Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Doors! Porches! Skirting! Oh my!
Today I left chocolate chip cookies for the Kiwis. I figure they'll be more amenable to my endless questions and opinions if they are drugged.
We talked about the edge of the deck...extensively. "Why oh why," I imagine them wondering, "does this woman care so much about every detail?? What kind of freak architecture nazi did we decide to work with??" But they listen and then beautifully execute what we've discussed. Bravo!
We also discussed the foundation skirting (also known as an "underpinning," it hides the underside of the house, which is mounted on what's called a pier and beam foundation, very common in this region), which had been a bit of a point of contention last week, when they were trying to convince me to make it out of Hardie, which I just wasn't thrilled with. I wanted the more standard Texas skirting, which is a wire mesh covered with stucco. The Kiwis were convinced that would be way too expensive, but I pushed them and they agreed to talk to a skirting specialist. Good news! I can get the stucco skirting for about the same price. I'm learning that it's worth it to be pushy when something feels wrong (and then make cookies).
Take a look at the beautiful work they did yesterday. Here, the new fascia and soffits around the old bathroom popout were installed: 
Siding was added to part of the front of the house, and on the side of the house some of the water table was installed. That's the white lip under the siding, which creates a barrier that prevents rain from getting in between the siding and the skirting. It also adds beauty to the house:
The Kiwis had to do some rigging with the siding in the front. Over the decades the house has been very sloooooowly lifted by the tree roots, and if you stand directly in front of the window at the right in the photo and look carefully, you see that the roofline and the window bow. Because the oak grows so slowly, there is no danger to the house's structural integrity (a statement made before I bought the house by the house inspector, and confirmed by the Kiwis this morning). They carefully installed the siding to create an optical illusion that hides the bowing. The quilter in me loves that!
Today they made further progress. First of all, the doors arrived this morning!:
The remainder of the old front porch is gone and new framing went in. And the porch was mostly sided. Wow, it looks really different; much calmer and more elegant:
Oy. That picture's making me seasick. Here's a calmer one.
That's it! See you next time.
We also discussed the foundation skirting (also known as an "underpinning," it hides the underside of the house, which is mounted on what's called a pier and beam foundation, very common in this region), which had been a bit of a point of contention last week, when they were trying to convince me to make it out of Hardie, which I just wasn't thrilled with. I wanted the more standard Texas skirting, which is a wire mesh covered with stucco. The Kiwis were convinced that would be way too expensive, but I pushed them and they agreed to talk to a skirting specialist. Good news! I can get the stucco skirting for about the same price. I'm learning that it's worth it to be pushy when something feels wrong (and then make cookies).
Take a look at the beautiful work they did yesterday. Here, the new fascia and soffits around the old bathroom popout were installed:
Siding was added to part of the front of the house, and on the side of the house some of the water table was installed. That's the white lip under the siding, which creates a barrier that prevents rain from getting in between the siding and the skirting. It also adds beauty to the house:
The Kiwis had to do some rigging with the siding in the front. Over the decades the house has been very sloooooowly lifted by the tree roots, and if you stand directly in front of the window at the right in the photo and look carefully, you see that the roofline and the window bow. Because the oak grows so slowly, there is no danger to the house's structural integrity (a statement made before I bought the house by the house inspector, and confirmed by the Kiwis this morning). They carefully installed the siding to create an optical illusion that hides the bowing. The quilter in me loves that!
Today they made further progress. First of all, the doors arrived this morning!:
The remainder of the old front porch is gone and new framing went in. And the porch was mostly sided. Wow, it looks really different; much calmer and more elegant:
Oy. That picture's making me seasick. Here's a calmer one.
That's it! See you next time.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Soffit vents, eaves, and the porch
Have I mentioned the extreme heat this summer? It is 7:45 pm right now as I write and it's still 97! I just sat outside for a half hour reading and almost fell asleep; the heat was wrapped around me like a blanket, accompanied by a soft breeze. Goodness knows how the Kiwis work through the day. Speaking of heat, today vents were cut into the soffits--very important for cooling the attic in the summer! My roof is a hip roof, without gables, which is where many roofs are vented. These new vents should help my energy efficiency:
Also, the old gappy front porch floor started to disappear, and the windows were framed in:
Finally, the overhang over the old back door was removed, and the rotten fascia also removed, to be replaced:
That's it! Come back tomorrow for more.
