I need to catch up...

We have been on a project frenzy.

Cedar shingling was stopped due to heat and scaffolding dilemma.  So we decided one day to rip the overhang off the kitchen porch.  Demo took three days because of the need to dismantle slowly so that it would not fall on the deck.  Wow what a dirty mess.

Here's the overhang with the fascia board removed.  It basically fell off.

Next we had to figure out how to remove the large 10 X 4 foot sheet of plywood (price was $24.99 whenever it was installed) without all the nasty stuff falling on us or crashing onto the deck and causing damage.

 You can kind of see all the nastiness in this photo.

 

 Need a closer look? Ewwwwwwww

Ahhhhh...plywood removed and everyone survived.

 

 Here we are with the overhang cut off.

 

Once the overhang was removed we needed to inspect and decide how we would rebuild it correctly along with making it look like it was always part of the house.  During our inspection we found some of the original cedar shingle roof.  This was great because that meant they did not cut any rafters but instead just built the overhang on top of it.

We also decided that although the kitchen roof had a rubber roof, because the slope was slight (I do not know the pitch), we would remove the rubber membrane and shingle with asphalt shingles.  We had two roofers tell us the pitch is enough for shingles PLUS it would look a whole lot better.

When we first purchased the house we found new asphalt shingles under bushes, in the barn, in the garage...if you looked hard enough you could find a piece here and there.  We collected them and stored them in the barn.  Now was the time to haul them out and see just how many we had.  I sorted them into three piles...good whole shingles, slightly damaged shingles, and singles that could only be used for the starter course.

Roofers we are not, but we went slow and took our time.  Finally it was time to buy some new bundles.  I did some calculations and determined we needed 7 bundles so we bought 6.  LOL  I always over estimate and knew that we could always buy more. Fast forward.....we ended up with one whole shingle when we were done.

The tear off, rebuild, and roof shingle installation took 2 weeks.  We are now in the process of trimming the doors and getting ready to cedar shingle the kitchen side of the house with new cedar shingles.  The old exterior kitchen door was a wrought iron security door that we removed and installed a vintage oak door with a large beveled glass window.  Yesterday we started installing a vintage wood storm door.  Once this area is complete we will move to trimming out the overhang which will have a bead board soffit.

We had to take off a few days because R had eye surgery to remove a cataract.  They implanted a new lens and he is really happy with the results. Of course the sun glasses they gave him to wear are just so fabulous he may give up wearing his Oakleys. NOT!!!

Not only have we removed the overhang but we poured two porches, rebuilt two thresholds, ripped the vinyl flooring off the basements steps (during a rainstorm when we were forced inside), installed an old wood storm door on the back door, stripped paint off the vintage french doors that I purchased for the master bedroom, started stripping the wood trim in the broom closet in the foyer, and basically stripped paint off from anything that is painted.  Despite doing all these projects we have purchased very little wood and relied on our stash of reclaimed wood and wood scraps.  Basically all we have purchased this summer is screws, nails, 30lb roof felt, cedar shingles, and asphalt shingles.

On a side note.....last winter we installed a tankless water heater at the Torrey Rd house.  Our utility company sends a print out of your usage compared to your neighbors every two months.  Before the tankless installation we were in the mid range.  We are now at the top of the most efficient homes in the area and so far this year we have used 20% less.  Yea!!!