A little more recently...

Last week we finally got gutters back on the house. I was pretty bummed we couldn't keep the half-round gutters that were on the house (and definitely couldn't afford new ones at $16.50/sqft!!!). After finding out the house originally had built-in gutters like the front porch, I was a little less sad about this. We did decide to "upgrade" to the 6" gutters though and I'm glad we did because A) it's a big roof and a lot of water comes pouring off it and B) they look pretty darn good!

We didn't get a ton of pictures because by the time Chris left for work they were already half way done. Kinda hilarious how they did it though- that's a looooong piece of gutter!

The guys haul it up (must not be as heavy as the old ones!) and the girl waits to hang off the roof like a little monkey.

We decided we need one of the great big ladders with the hook thing on top like they have. Apparently it's a 32-footer and it does actually reach the roof! Too bad Chris would never go up it :)

Did I forget to mention??

Somehow it escaped me (or perhaps I just don't have as much free time as I'd like) to mention that the roof is done! Has been for about a month now :) Chris and I were in St. Louis for the last couple days of construction, and made it back just in time to cut them a check and watch a little clean-up. Chester and his crew did a great job and they were very entertaining to say the least!

Here's a little recap of what we missed while we were gone:

Had to do a little extra work here by the front dormer where it was evident there was some past water damage. Bugger! But good to have fixed!!!

Look at all the junk on the front porch, lol!

Love this picture! I didn't go in the attic because it was nasty dirty, but it looked really cook once all the shake was off and the sun was coming through :)

All done in front!

Pulling the underlayment for the new flat porch roof up

New flat roof! Well, minus the rubber cover that goes over this :)

And we got home just in time to PRAY our brand new roof didn't get hail damage!

Days 3 & 4

Not a whole lot new to report on the roof front... Monday morning was spent much the same way as Friday morning- figuring out how to make the lift work :) We also got a 2nd dumpster- woohoo! Chris cringed as they tried to put it in the driveway beside the 1st one, but thankfully they settled for the street beside the house. The crew spent Monday dismantling the East side of the house and today moved to the West side. I see a pattern here: I have deduced that the front side MUST be next!

Chester told Chris this morning that we almost had a problem! The back and west sides of the roof had two layers of shake to tear off (THAT explains all the mess!) and he only charged us for one layer of shake. Fortunately for us (and them, haha), the front and east side had no shake, so it all evened out.

Speaking of the shake... I haven't been home to see any of the roof torn off, so I had no idea what this shake looks like. I was picturing the shake you see on roofs or as siding, but it's a lot thinner and tighter than that(See picture). It actually looks like a pretty sturdy surface, but boy is it a pain in the butt to tear off! Lots of splintery little pieces and LOTS of nails!! That second dumpster we got this morning? Full by this afternoon.

I had a good laugh this morning when the guys told Chris they were taking bets on whether or not Chester ordered enough supplies- the looser has to buy lunch at Subway :) Coming home tonight and seeing one full sheet of plywood leads me to believe Chester is buying lunch. Hard to believe that 108 sheets isn't enough!

There's also a bet on what day they'll get done. I figure they'll do the front tear off tomorrow, get the whole thing shingled Thursday (maybe a little Friday am), and then have the flat roofs to do Friday. I'm thinking they're going to be more than 1 days work, so I'm predicting they'll be back Monday. We'll see! I wonder if they'll let me in on the bet...

Another thing we're having issues deciding is what to do with the landscaping around the house. There are a few pretty flowers on the east side, but for the most part it looks like overgrown weeds. We almost spent some serious time and money planting pretty things on the east side of the house this spring...

Good thing we didn't!!

Day 2

Day 2 started off a little short handed- A few of Chester's crew had other things to do, so there were only 4 guys working Friday. I looked out the window when they arrived to see that they were not kidding... they really did bring a lift back with them! I guess the idea of carrying things up tall ladders the hard way was a daunting task (I wouldn't do it either!) :)

Though I had my doubts on whether or not they really knew how to use it, they did eventually get the lift leveled and it came in quite handy I'm sure.

They got the north side of the house torn off, sheeted and put the felt on before their driver came back to get them. Unfortunately, neither Chris or I had the fabulous idea to shut the windows before this started, so we came home to a kitchen and hall full of wood dust- yuck!

