This past week saw the tackling and finishing of a lot of small jobs. Each seemed to take longer than expected!
House Updates
Projects for this week included replacing the the damaged (and cheap) combination storm and screen windows located in the front parlor.
The window was missing the screen and the sliding glass panel was no longer staying in the damaged channel. Since we now have central air, a screen window in that location was no longer a priority so I decided to replace it with one of the standard storm windows I had found when cleaning out the basement.
I re-glazed the glass and Pam put a coat of fresh paint on the frame. However, the old window gave me a fight when it was time to make the swap.
The combination window had been glued in place. It was a real chore to get all the parts of it removed. In addition, working from the outside revealed a problem with the deck: more rotten boards.
I had not thought to check the far west end of the porch deck for rot; everything looked OK. However, when I stepped on the boards under the window, my foot almost went through the floor. This led to another repair project, replacing the boards on that end of the deck.
A visit to the local Mennonite hardware store scored some old-fashioned clips to fasten the old storm to the window frame. In the end, a project that should have taken a couple hours turned into a day-long job but I did get both the deck repaired and the window installed.
Sure hope this window does a better job of sealing out cold air this winter. The front parlor was a bit drafty last year.
Another “house job” was re-working the back deck. As I had mentioned before, I had planned to re-use some wood removed during the front porch repair to cover the back deck boards. The goal was to have all three decks sport the same decking.
At the same time, the back steps had always felt a little “squishy” when stepped on. I decided to add two more risers below the steps to fix this problem. This led to a removal of most of the step structure, adding the two risers, and reassembling the steps.
The risers were cut by the local lumber yard to the dimensions of the original risers. Sort of. The local lumber yard is right in town, and they didn’t believe the riser build measurements I initially gave them. One of the guys came out to the house and checked my numbers. I was accurate, but the steps are two inches farther apart than most. (No wonder it feels like such a stretch for the dogs and us to climb them.) I had to do some final tweaking to get everything to match, but now the steps feel solid when stepped on, a noticeable improvement.
Pam painted the face boards before I re-installed them. While more painting is needed — and will be done when we start painting the house — this step eliminated the need to paint while bending over to get at these boards.
Yard
We did quite a bit of yard work this week. The hosta plants located on the south side of the house were dug up, separated, and replanted around the dog run fence and near the garden area. This was a continuation of a project started last week.
There are a few new flowers blooming in the yard. Two varieties of morning glories, Heavenly Blue and Grandpa Ott, both just started to bloom. The giant sunflowers are starting to show their yellow heads.
The sunflowers are around 10 – 12 feet tall. We are surprised they don’t bend and break in the wind, but they seem to do just fine!
Garage Addition
We are still waiting for the main garage door to arrive. This week saw the installation of the “pass through” door that provides internal access between the old and new sections of the garage.
I have used these doors several times this past week. I am pleased they are in place.
I did some other repair work on the garage. The original had 6 small lights installed in the front and rear soffits and they had never worked. Turns out all 6 bulbs were burned out!
I installed LED versions of the bulbs, shown below, and these throw a good amount of light around the front and back of the garage. I don’t know if we will use these much in the summer, but they might come in useful in the early dark of winter.
I purchased the first of three 4-foot work lights for the garage addition. The fixture contains LED lights which produce a very white and evenly distributed illumination. Right now the light is hung from the ceiling and connected to an extension cord but it has already proven to be a welcome addition.
A couple of shelves have been put up. This will be an on-going process but it is good get started and be able to, once again, sort and have access to my stuff. Installation of the pass-though doors meant I had to take a bunch of shelving on that wall down. All the “stuff” had been piled up on my workbench making it inconvenient to find items as I needed them.
It seems like all of the jobs take longer than expected. For example, I had to run out to the hardware store to get the clips to hold the storm window in place when working on that project. About 3/4 of the way through the back step and deck rebuild I ran low on deck screws and had to make a 50 mile round trip to resupply as the local hardware stores close early on Saturdays. A trip to the closest Walmart, where I picked up the lights and did some other shopping, is close to 70 miles plus time in the store. It all adds up!
Photo Archive
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents
At last, the morning glories (the blue ones, not the purple ones) bloomed. I am particularly fond of the Heavenly Blue variety. I wrote a poem about morning glories for a college class once, long ago, and submitted it for [successful] publication in a garden calendar.
It’s time to identify fall bulbs and perennials for planting @ 702 Main. Some time this week was spent thoroughly reviewing incoming garden catalogs. The south side of the house, the previous spot of the relocated hostas, now needs different plant material.
Per usual, actually working in the yard for a season suggests different plants and locations than initially thought. (Just as living with a house suggests uses for the rooms not originally obvious.)
Happy Trails.