Exterior East

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11/19/2005      This one will be pretty lame for the time being.  It's very much the same problems faced with working on the West Exterior where the soffet and facia were eaten away and the roof had to be repaired.  I did all of that over the past week so there isn't much to say at this point in time.  Most of the work is done and the house is protected other than hanging the gutters to take the water away from the side yard and into the street where nature intended it to go.
     There will be large gaps in this page, too.  The reasons are many and range from the immanent oncoming of winter's cold to the simple fact that it's the side of the house that no one really sees.
     Another reason is the front porch really needs some serious attention.  It may not be strong enough to handle a big, wet snow's weight.
11/22/2005    Still cleaning up shingles.  The weather has turned wet and raw and my fingers can't handle much of it at a stretch.  Had to stop just after noon yesterday but made good use of the time repainting the dining room a shade of eggplant.  It looks very regal if I don't say so myself.
11/24/2005     Thanksgiving Day.
     Picked up 4 bags of shingles off the nearly frozen ground today while Beth prepared the Virginia smoked ham.  For those of you unfamiliar with them, this is a salt cured ham and absolutely must be boiled before it is cooked.  Beth forgot this one crucial step and the ham ended up tasting like...well, salt.  Pure, unadulterated salt.  Her first taste was immediately spat into the sink and she said it almost made her puke.
     This is not the first bad Thanksgiving meal we've shared.  It probably won't be the last.  Our cure for the situation?  Charlestown Race Track.  They have a nice restaurant and don't give a damn about what day of the year it is.
    Happy Thanksgiving.  Even with a bad ham and a lot of disappointment we still have much to be thankful for.
6/10/2006      Okay, so now we've jumped forward in time about seven months.  Much has happened, not the least of which was the big fire next door.  We've now been faced with restoring the damage done and have decided to strip down the shingles and restore it to its original look.  Pulling off the old shingles isn't so bad but yanking all the nails and filling the holes is a real pain in the butt.  I've estimated that there are 28,000 nails to pull and fill, however I'm beginning to think my math is a bit off and the number is much higher.
     I've talked to a few people about being paid to do this for us.  So far no one has taken us up on it despite the decent pay.  That's all right.  Every time we have to take on some of this ourselves we just take it as money in the bank and push forward.
6/11/2006     We put about four hours into shingles today.  Beth's back took most of the punishment from standing on a ladder in an awkward position.  In my case, it was my hands.  They're stiff, scraped and blistered but we removed about 90% off the biggest wall on the northeast and Beth got row upon row of the nails out.
     We also managed to squeeze in a trip to Lowes where we purchased a screen door for the guest room's sliding glass door, something that will make a huge difference in the air flow in the house.  While there, we bought a pair of 'cat claws', miniature crow bars used for yanking nails.  We're hoping they'll speed things up a little for next weekend's work.
6/17/2006     It's 3:30 in the afternoon, a hot one at that.  I think it's about 93° outside today, perfect weather for pulling hundreds upon hundreds of nails.  During the hottest hours of the day I stayed cool by cutting away the foam in the new windows and caulking them.  It's easier work and needed to be done before the foam began collapsing from UV rays.  Well, back to work!
     6:00PM: My thumb is missing a large patch of skin, which is what happens when one pushes too hard and doesn't take enough rest and water breaks.  One slip of the hammer and you get a week of sting.  Anyway, it's quitting time. 85% of the big wall is now stripped, nails and all.  We have three large walls on the house so this one is a good indicator of what's coming with the other two.
     While that reasoning may sound strange because we have four sides to the house, it isn't.  We actually have 12 walls, most of which are broken down into smaller sections.  When a smaller section is worked on there's a distinct feeling of completion regardless of the fact that the smaller wall is a part of an entire side.
7/15/2006      We've been having a bit of a problem with flooding since the Darr fire.  I believe some of this has been due in part to the fact that we don't have gutters up to carry away water that comes off the roof.  I've started putting them up, but in between steps we've gone all out on the front porch.
7/12/2007      No, the date I just posted didn't jump backwards by three days.  Look at the year.
     The front porch took us into the autumn.  The winter took all work indoors and then the springtime found us back out on the front porch again.  It took a long time due to all the repairs and ornate trim but now it's done and the sides are screaming for help. We had to let this side sit exposed to the elements for a year and so it absolutely must get all the attention now so that we don't lose any wood.  Yesterday I did all the necessary power washing so today will be spent filling nail holes, priming and maybe a little painting, but that's seriously doubtful.
9/26/2007      Between the extreme heat of the past two months and getting an Ebay business up and running not too much has been done.  Actually, nothing has been done, at least up until this past week when I've gone into overdrive.  Most of the priming is now completed and we'll hopefully be seeing a bit more color over the coming week.  I know we're both ready for it.
10/17/2007     There's color but it isn't quite finished.  Painting the peaks is difficult and nerve-racking work to say the very least.  In a few days the color will be finished and just in time, too, as winter isn't far off.
    In the meantime it's all heat and sweat.  When people watch 'This Old House' I doubt they ever consider what all those guys smell like.  Whew!
10/22/2007     I'm still plodding along with the paint and it's only about half finished.  In truth, I wish I could embezzle $100 from our checking account so I could grab those guys who did the West side and pay them to wrap this up.  I'm reeeeeeeally sick of painting.
10/29/2007     After many months of drought and extreme heat we finally got four solid days of rain followed by normal temperatures.  The good news is that I have to go do a carpentry job for $350.  That bad news is that I can't paint my own house because of the good news.  The best news is that I can now pay someone else to do it!