Also, the old gappy front porch floor started to disappear, and the windows were framed in:
Finally, the overhang over the old back door was removed, and the rotten fascia also removed, to be replaced:
That's it! Come back tomorrow for more.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Dad is a superstar!
Dad took this picture and sent it to me after seeing my last post. It's exactly what I was thinking about, vines and all. How did he do that?:
.jpg)
.jpg)
Whole hog deckishness
Hilary and her mom Lee convinced me that I'm crazy not to go with deck design #2, so I can have wonderful outdoor get-togethers on a nice big deck right outside the kitchen. Okay, okay, they're totally right.
So if I'm going for this whole deck thing, then I want a really cool railing. I like baluster style railings that are made of slats. I can't find a picture of what I want exactly, but here are some things that look a bit like what I'm looking for. Imagine these kinds of slatted railings, but with alternating thicker and thinner slats with a good deal of space between them:
Picture something a bit like this but not quite as skinny, and without the costly carvings of course:
The back of this porch swing also has the feel of slats that I like:
And if I was a millionaire, how cool would this be?
All feedback is appreciated!
So if I'm going for this whole deck thing, then I want a really cool railing. I like baluster style railings that are made of slats. I can't find a picture of what I want exactly, but here are some things that look a bit like what I'm looking for. Imagine these kinds of slatted railings, but with alternating thicker and thinner slats with a good deal of space between them:
Picture something a bit like this but not quite as skinny, and without the costly carvings of course:
The back of this porch swing also has the feel of slats that I like:
And if I was a millionaire, how cool would this be?
All feedback is appreciated!
Deck designs
I need some feedback on the deck. My key limitation is that the deck must cover the original staircase and landing. But I want to make sure that you can't tell that there used to be a back door in the laundry room, and I also don't want my backyard to be dominated by the deck. I don't want to put a pergola over the deck because it will block the view of the oak tree.
I think the real problem is that, well, I don't like decks. I like porches and patios, but I don't like decks. They are too...modern? Not too modernist, too modern. They haven't been around for very long in architectural history as far as I know, and that makes me suspicious somehow, I guess. But I need some kind of structure to be a link between the house and the yard, and I certainly can't afford a raised stone patio, so I need a deck.
Here are two potential designs. The first is plain and open and is composed mostly of stairs. The deck becomes a landing only, with enough room for two small seats and lots of planters if I want. It is very minimalist in design and does not disrupt the view, but I worry that it's going to look like a massive staircase and overwhelm everything else with its proportions:
I think the real problem is that, well, I don't like decks. I like porches and patios, but I don't like decks. They are too...modern? Not too modernist, too modern. They haven't been around for very long in architectural history as far as I know, and that makes me suspicious somehow, I guess. But I need some kind of structure to be a link between the house and the yard, and I certainly can't afford a raised stone patio, so I need a deck.
Here are two potential designs. The first is plain and open and is composed mostly of stairs. The deck becomes a landing only, with enough room for two small seats and lots of planters if I want. It is very minimalist in design and does not disrupt the view, but I worry that it's going to look like a massive staircase and overwhelm everything else with its proportions:
The second option is much more traditional, and is much larger to include space for a table for four to the right of the door. It disrupts the view, but makes the deck a living space. But I don't know if I want the deck to be a living space, or just a place to perch on the way out to the yard:
Here are two photos that show what the space currently looks like. The hose marks the edge of the staircase in the first design. I crammed up the deck space with stuff to get a feel for it:
The stone walls along the path, and in front of the oak, will be gone. The space at the left of this photo, just left of the railing (where there will still be a railing), is where I hope my rainwater collection barrel will go.
