Tag Archives: projects

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Off it comes.

21 Comments

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Now that the decking has been laid, it was time to strip the vinyl siding.

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This isn’t as easy as it sounds when the people who put it on decades ago used nails as long as your arm.

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Sometimes finesse is required…

Sometimes brute force.

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After the siding was removed?

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The soffit had to come down.

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That was easier, but still awkward.

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It’s amazing how much dirt gets up under there, especially when you live across the street from a farmer who’s always plowing his fields on windy days .

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White on one side, brown on the other.

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Soffit.

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No soffit.

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I have no idea what this is all about.

It’s not mold, just black spray paint.

🥴

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You may think I’m too hard on him… but.

23 Comments

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As you know, my husband takes on a lot of projects around our house.

A lot of projects he probably shouldn’t.

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Yes, he saves us money we’d otherwise spend on contractors… but those savings come at a price.

Workmanship he would never accept from a contractor are commonplace. Like these unevenly matched boards I’m sure to stub a toe on.

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Mitered corners?

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Not his strong suit.

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Gaps?

Yeah, we’ve got those too.

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The composite decking is finished.

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And while this end looks pretty good…

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The other end was a total clusterf*ck.

I gasped when I went out there and saw how far off the edge was… thinking, surely he’s going to fix that.

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But no.

That’s the finished product.

Close on the left, but not nearly close enough on the right.

This is what you get when you don’t hire a professional.

🥴

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So much thinking…

18 Comments

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Work has resumed on the front porch replacement and there’s a whole lotta thinking goin’ on.

( If you read that while humming Jerry Lee Lewis, you’re my people)

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As I mentioned before, my husband is not a contractor. Not a builder by any means.

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He’s never worked with composite decking before… and if you think it’s as simple as laying wooden deck boards you’d be wrong.

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Our old deck had small wooden boards running vertically, from lawn to house. That’s what the frame was set up for. So of course my husband decided to run the new ones horizontally because it means less cutting and measuring.

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And while he added a few more supports, he didn’t make them 16” on center like you’re supposed to. More on this mistake later…

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And since he changed the plan, he now has to picture frame the boards which means mitered corners.

This has never been his strong suit and just one of the reasons why I wanted to wait for a professional to tackle this project.

🥴

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The one where His Lordship examines the progress.

7 Comments

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten is not happy with the constant remodeling noise, but his curiosity gene is strong enough to warrant a quick exploration of the project when my husband takes a break.

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Checking out the missing siding.

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Walking balance beam.

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Attacking a clamp.

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And looking in the window he usually looks out are all on the menu.

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As is using the new pea gravel for a litter box.

Though we probably won’t share that part with my husband.

😉

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Progress?

18 Comments

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I haven’t written a front porch progress report lately because we had a good bit of rain and a few days of serious yard work that stalled construction temporarily.

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But the husband is back at it… deciding that old warped middle frame board he tried so hard to save needed to be replaced after all.

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New boards …

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New braces…

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He’s making his way down the line.

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And started playing with the new composite decking .

I’m calling it progress.

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Work continues… slowly.

22 Comments

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When my husband first started tearing down the old porch he hoped to save some of the original frame.

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Some of the original wood came off easily, some required gentle coercion.

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I’m not quite sure what went on here…

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When my husband is working a project, I find it safer not to ask.

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New framing meets old.

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In jigsaw like pieces apparently.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten has been very curious where all the noise is coming from, so I took him out for a stroll to check the progress.

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Naturally he found the old dryer vent hole and had to investigate.

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When he sets his mind to something…

17 Comments

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As reported the other day, husband still had half a pile of pea gravel left over from his filling project.

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Not wanting it to kill his carefully tended lawn, he planned to distribute it around our culverts the next day.

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So of course, it rained.

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Which didn’t deter my husband.

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Back and forth, from one end of our property to the other.

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Soaking wet..

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He could have waited until it stopped.

He could have…

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The fill is full.

18 Comments

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It seems my husband misjudged how much pea gravel he would need.

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4 yards was ordered and roughly two was used.

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The poor man loaded and dumped and spread for days.

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I honestly don’t know where he gets the energy or how he has the stamina at his age.

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I’m 16 years younger and it wears me out just watching.

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Viola!

Level ground… even though it may not look like it in the photo.

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Of course now there’s the question of what to do with the rest of the fill pile that wasn’t needed.

It’s way over here…

So maybe we’ll worry about that tomorrow.

🥴

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Wheelbarrow brigade.

8 Comments

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My husband had 4 yards of pea gravel delivered. And because he didn’t want to ruin the lawn or the new driveway, it was dropped at the outer reaches of our property.

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Good for the lawn, but bad for his back.

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He built a little ramp.

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And proceeded to haul small loads back and forth…

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All day long.

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Dumping them under the torn off porch…

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To try and level things out.

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It may not look like a long way, but when you’re his age? Trust me, it feels like a mile.

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Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow.

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Dumped and spread.

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It’s hard to tell in the pictures but the difference in land height from right to left is a foot.

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Here, left to right.

And filling in 12 inches of a 30 foot span?

Is more than a one day job.

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