It was cold but we hung in there....

.....until we couldn't move our toes or fingers.  With the impending and uncertain weather and R's second eye surgery tomorrow......we needed to make as much progress today as we could on shingling.

We came inside about 4 1/2 hours ago and my feet are still cold.  The forecast is for colder and wet weather until later in the week, so it looks like this is it for the next 3 to 5 days.

The shingles that we installed today were a combination of old shingles and new recently purchased shingles.  We salvaged some of the shingles, during early demo work, that were still in good condition to be used in the starter course on the bottom.

This is what it looked like when we started the day.

This is what it looked like when we called it quits.

I wish we could have made more progress but as R always says....."If wishes were horses....we could all go for a ride."

One wall done....one to go

Today we finished the south side exterior kitchen wall.  The last three shingles took us 3 hours to install.  I thought I would never get done.  I was glad when R arrived home.  I handed him the last shingle and a pencil and said "I can't do this anymore.  I'm on my last nerve."

Looking forward to the east side wall.  All the cuts should be straight or at the very least angled but not curved, straight, and angled all in one shingle.

The forecast is for cooler or even colder weather.  As long as it doesn't snow, we should be good to go.  I also need to get a handle on all these leaves.  If you leave all the leaves until spring.....you're left with a mess.

Cedar shingles for the kitchen exterior

I love and hate this weather.  It's perfect for working outside but this is short lived.  So like everything else that is good like chocolate, homemade caramels, or bacon.....there is not enough of it.

After installing the soffit bead board and the corner trim we were ready to start the shingling.  I purchased two bundles at Home Depot.  They were the usual No. 2 Red Cedar shingles.  The quality control on these shingles is terrible.  They are crooked, warped, and cracked and because of this it takes longer to install each shingle.

We need to custom cut the two shingles on each side of the window.  This really slows down the whole process.  There is just one final row to install.  Of all those remaining shingles guess how many do not need a custom cut?  NONE  Yup, every single shingle needs cutting to the correct length at the very least.  More than likely at least one of the sides will need to be straightened, if not both.  Then there are the last 3 or 4 which will need an angle cut at the bottom to accommodate the angle of the roof. 

I'm hoping that it doesn't rain a lot tomorrow because all we need is about 3 hours to finish the south side of the kitchen.  Once this is completed, we can finish installing the small trim around the bead board and the shingle trim I used in the front of the house to hide the nail heads on the last course of shingles.

The east wall will take longer as there is more area to cover.  I have a feeling we will still be shingling when the first little snow flakes fall. But if we do finish before winter we might tackle some eave trough installation.  

Free Bead Board for the Soffit

I love it when we can use building supplies from our scrap pile.

After Sunday's trip to Home Depot for one 12 foot 1X6 solid PVC board which cost us $35.87 we were happy to use free stuff today.  When we checked out at Home Depot the cashier said, "is that  right? $35.87?"  We assured her unfortunately it was correct.  She then said, "what kind of board is that?"  I assume they don't sell a lot of it....LOL

Today's free wood was a half sheet of bead board that R picked up from someone's trash.  We used it for the soffit and had a whole 6 inches left over.

Tomorrow's To Do List is...

Install light underneath soffit
Install corner trim boards
Call the building supply store where we bought our roof shingles and see if they sell cedar shingles
Finish mowing the lawn

If it rains...
Trim an 1/8th of an inch off the bottom of the oak kitchen door because it drags across the floor when it is almost all the way open. Door is heavy and awkward so this might take awhile.
Sand the floor in the kitchen door mudroom
Maybe dismantle the cupboards in the mudroom to be reused to build a shelf and seating below shelf

The rain has us in a holding pattern

We were so excited and relieved (very relieved) to finally get the trim board fabricated and installed. 

This board was rather tricky to fabricate because we had the odd shape to contend with at the lower end.  First we added a wedge to the top of the board so it followed the roof line.  We then added another wedge to the bottom to make the bottom of the board level.  I think the board will make more sense when we get the corner trim installed.

Each wedge installation took one day. We needed to wait for the wood glue (clamped in place) to dry so we could sand the seam smooth so that it appears as one wide piece of wood.

