Monthly Archives: July 2012

Day 9? Really, the days are running together…

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I am feeling my years. All 56 of them. I am very young by many standards but my hands feel their age. I am practically snorting Advil. I wake up and think… one more week. Surely I have the energy for one more week. And then I get moving and it's OK – until I stop. I thank the scientists who came up with Advil.

But enough of that – what did we do today? I painted. It went surprisingly fast. The flat Hardie panels are a breeze to paint. I had to slow down on the paneling on the back of the house. The soffits were fast. Honestly, the primer on the siding is similar to the new color so I didn't take a ton of photos. Here's one to show how it's looking:

BrockettBefore-SidePorch-07 copy

Steve and Chris spent a lot of the morning getting the ends of the soffits on the door side of this porch just right.

You must pay attention to where the water goes. If you don't, and if you live in Texas, you get a lot of black mold which was all over this area when we started.

The roofers did the flashing in the photo below. Steve and Chris altered the soffit (below) which required chopping off a chunk of the old garage roof that ran below the newer, flatter roof over the side door. (OK – that is a compound sentence that may not make sense. Except that it does if you know what I'm talking about.)

It was slow work and hard work and this area is so much better now!

RoofFlashing-02

My guys did the next flashing. It will keep the water from running back under the lower soffit.

This sort of project reminds me that this sort of project is often figured out on the fly by (hopefully) skilled workpersons. Part of my job during this renovation is requesting that some things are done a certain way. I don't have the upper body strength of my son or husband. I don't have all of their experience. But I have very definite opinions. It's not my house but I'm speaking for Lorna's concerns. Steve and Chris are not always thrilled with my questions but they do consider them. 

RoofFlashing-01

Steve and Chris then worked on the west side of the garage. Hard work, again. I was impressed at the way they got the pointy front areas covered with siding!

BrockettBefore-GarageWest-04 copy

I left after I took this photo. It was 3:30 and HOT. They worked longer and got a bit more done. But don't they look good?!

SteveAndChris-01 copy

Actually, they look good considering they've been working in hot weather for 8 hours. In a different context they look a like ne'er do wells. Trust me, I was good match for them. We were all scruffy looking. And I went 3 times to Lowe's today and hoped each time I would not run into someone I knew. (It's possible that I smelled, at least like Deep Woods Off.) Boy, a shower at the end of the day is a gift!

Day 8…

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it didn't hit 100 today. Yay! Steve and Chris got the siding and soffits up on the north side of the garage:

BrockettBefore-GarageNorth-04 copy

I washed the mold off of the back wall. A job I was not looking forward to but that wasn't that bad. I also washed and scrubbed the garage doors, but I did not take a photo. Really, you can't tell they are cleaner.

BrockettBefore-BackDeck-05 copy

Steve, and later Chris, took the gutters and soffits off of the back of the house. The French doors will be replaced tomorrow or later in the week.

This bit of old siding is staying put, not being replaced by the Hardie panels. If you look at the left side of the photo above you'll see electrical boxes. We really don't want to touch them. The siding is in good shape. It's staying put.

The roofers were here today, replacing the flat, leaky roof over the side porch. You can't see it but believe me, it's way better. And Chris and Steve got the soffit more than half done over this door:

BrockettAfter-SidePorch-02 copy

Tomorrow I start painting. I had hoped to start today but there you go. I have lots to paint. Maybe the temps will stay below 100. We can all hope…

 


Days 5 and 7…

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Steve had to work at his real job for a good bit on Friday. I painted inside, Christopher worked outside. This is what the north side of the garage used to look like:

BrockettBefore-GarageNorth-01 copy

Chris took off the siding, soffits, and gutter:

BrockettBefore-GarageNorth-03 copy

Taking off the wall led to a serious cleaning out of the garage. I think Chris enjoyed imposing order on his stuff. The pile of debris next to the street is much bigger. I need to take a picture of that tomorrow!

Steve did have time to take the siding off of the front of the garage and he replaced the rotted parts of the studs that hold the roof up.

BrockettBefore-GarageWest-03 copy

BrockettBefore-GarageNorth-02 copy

The garage is open to the breezes for now.

We took the 6th day, Saturday, off. I did some actual quilt-related work. There are now fat quarter bundles up on the site! Click here to see them. I expect to send a newsletter soon. Probably when we are about done with the renovations.

Steve and I worked 3 hours today, Day 7. Steve put up some extra wall studs on the north side of the garage. We put the facing up around the side door. We caulked. I put the finish coat of paint on the wall around the window inside the bedroom. You can see the quilt, The Ground (as seen from above) hanging over the bed.

BrockettBefore-Bedroom-04 copy

The window still needs to be trimmed out. The french doors to the back yard (which you haven't really seen yet) get replaced later this week. The bedroom is mostly done, but not all the way done.

This afternoon Mom and Elanor and I are going to see the local production of Fiddler on the Roof. It'll be a nice break! Tomorrow I begin painting outside and the guys are going to be putting up more siding. I'm hoping that by the end of the week most of the painting will be done as the final siding and soffits go up.