Tag Archives: DIY

Oh no, not again.

October 11, 2020 Rivergirl 26 Comments

I walked into the barn this morning to find my husband working on a template.

And yes, I cringed.

Having finished one side of the strapping on the ceiling and running out of that particular wood, he decided it was time to trim the windows.

And while I applauded the fact he was actually going to corner them properly, I knew it wouldn’t be smooth sailing.

One day.

One entire day to frame two windows … because he added quarter round.

Why did he add quarter round you ask?

Because when he first built this barn to be a… you know, barn? …there were giant gaps around the windows and nothing was air tight. Who was going to complain…. the lawn mowers?

But now that’s it morphed into a palatial man cave, gaps must be sealed.

And live ordinance moved.

Framing on the outside, quarter round on the inside, and extra quarter round on the top corners…. all because he didn’t install the windows correctly the first time.

Jesus wept.

But two windows were framed…

And the giant bullet is back home.

To be continued…. unfortunately.

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I’m ready to cry Uncle.

October 9, 2020 Rivergirl 28 Comments

First it was not at all temporary temporary doors. Then insulation and a ceiling and new light fixtures and floor moulding and quarter round.

Now?

The husband is installing strapping to cover the plywood ceiling seams.

Technically this is finish work. And we all know that is not where his talents lie.

Was the strapping straight?

Not so much.

Of course when I helpfully pointed that out, I got booted from the barn/man cave/Maine Taj Mahal.

When I went back 2 hours later? He informed me the strapping wasn’t right and needed to be redone.

Hmm. Why didn’t I think of that?

Cutting and more cutting.

Cutting around the light fixtures I tried to tell him to center 2 weeks ago.

But all the cutting resulted in straighter lines.

Aggravating? No doubt.

But…

We did have gorgeous fall foliage in the background so I’ll call it a win.

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Another project?

July 24, 2020 Rivergirl 22 Comments

My husband surprised me the other day with new gutters.

Yes…. some women get diamonds, I get downspouts.

But these had been a long time coming and after nearly being bludgeoned by icicles from water running off the garage last winter?

It was time.

I had other things to do that day but husband asked me to help for 30 minutes because he said that’s all it would take.

Silly, silly man.

The first section went up easily.

Too easily as it turns out….

Which the hose test proved.

It leaked.

I was then directed to a different spot, which also leaked.

Vowing to fix it later, the husband moved on, installed 2 more sections and then needed an end cap.

Which I now believe are the work of the devil.

One of these should have fit on the end of that piece to block the water.

Please note my use of the word should.

Adjustments were made.

Then larger adjustments.

Some of them not at all subtle.

But it worked.

Of course we were still left with the leaking problem on the first section. And after much discussion, it was decided the shingles on the non leaking end…

Over hung the roof a fraction of an inch further…

Than the shingles on the leaking end. And there’s not much you can do about that.

My solution?

Caulk it!

But the husband hates caulk so we spent the next 3 hours, yes… 3 hours….. trying to find a solution.

Little pieces of white plastic were cut to sit on the top of the clips and divert the flow.

But it didn’t work.

Long pieces of clear plastic were sought.

And carefully cut into strips to tuck under the flashing.

But still, it leaked.

Numerous ladder safety warnings were ignored during this process.

And still, it leaked.

Late in the afternoon, after spending way too much time on a half hour project….

The husband surrendered.

It’s raining as I write this…. and guess what?

No leaks.

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Project finale.

July 20, 2020 Rivergirl 17 Comments

Railing installation on the last section of deck required measuring.

So much measuring.

I figured 16 balustrades, at 5 1/2 inches apart.

Which the husband started to implement and then chose to ignore.

Why did he change the spacing?

I have no idea.

But he continued on his path.

And shockingly, something was off.

There he is with the little level again.

Silly man, didn’t he learn anything from the baby barn?

When he reached the end? He had too much room to leave it open, but not enough room to evenly space a rail.

So he jammed one in anyway, because at that point he didn’t care.

I did, but managed to swallow my criticism. It was done, and looked a damn sight better than it used to.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I’m pleased with it, as long as I don’t focus on symmetry.

It’s a cleaner, more modern look.

But now I can’t decide if the white lattice panel should stay or go.

Guess that can wait till I restain the deck.

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Slow and steady wins the race.

July 17, 2020 Rivergirl 18 Comments

But it doesn’t get your deck railing project finished any sooner.

We were back at it and it was still hot.

Unfortunately the heat wave coincided with an extended dry spell and our lawn was starting to crunch.

But old railings were torn down.

And rusty nails exposed.

I stained the new wood we had to waste almost 2 hours going to get that morning because someone… I won’t mention who… cut the other pieces incorrectly.

And then that someone (oops, my bad) discovered a sander in the barn and wanted to play.

He was fine on the flat surfaces, but scared me to death when he started trying to sand in between. That thing would hit a beam, jump out of his hand and spin wildly across the deck. It happened a dozen times but I could never quite catch it on film.

In between his legs.

Close to the power cord.

I knew something was gonna give, and it did.

That thing jumped up and sliced his jeans right open. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt, but at that point I said no more sanding!

