A full weekend of rehab fun

Well....after tearing out the last of the pine boarding in the great room, which revealed that squirrels were living in the batt insulation, a serious acorn storage unit, poop, and what insulation that was not eaten by the nut-smugglers, was wet. So, friday after work, Erik ripped off the roof and I got right on clean-up. We worked until it was dark, and got ready for an early morning. I was on the roof at 8am on Saturday cleaning off the rest of the rotten shingles and swept off the mess. Erik came with more supplies. He had to rebuild the rotten soffits and added trim to the eaves, before we started rolling out the ice and water shield. The roof over the great room is such a low pitch- 4/12, so we applied this on the entire roof. Meanwhile on solid ground- Eric Preston came with his stump grinder- and took care of the two stumps on the front of the house- where we hope to be able to build a mud room addition at some point. It took him about an hour- and there were two giant piles of wood chip debris. I think I might use this later for mulch? Does anyone know if that is do-able? I was thinking I could mix it with peet moss- if anyone has thoughts- please reply!

By Saturday night, we had the roof waterproofed. Which was our goal, since Kevin Mannix said it was going to be drizzle on Sunday. He was wrong- luckily for us. Erik and I got up early and stopped by Home Depot on the way to the house, and I got some mice poison, and Erik bought a roofing gun, and a chalk line. We got right to work putting the shingles up. Erik got tired of me watching him, and he kicked me off the roof and I started raking the hills of wood chips. Good timing, as Erik started getting going- Carter rolled in, ready to dig in.

Camo and Bartlett romped- they played tug of war, swimming in the pond, and followed me around the yard like I was the "pied piper" going everywhere and doing everything I was doing. It was nice to have 2 dogs to keep each other occupied.

After an unsuccessful trip to Home Depot for two more bundles of shingles, there were 2 more trips to Lowes to get the right shade- finally Erik and Carter were able to finish buttoning up the roof, just in time to make a dinner with friends! We might be too old for this?

"That there's what we call a girthy one" the rough cuts

This portion weighed 13,000 lbs. Marston's guy didn't sweat the cut, or lifting it over the house. That is why they have insurance. We are quite pleased with the removal. The property has so much more sunlight, and we hope this airs out the siding, windows and roof. The neighbors have also commented that there is now more sunlight on their property. Since the tree was blocking the back window and you can actually see out the window, we are looking for some sliders or a french door to open up the view even more from the "great room" out to the pond.

"That there's what we call a girthy one" the rough cuts

Marston Tree Service in action. The limb being cut off- weighed 6000 lbs. You can see in the 2nd photo the tree was blocking most of the window into the "great room".

"That there's what we call a girthy one"

Which came first, the tree or the deck? The small window looks out to the massive trunk of the tree from the "great room". This tree needed the crane.

Great Room

Here is an image of the "great room" it was covered in a stained pine wide plank paneling. It has a very large fireplace. Today in the rain, we tried it out for the first time. Each panel we took down revealed a storage unit of acorns that the squirrels and chipmunks have been scurrying away. The insulation was not in the best condition either. The wood box has a removable panel to a back room, where you can load wood from the nearby wood shed. Which we have plenty of after the tree removal.

Spurwink Avenue

We've had a great year. Last weekend we celebrated our 1st anniversary. Our "paper"gift was passing papers on this house. It's a fixer upper. Our first order of business was removing some large trees that were threatening the building. Friday, Marston Tree Removal brought the crane in- to remove the tree growing in the corner of the house. One tree guy said "that there's what we call a girthy one". The crane hoisted the larges section over the house. It weighed 13,000 pounds. The limb that was touching the house, weighed 6000 pounds. Erik and I have much wood to chop.
We have our work cut out for us, but it is a good feeling. We have started ripping apart the interior of the "great room". Yesterday, I moved all the bucked wood to the back of the house, next to the wood shed. Raked up the oak leaves, swept the driveway, and stacked wood that had been chopped. Our neighbor was enthused by the sunny weather and we worked alongside each other dragging oak leaves to a pile in our back yards. Bartlett was such a big help- she followed each trip I made, carried a frisbee for about 2 hours, rolled in the dry dirt, and barked at me when she had enough. It was nice to have a faithful companion.