We also learned something interesting about the house! If you've talked to me at all about this project, you know I have an internal struggle with what to do with the built-in gutters on the front porch. They're so full of tar at the front that the water just runs over, but we think it's a unique feature and would love to keep it since it's an original part of the house. Turns out during the tear-off that the guys discovered that the house also had built-in gutters. They had been covered with 1x8 (or close to), shingled over, and huge 1/2 round gutters installed to the outside of the house. Though we aren't even considering resurrecting this feature at this time, it's still neat to know it was there! Now just have to decide about the porch :)

Day 1!

Due to a slight rain delay, Chester and his crew got to work at about 8:30 rather than 7:30 this morning. Before I left for work, I got to watch the delivery truck bring the first round of supplies. Highlight: The truck backing up over our grass and DUMPING a huge pile of plywood in our yard... likely killing the grass and leaving a massive dent, lol. Oh well, not like they could have lifted it off!

Chris got to see the garage roof completely torn off before he left for work, and by the time he got home 7 hours later, it was all done! Honestly, I was just impressed they didn't fall through the garage roof. Guess it's sturdier than I thought! Although, if it's been standing for this long, it's gotta be pretty tough :)


When their driver came to pick them up at the end of the day, he joked about the easy part being done- One guy laughed and said he didn't care, he wasn't coming back tomorrow, haha! I'm not sure if they will, but the got out of the van this morning and said something about maybe renting a lift... Perhaps he didn't really look at the house when he did the bid??

That's a really big red dumpster! Kinda clashes with the big pink house ;)

Big Pink Roof Project

You wondered why I haven't had anything to blog about all summer? I've just been saving it all up (literally!) for the BIG PINK ROOF PROJECT! No, not a pink roof, just a BIG one on the PINK house. We got a couple bids last summer knowing it was something we needed to do, but decided to wait it out another year. Fortunately, my construction-related job led us to Chester Kauffman and his Amish crew :) They've only been here for one day, but we're already pleased as punch (not only are they super fast, Chris is pretty confident saying Chester is hilarious!).

First of all, here's a little recap:

~*Not-so-hot house roof

~*Crappy garage roof*~


~*Bubbled tar over layers of tar, rolled shingles, rotten plywood, more rolled shingle, and probably some tin- UGH!*~


~*That's about 4 layers of shingles on top of shake on top of these lovely slats... the gap can't be more than 1/2" by code, which is why we also have to re-sheet the whole house and garage. Yay!*~

Aaaaaaaalmost done...

Now that it's finally nice outside, I got motivated to break the bedroom doors out of the basement and get them finished. I suppose it would have been easier if I just hadn't started stripping them RIGHT before it got too cold to finish! Regardless, the BR closet door had one coat of stain already, so I cleaned it up and put another coat on. The actual BR door was stripped and sanded last fall, so I did a little touch up sanding, broke out the tack cloth (which I HATE- that stuff is yucky!), and got it prepped for a couple coats of stain. Now they're both sitting in the garage just waiting for me to come seal them with some poly, the trick will be actually having time to get it done! Between work, showing houses and baking... I'm thinking I may just have a little time to get them done over Memorial Day weekend. Here are a few more part-done pictures :)


Closet door with 1 coat of stain

2nd coat done and ready for poly!
BR door nice and raw (except the white paint ring that was under the deadbolt that we didn't take off until we were sanding...)

BR door all stained and ready to go!

It's not Christmas any more?

Really? Hm.... Obviously I've been a total blog slacker since December- sorry!! But, in my defense, we haven't really had a lot of house projects going on lately, and that IS what this blog is about :)

In the last few weeks, Spring has brought us green grass, tulips, daffodils, and an insane amount of mysterious plants (planted by a previous owner...) that are spreading all over the place- GAH! Last summer we worked on getting rid of the mosquito-harboring ferns that covered one section of our side yard. I was pleased to see we had only 4 or 5 come back, so we dug those out this weekend. We have hostas aplenty, so if anyone wants some, come on over!

I'm eager to get flowers planted, but my horticulturist (Mom) has been MIA so I need someone with a green thumb to point me in the right direction. Chris and I did make a quick stop this afternoon and grabbed some beautiful hanging baskets for the front porch. It's not much, but it's a start!!