Later today, we are off to Home Depot to pick up another piece of the PVC trim called Never Rot that we have used as fascia boards (you can see a short piece that we installed about the kitchen door) wherever there is an eave trough.  This is to make sure that the wood never rots due to rain water, leaves, snow, and ice.  The boards are expensive but I think it is worth every penny in knowing that I do not need to paint (it's comes in white) it or replace it down the road.

The only drawback to using it is if you install it in the summer.  These PVC boards expand in the heat and contract in the cold.  So installing them in the fall and winter helps to eliminate having a space develop between the boards when they contract. 

We had a carpenter install several pieces in the front when he rebuilt the overhang.  I told him several times to keep the PVC boards in the shade because they expand in the heat.  Throughout the week, I noticed the Never Rot boards laying on the Asphalt driveway in the sun.  A gap now develops during the winter between the two fascia boards.  None of the fascia boards we installed do this because we made sure to do it in the fall and never let the boards lay in the sun before installation.  This is also why we now do EVERYTHING ourselves.  We  might be a tad slow but I hate having to redo something that I PAID someone else to do.

A little closer look at those wood storm doors

I've been buying, sanding, and gluing these vintage storm doors for the last 4 years.  It was such a relief to finally get them installed.

Let's start with the barn loft door.

This vintage wood cross buck storm door was given to me.  It came with the screen and the glass insert but it was in sad sad condition.  I completely disassembled the door and sanded each piece completely bare before I reassembled.

I then epoxied all the screw holes, hinge mortises, and door handle hole.  This door was a right hand door and I needed it to be a lefty.  The bottom of the door was in horrendous condition but we really lucked out because we needed to cut off 1/4 inch to make the door fit.  This got rid of about 95% of the badness.  We used epoxy filler to fill in the little voids that were remaining.  Thank goodness someone invented epoxy filler.

We think the door looks perfect for a barn.

The second vintage storm door was installed on the back of the house.  I purchased this door for 10 bucks at a Habitat for Humanity Restore in Battle Creek, MI.  This door had the glass insert and was held together with 20 coats of paint.  I could not believe how many layers of paint that were on this door.  The first coat was red and they did not prime the door, either.  It was repainted red many many times before they decided it needed to be light blue.  The light blue phase was short before they returned to the red.  When I purchased the door it was painted navy blue and the navy paint was so thick it looked like it was applied with a putty knife.. 

The door has all the paint removed and has been sanded and sanded and sanded but it still is red.  I am hoping that the primer blocks out the red because all the storm doors will be painted white.

The third storm door (kitchen back door) was $30.00 and came with a glass insert.  This door was in very bad condition and the glass insert was in even worse condition.  I was able to remove all the paint and get this door down to raw wood.  I still need to do some sanding in the panel area at the bottom. 

This door required some dis-assembly, gluing, some wood patching with wood, and of course epoxy filler in all the screw holes.  The glass insert will need to be replaced with a new custom made insert using the original glass but for now it's doing it's job to keep out the autumn wind.

The hardware for the kitchen and back door were purchased on eBay.  These work well with the original thumb latch door handles on our exterior doors.

We still have a set of vintage wood storm doors to install once we replace the patio sliding door with the set of vintage french doors.  I have already stripped and sanded them so they are ready to go.  These storm doors are in great condition compared to the other doors.  I still need to buy door handles for them but I have time because I do not see these doors being installed until springtime.

Let's take a step or two back in time

During the month of August we poured a new back step and a new larger stoop for the french door leading into the sun room on the north side of the house.

The original small back door step was cracked and sloped towards the house which is never a good thing.  The slate that was pressed into it was loose and moved when you stepped on it.

We jack hammered the step to little pieces several years ago and just now felt the urgent need to repour a new one.  Go figure.

Basically we made the step just like it was originally except without the slope towards the house and the loose slate.  The previous step had bricks standing vertically in a row along the front edge.  We use brick pavers because that is what we had on hand.  We also found a large piece of red slate in our slate pile.

Day one consisted of placing the pavers on their end in a bed of mortar.  We let them sit over night to firm up so that when we poured the concrete mixture they would stay in place.  We also filled a plastic tub with water and placed the slate piece in the water so it could absorb some of the moisture overnight.  This helps the slate to bond with the concrete mixture and not come loose once the concrete hardens.