Which he completely ignored and kept sanding.

After sanding, and almost slicing his leg off?

He hammered nails.

And swept the same portion of deck I had just swept.

Apparently I didn’t do it right.

We did manage to get a few pieces of wood installed before dinner.

With some gentle persuasion.

So this was basically it.

For a whole days work.

Good thing no one is paying us by the hour……

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Covid humor.

June 3, 2020 Rivergirl 11 Comments

Because wouldn’t you rather laugh?

There.

That puts things in perspective.

Yes.

For quite a bit longer by the looks of things.

Don’t you just hate when that happens?

Hell, in Maine…. it already does.

Good rule.

Most definitely.

Grocery stores have become the new I-95. Wrong way dumb asses, rubberneckers, and the road police who do 25 miles under the posted speed limit.

Move aside people….

River needs double fudge brownie mix. And tequila.

A fitting finale.

WTF indeed.

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The project turns a corner…

September 20, 2018 Rivergirl 26 Comments

Alternative title: If we’d known it would be this much work, we never would have started.

A word of advice from a blogger who’s sore, covered in paint and has splinters where one should never have splinters..

Don’t remodel that old rotting garage. Let it fall to pieces on it’s own, bury the refuse and park on the street….. because what started out as “Let’s throw some vinyl siding on that puppy” has turned into “Oh, holy crap… we have to replace that too?”

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We’ve been working all weekend long, every weekend since mid August and never seem to get anywhere. The paper walls didn’t help, but neither did all the rotten studs and trim…. and once you start replacing a little, you have to replace a lot.

So the woodshed has new walls.

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And we turned another corner.

And ripped off more trim…

And cursed the previous homeowner who used rusty railroad spikes instead of nails to Hell and back numerous times.

Then the husband said, “We might as well put a new door in here too.”

(At which point I started cursing him to Hell and back under my breath.)

Have you ever tried putting a brand new door on a 1970’s sloping, non standard, off center, dirt floored storage room? Well, don’t. It’s not nearly as much fun as it sounds.

After two full hours of putting it in… and out… and in again…. I realized the husband is not highly proficient at cutting angles.

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But did I say anything? No. It will be covered in fascia anyway, and he probably heard my eyes rolling from across the yard…. so I’m good.

By Sunday evening we’d replaced walls and studs and trim and a door. We’d put up starter strip, J channel, corner posts, F channel, soffit, fascia, siding and sill trim.

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We were tired and sore.

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Oh, stuff it Morgan.

It may not look perfect, but it looks better. And right now?

Better is just fine with me.

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I have piles.

September 5, 2018 Rivergirl 18 Comments

No, not that kind of piles…. the remodel the garage type piles.

There are piles to go to the dump…

Piles that the neighbor across the street might want.

There are big piles.

And little piles.

And piles that the husband might want to use for something, someday… which really means never.

That’s entirely too many piles!

If we were better acquainted, you’d know how crazy this makes me.

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And if all those piles aren’t enough to make me ~~stab my husband with a fork~~ twitch, there’s this one:

Which interferes with my late afternoon summer reading.

And that… can not be tolerated.

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Because garages need facelifts too.

September 3, 2018 Rivergirl 19 Comments

Work continues on the garage, and the paper walls are still a nightmare.

Seriously, wth?

The fact that it all has to be replaced with plywood means more time and money and work…

And my instruction to the husband to stop napping on the job was not well received.

Go figure.

We turned the corner and I had to say goodbye to my beautiful daisies.

Yeah, that was depressing.

But not as bad as the husband refusing to heed my advice to clean out the wood shed before he removed the panels…

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And having cement blocks fall on his toes.

I tried not to snicker.

Really, I did.

So, the woodshed was left pretty much like this.

And progress was made elsewhere.

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The siding doesn’t exactly match the house, but in this light, it’s pretty close.

And we’re getting there.

One wall at a time.

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I’ll huff and I’ll puff…..

August 27, 2018 Rivergirl 19 Comments

And I’ll blow your paper garage down.

(Alternate title – You have got to be sh*tting me.)

After years of ~~relentless nagging~~ gentle persuasion, I finally talked the husband into replacing the old rotted siding on our garage this weekend.

He started removing it out front, which was fine.

(No plumber’s butt shots. You’re welcome.)

Then he turned the corner…

Started ripping, and found….

Paper. Lots and lots of paper….. but no walls.

Paper walls!

~~Fuckety, fuck, fuck.~~

There was literally nothing behind the old siding but paper.

Who does that?

“Gee honey, wood is expensive. Grab me that spiral notebook and the trashy romance novel you were reading last week.”

Good grief, even the 2 little pigs used sticks and straw.

Needless to say, the husband was not amused at all the extra work this was going to entail.

I tried to make light of it and told him we could have an awesome transom window, but ~~he had a hammer in his hand and a strange look in his eye~~ that didn’t go over well either.

To be continued….

(Face it, this project is going to take a month of Sundays and if I have to live through it? So do you. That’s the beauty of blogging! But if it makes you feel any better, I had a large splinter in my butt from rubbing against a piece of rough cut wood yesterday so …. I still get the worst of it.)