New Sill at Garage

Monday night, Erik puts the new PT sill in place.
Phewww

Sill Rot at Garage wall

Erik on Sunday took on the sill rot on the garage. Tearing out the rotten piece. Realizing the sill was sitting on the ground without foundation underneath it.
The sill- with the dry rot. Critters had made it a home.
The pile of cut out sill. Nice.
Middle of garage floating, where the sill was removed. Now what, Erik get's ready to pour a foundation for a new PT sill to sit on and give the garage walls something to be supported.

Trench dug, ready for the form to go into place and then mix the concrete.
Form in place, Erik mixing concrete.
A couple hours later and one trip to Home Depot for more concrete. The wall is formed.
Sunday afternoon. Yipeee!

Front Finishing touches & Demo

Erik shingling the front. This was the weekend of July 18th. If you recall, it was wicked hot- this weekend. So hot, in fact sweat was pouring out of my face. If you know me, I am fair and rarely sweat. It was gross. While Erik was siding, I started stripping the side of the garage. I worked slow and steady. And had the side of the garage stripped by Sat. night. Unfortunately, I found rot, and when we looked closer- the middle of the garage was sitting on a rotted 8 x 10. More on that later....



My stripping job, hee hee, that sounds funny. Erik checking out the rot.

It's Log, it's log, it's big, it's heavy it's wood.

What rolls down stairs

alone or in pairs,

and over your neighbor's dog?

What's great for a snack,

And fits on your back?

It's log, log, log

It's log, it's log,

It's big, it's heavy, it's wood.

It's log, it's log, it's better than bad, it's good."

Everyone wants a log

You're gonna love it, log

Come on and get your log

Everyone needs a log

log log log

*whistle*
LOG FROM BLAMMO

Hot- Strapping....

So the forecast for the weekend was this, Saturday thunderstorms and rain all day, Sunday rain in the morning and clear and sunny in the afternoon. I think the weatherman wanted to go to the beach and have it to himself all day Saturday. It did rain, don't get me wrong. It was so humid it felt like it was raining. So in light of the forecast, Erik and I were ready for a weekend of working inside. Erik went to Home Depot in the morning and bought some strapping and some drywall for our weekend project, he wanted to get it in the house before it rained. He got here in plenty of time, we unloaded it into the great room, which I cleaned while he was buying the supplies. 14 sheets, those are heavy. What makes it so heavy is the awkwardness of the sheet, it flexes, it is big and you are afraid it is going to crack. But before we even got to that we had to put the strapping up on the ceiling to receive the Sheetrock. Which sounds easy enough, but each line of strapping was wavy. Not a little bit, but noticeable looped. Each rafter that strapping was nailed to needed to be shimmed out. That was time consuming.

When we finished shimming, we still had a few hours left before our dinner date with Kevin & Amy. So we decided to put up the drywall. Ouch. That is not fun or easy. I wish that I had some photos to show you the dance we did. It was painful and there were many "piggy" words. It was ugly. I may have been crying, I am not sure? We put up 3 sheets before we decided it was too much, too hot, humid, and painful.

Erik and I think that we are at the 4 month mark. We've done so much, but we have so much further to go.

Deck is Finished!!!

Before

After

I'd like to report that I put the last coat of paint on the lattice under the deck which makes it complete. Although we have been enjoying some spectacular drinks on the deck before that moment. Here are some photos of the deck completed. It is nice to have one finished space to enjoy. Mom gave us some perennials, so I made a little garden off the back of the house. Now, I just need to put some plantings in around the deck. Erik has also sided around the corner of the house and our next step will be to rip off the shingles by the dining room window, and the clapboards that are underneath and take out that window and put in our new door.

lamb's ear, lady's mantle, thyme, salvia, culver's root, walker's low catmint, chocolate, spiral butterfly, and something that looks like lady's mantle but has a red flower. I want the walkway to have lady's mantle all the way around from the garage- it is such an old-fashioned flower.

The view from the deck and the meranti decking.