The next day we mixed our Quikcrete by the large bucket fulls.  We used approximately 3 bags of Quikcrete.  I made sure that there was a slight slope to the front for drainage and used a little masonry tool to edge the concrete.  We let it set up for about an hour before we placed the slate into the center of the concrete.  I used a rubber mallet to make sure the slate was seated into the concrete. 

The following day we spray painted the grate that sits on top of the window well for the window in the root cellar.  I used a wire brush to get all the loose paint and rust off the grate before I painted it.

Step and grate look great!!!!  We still need to hit the step with a little muriatic acid to clean off the white film but other than that we are please with how it drains and how it looks.

The second step/porch/stoop was a larger project that took 4 days to complete.  Two days to build the form and two days to pour.

This step was in horrible condition.  It was cracked and sloped like the other step but it was also too small and a little off center to the door..  We felt this was the perfect time to make it bigger and better.

Building the form was confusing because we wanted the step to have a overhang.  Once the form was built, I used caulk to seal any seams and placed cement blocks all around the step to make sure it did not move.

We left the original step in place because it was too low and too small so we poured over and around it.  This step took 8 bags of Quikcrete and two days to pour.  Just like the other step we added slate.

We slowly removed the form the next day.  Basically we held our breath because we had no idea what we were doing and we were pretty sure we just lucked out on the first step and this one was going to have voids and probably just fall apart.

But....it looked great!  What in the world.  OK I'll let you in on a little secret.  R read an old book on masonry that I bought on eBay.  I think it was published in 1950.  Of course the book said to make your own mixture of concrete using sand, cement, and water but we chose the Quikcrete route.

The larger step/porch/stoop looks sooooo much better.  Especially now that it is centered.  There is also room for a vintage wrought iron chair.  This is the chair that R found in the trash.  Looks great doesn't it?  It will look even better once it is repainted.

This step will need a little muriatic acid love just like the back step but for now we are in a mad dash to finish installing some cedar shingles before the snow falls. Yup...it's that time of year.

Fall has fallen and so have the black walnuts

Black walnuts are everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. 

It sounds like a tire blow out when you drive over them on the driveway.  Scares me every time I do it.

And we're trimming

Today was sunny but cold.  Remember when I was complaining about it being too hot????  I wish I had a little of that heat today because it was almost glove weather and I find it hard to work with gloves on my hands.

We started trimming the areas where we removed the cedar shingles and can't wait to get the new shingles installed.  Aren't those old Anderson windows just about the ugliest things you have ever seen?  Who would remove good double hung windows and install these windows?  Ironically all the original double hung windows in this house are just fine after we remove the bazillion layers of paint.  These "new" windows, besides not being aesthetically pleasing, are literally falling apart.  The wood is rotted, the hardware does not work, and they leak like a sieve.   I'll be relieved when we can get them replaced but until then I'll just act like they are not there.

If you look closely at the photos you can ever so slightly see the roof shingles that we installed.

Also you can see the vintage storm door that we purchased about 4 years ago.  The door has the original glass insert but not the screen insert.  We repaired the glass insert the best that we could but it will need replacing.

The photos probably do not show the vintage oak door with the beveled glass window that we  installed.  I have vintage door hardware for the door but for the life of me I cannot find where I stashed the yellow cigar box that I placed them into for safe keeping.  Until then, we are using a 2X4 for a lock.....nothing but classy.

Curbside Treasure

Curbside treasures have been rare this past summer.  R usually finds something at least once a week but not this year.  He has been lucky finding long pieces of lumber some of which we needed for small projects here and there.

He did find this........A wall mounted drinking fountain  in perfect condition.

with the hanging bracket.....

R thinks he can hang it outside and plumb it with PEX or clear tubing that he can remove for the winter.  Rather than plumb it with a drain we decided on two options.  The first option is to do nothing and just place a pail underneath it to catch the water.  Then use that to water the plants.  The second option is to attach a section of garden hose and direct the water to shrubs etc.

The drinking fountain has been placed in the barn for future installation along with a hundred other projects.