he and I both to focus on getting as much as we can get done while we have it. Also, he is doing the work which is always a good thing, because he is a real craftsman and does a wonderful job.
I probably will not be doing too much on my blog until next weekend as I have to go to my real job and earn money so I can pay my bill collectors. Ho hum. Now for the photos.
Annie, back to the real world for the working girl
Today was getting all the work done on the ground. Went to Walla Walla to pick up groceries and more supplies. Took my list and got everything on the list, even the Blizzard, yum. I couldn’t believe the bill. The cedar shakes were outrageous at $45 a bundle. We bought 2 bundles. Finish nails for the nail gun. We had been unable to find them until today. More primer and of course a new putty knife. I am a happy girl 🙂
Got home at noon and unloaded the car. Lynn was so tired, but he went out and cut the shingles so I could get them painted so he would have them for tomorrow. We ran out of the first course which are just straight. The others have to be cut in the decorative acorn pattern on the scroll saw. I have a bunch of those, but not sure if we have enough. We will know pretty soon.
I have included pictures from the bundle stage to the finish stage. I also included my I-pod which has my audio books loaded on it. There is nothing I like more than reading from my Kindle or listening to my audio books. I would much rather listen to a good book than music, though I like music too. I am now listening to the third book in the King of Thrones series. Interesting, but my favorite series is the Outlander series. Waiting patiently for her 9th book, I think. Due out next year.
This is going to be a short update as I need to go back out and put a final coat of green paint so they will be ready to put up tomorrow.
Well Lynn and I were moving a wee bit slow this morning. Dilly dallied around and didn’t make it out there until about 9:00. Lynn was exhausted when he work up, but went out anyway and started putting up some of the trim. Before you know it the siren goes off signaling lunch time. Oh, for those that don’t live in a small town with a volunteer fire department, maybe an air-raid siren going off, would give you pause. Well, this little burg has a fire siren that goes off every day at noon. The siren also goes off at other times summoning the volunteer fire department for fires or accidents. It is really comforting to know that the volunteer fire department is on hand for these emergencies. It is truly giving yourself to your community and your way of life. God Bless all our volunteer firefighters and EMT. Can’t say enough good about them all.
My job today was to tape and paint the colors on the post. That was slow and tedious and tomorrow we will put it up and take another one down.
Lynn went back up in the lift after lunch, which I know took all he had, but he wants to make some progress before we take the lift back. He started adding the shake shingles. First he puts up the straight pieces then overlaps the cut pieces. Unfortunately, we ran short on the straight pieces so that hampered our best intentions. Off to Home Depot or Pro Build tomorrow to see if we can get another bundle or two. Then Lynn will cut them to the right width and I will prime with Kilz Premium Exterior Primer, of course. You would think I got paid for plugging their product, but that is not the case, I just want others to learn from my mistakes. Then two coats of Sage Green Behr Acrylic Exterior Semi-Gloss paint. A little detail you don’t see looking straight on, is that each one of the shakes has a red detail on the acorn cut-out that can be seen from the ground. (On the thick bottom of the shake). So it will probably be Sunday before that dormer is finished.
While he was doing that I applied several coats of the decorative paint to the post and primed and caulked more on the porch side of the house. The kitchen side to be more specific. It looks awful, but that will change in the next week or so.
Tomorrow is a shopping day, so Lynn probably will not be working on the house. Have to make my list. Another gallon of primer; cedar shakes; 2″ blue painters tape; a couple more brushes; a new 2″ putty knife; and a Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzard. Now, how did that get in there?
We have been doing the diet thing, but I promise myself a Blizzard once a month. Gotta have something to look forward too.
A couple of photos of our progress. Just 2 more weeks of the lift. Will we meet our goal? Stay tuned.
Annie, the Palm Sanding Wizzard.
The shakes are going up
Unpainted shakes on the garage. Put up about 10 years ago.
15yearsandcountingdream 