Building codes are a buzzkill: deck railings
This weekend I have to design my deck. It turns out my deck has to have railings. I hate railings; they clutter things up and ruin the view, and most standard designs are really ugly, imho. I had assumed I would be able to have benches on the edge of my deck, in place of railings. Alas, no. Apparently anything that a child could possibly climb in any imaginable situation is not up to code, including the sparest of railings, the metal cable railings like the one below, which are frankly the only kind of railing I would have even deigned to consider before yesterday:
So my deck is going to have a much more enclosed feeling than I want it to.I'm rethinking the whole concept. Drat!
I cheerily went about all sorts of fun house-related errands today: I made some headway with paint colors and finally bought a set of cheap but pretty house numbers, a mailbox, and the cutest little light fixtures for the back entry at Lowe's. I love it when the item I like best is also cheap!
Friday, July 25, 2008
More siding...
It's Friday! That means I'll probably actually get some sleep in the next two days. Actually, the reason I'll sleep is that Mary Alice came by after work today to admire the house with me and as usual we had a great long conversation which involved me drinking a lot of red wine (two whole glasses, which means I'm just a little loopy right now). So here's what we were admiring:
Check it out! A whole side of siding! There's also a new sill on that rotted window I told you about the other day:
And the two weird closed-up windows on the front porch have been partially framed in:
This weekend I need to figure out what my deck is going to look like (ack!). And I need to make some salad and a iced tea to take to a picnic with friends at a local production of Beauty and the Beats in Zilker park. Perfect Austin summer event!
Check it out! A whole side of siding! There's also a new sill on that rotted window I told you about the other day:
And the two weird closed-up windows on the front porch have been partially framed in:
This weekend I need to figure out what my deck is going to look like (ack!). And I need to make some salad and a iced tea to take to a picnic with friends at a local production of Beauty and the Beats in Zilker park. Perfect Austin summer event!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Zen and the Art of Home Remodeling
It rained a lot today, but when I came home from work there was more new siding. I'm really starting to feel the change. The house is starting to feel like my house, like a house I will actually feel at home in:
The window in the laundry room is no more! It is now a solid wall in what will soon be my laundry room/pantry. Some day it will be covered with narrow shelves holding canned goods. Note the line where the siding stops under the kitchen window. That will be the edge of the french doors:
I have been trying to not think about the remodeling project incessantly. Good idea, huh? Because when I think too much I worry about every possible thing that could go wrong. When I don't think too much, I do things like find myself sitting at the kitchen table looking out the window with my chin on the sill, admiring my new laundry room wall. Then pretty soon I'm all zoned out staring at the oak and listening to the birds and not thinking at all. Which is what I found myself doing about an hour ago.
This is a big deal because I have a very hard time not thinking these days. Ever since I moved to Texas my life has been all about figuring out how to live in Texas, how to be a librarian (sort of), how to live 2,000 miles away from my family, and how to own a house. Now I know how to live in Texas (walk slower in the heat, eat lots of tacos, go swimming in Barton Springs, and take road trips to weird, cool little towns), and sort of know how to be a librarian (I know what words like metadata, MARC, collation, accession, and authority mean, and use them with gusto), and, well, I'll never learn how to live far away from my family, but that's OK. As for the house, I've spent the most time worrying about that, because I've thought every day about how it's being suffocated by its siding, and what other horrible things could be going on under there, and how I'm being suffocated by the dark screens, peeling windows, ugly colors, and lack of doorways that guide one smoothly into the natural world, and how vulnerable I feel without a private back yard that is free of imaginary prowler and offers me a quiet place to read, commune with the butterflies, and watch plants grow.
When I regained consciousness after gazing at my oak for a long while I realized that pretty soon I'll be looking out a big glass door at the tree, or better yet, sitting on the deck underneath it looking up at the sky. I felt very relaxed and lucky.
The irony is that of course the last 2 weeks have been incredibly stressful! Several days I have woken up at 4 am and been unable to get back to sleep. When I get really anxious my throat closes up tight gets scratchy like I'm having an allergic reaction. It has been like that almost constantly since the project started, until finally yesterday I realized that I can't worry about what is happening with the house. The Kiwis know what they are doing, and I have to just let them do it! In the first three days or so I pretty much asked them about every little mini-project I needed to make sure they would do. And I gave them each a copy of a really neurotic list of everything I can possibly imagine they need to remember. So really, at this point, I'm useless except when it comes to moving things out of the way and, well, staying out of the way.
