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Home Improvement Update
Sep. 8th, 2010 03:55 pmThis weekend we tore down all of the wood on the front porch. First, we set up some temporary supports. There was rotten wood between the roof and the railing/"decoration" around the porch on the south side that fell apart easily. We were able to cut off the ends of the railing and move all of it in large chunks to the street (which were snagged within 48 hours). The hollow columns came off very easily. By lunchtime on Saturday, none of the old wood remained. The rest of the day focused on replacing the wood structure below the roof-line on the south side and the two sistered 2x12s that support the front of the porch roof. We wrapped up at dinner time after getting 3 of the 5 4x4's in place for the new columns. The porch structure wasn't done and yet it was vastly more structurally sound than the porch was previously.
On Monday, we finished installing the 4x4s and removed the temporary supports. We then put up soffits and vents along the front of the porch and replaced the fascia board along the roofline. These two tasks were fairly basic, but the slight sagging of the roof complicated our thoughts on how to measure and level the new construction. I was quite surprised that we worked as late into the afternoon as we did.
Had my day ended after cleaning up, it would have been a fantastic day. Alas, as I stood in the doorway between the garage and the kitchen, something stressful happened. Apparently, a board had fallen over enough to get in the way of the garage door. As I watched, the door hit the board and twisted the door. I stopped and opened the door as fast as I could react, but it was two late. The south side of the door was disconnected from the counterbalance cable and the north side of the door lost two of its wheels. I tried to fix the door myself, but tired and having no more patience, I gave up after a half hour to come inside and take a shower. Afterward, I tried a couple of fresh ideas. None of them worked. I resigned myself to trying again in the morning, but got a surprise from my dad. He came right over, swiftly helped me get the wheels back on the track on the north side and the two of us were able to work together to get the counterweight cable reconnected. The stress was over, but it took me several hours into the night to finally relax.
My next steps are as follows:
1. Find a contractor to do the siding. Dad has his hands full renovating the kitchen of his house. Neither of us have been eager about climbing up and down ladders and the roof trying to measure and cut siding so that the horizontal lines of the siding stay straight and to get the angles cut to closely match the pitch of the roof.
2. Gotta prime the soffit and fascia we installed on Monday.
3. Need to replace the "dental" pieces on the fascia in front of the master bedroom.
4. Do the decorative coverings for the 4x4 columns and the railings. We plan on basically doing the railing design shown HERE. I do want to replicate the squares that used to be along the roofline, so we'll do a smaller version of the rail design along the top.
On Monday, we finished installing the 4x4s and removed the temporary supports. We then put up soffits and vents along the front of the porch and replaced the fascia board along the roofline. These two tasks were fairly basic, but the slight sagging of the roof complicated our thoughts on how to measure and level the new construction. I was quite surprised that we worked as late into the afternoon as we did.
Had my day ended after cleaning up, it would have been a fantastic day. Alas, as I stood in the doorway between the garage and the kitchen, something stressful happened. Apparently, a board had fallen over enough to get in the way of the garage door. As I watched, the door hit the board and twisted the door. I stopped and opened the door as fast as I could react, but it was two late. The south side of the door was disconnected from the counterbalance cable and the north side of the door lost two of its wheels. I tried to fix the door myself, but tired and having no more patience, I gave up after a half hour to come inside and take a shower. Afterward, I tried a couple of fresh ideas. None of them worked. I resigned myself to trying again in the morning, but got a surprise from my dad. He came right over, swiftly helped me get the wheels back on the track on the north side and the two of us were able to work together to get the counterweight cable reconnected. The stress was over, but it took me several hours into the night to finally relax.
My next steps are as follows:
1. Find a contractor to do the siding. Dad has his hands full renovating the kitchen of his house. Neither of us have been eager about climbing up and down ladders and the roof trying to measure and cut siding so that the horizontal lines of the siding stay straight and to get the angles cut to closely match the pitch of the roof.
2. Gotta prime the soffit and fascia we installed on Monday.
3. Need to replace the "dental" pieces on the fascia in front of the master bedroom.
4. Do the decorative coverings for the 4x4 columns and the railings. We plan on basically doing the railing design shown HERE. I do want to replicate the squares that used to be along the roofline, so we'll do a smaller version of the rail design along the top.
