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!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well, kind of... With Thanksgiving so late this year, we started the Christmas decorating a little late. The lights are on the house and the tree is up, so I guess the important things are done. Just thought I would post a few pics for you to see :)

Chris Putting up the lights

The finished product... We would like to put lights around the second story and the attic dormer also, but aren't sure if we have enough power, hahah!

Rita "helping" put up the tree

The glitterific tree!

One down, one to go!

Since it's likely the last NICE weekend we're going to have this fall, I decided I better get out to the garage and finish up the doors that have been sitting there for... well... a while now.

I didn't have a lot left to do on the closet door, just some sanding and wiping with the nasty tack cloth (I hate that stuff...). Also had my first experience with wood conditioner (a pre-staining step). The doors were a little nasty looking, so my mom thought it would be a good idea to do that first. I think it probably was! Anyway, it turned out pretty well, I'll put the poly on tomorrow sometime.

Strippin' some hardware (can't wait to be done with those!)

All sanded and ready to go

Conditioner: Not just good for your hair

I like to see the bare wood next to the stained wood :)

Done staining! (this one anyway...)