So when, today, I watched the skies open up outside my office window, and started picturing the rain pouring down on my exposed (but Tyvek-covered) walls, and my throat started to close up, I stopped myself and thought, is it really going to do me any good to worry about what the rain will do to the house? No. Everything will be fine. People have sided houses for a long time, and rain has fallen for a long time, and these two things have happened at the same time, many times. And pretty soon, rain or shine, my house will be my home!
The window in the laundry room is no more! It is now a solid wall in what will soon be my laundry room/pantry. Some day it will be covered with narrow shelves holding canned goods. Note the line where the siding stops under the kitchen window. That will be the edge of the french doors:
I have been trying to not think about the remodeling project incessantly. Good idea, huh? Because when I think too much I worry about every possible thing that could go wrong. When I don't think too much, I do things like find myself sitting at the kitchen table looking out the window with my chin on the sill, admiring my new laundry room wall. Then pretty soon I'm all zoned out staring at the oak and listening to the birds and not thinking at all. Which is what I found myself doing about an hour ago.
This is a big deal because I have a very hard time not thinking these days. Ever since I moved to Texas my life has been all about figuring out how to live in Texas, how to be a librarian (sort of), how to live 2,000 miles away from my family, and how to own a house. Now I know how to live in Texas (walk slower in the heat, eat lots of tacos, go swimming in Barton Springs, and take road trips to weird, cool little towns), and sort of know how to be a librarian (I know what words like metadata, MARC, collation, accession, and authority mean, and use them with gusto), and, well, I'll never learn how to live far away from my family, but that's OK. As for the house, I've spent the most time worrying about that, because I've thought every day about how it's being suffocated by its siding, and what other horrible things could be going on under there, and how I'm being suffocated by the dark screens, peeling windows, ugly colors, and lack of doorways that guide one smoothly into the natural world, and how vulnerable I feel without a private back yard that is free of imaginary prowler and offers me a quiet place to read, commune with the butterflies, and watch plants grow.
When I regained consciousness after gazing at my oak for a long while I realized that pretty soon I'll be looking out a big glass door at the tree, or better yet, sitting on the deck underneath it looking up at the sky. I felt very relaxed and lucky.
The irony is that of course the last 2 weeks have been incredibly stressful! Several days I have woken up at 4 am and been unable to get back to sleep. When I get really anxious my throat closes up tight gets scratchy like I'm having an allergic reaction. It has been like that almost constantly since the project started, until finally yesterday I realized that I can't worry about what is happening with the house. The Kiwis know what they are doing, and I have to just let them do it! In the first three days or so I pretty much asked them about every little mini-project I needed to make sure they would do. And I gave them each a copy of a really neurotic list of everything I can possibly imagine they need to remember. So really, at this point, I'm useless except when it comes to moving things out of the way and, well, staying out of the way.
So when, today, I watched the skies open up outside my office window, and started picturing the rain pouring down on my exposed (but Tyvek-covered) walls, and my throat started to close up, I stopped myself and thought, is it really going to do me any good to worry about what the rain will do to the house? No. Everything will be fine. People have sided houses for a long time, and rain has fallen for a long time, and these two things have happened at the same time, many times. And pretty soon, rain or shine, my house will be my home!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Hello Dolly! Now go away.
Things are moving along--not much new to report, though, because we had some rain today, probably thanks to Hurricane Dolly. So the Kiwis stopped early. See you tomorrow!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Good news: windows and siding.
I met with the Kiwis this morning to go over our lists, to meet with their favorite window seller, and to write a big fat check. I survived all three events!
First the window guy. He (the window SALESMAN, remember), explained with great detail to the Kiwis how he would go about saving my windows if he was them. Here's the bay in question:
He completely understood my passion for this character-filled bay and my complete, um, lack of passion for this particular energy efficiency problem. In ten years, I'll replace all the windows in the house. For now, I really want to enjoy them. He and the Kiwis discussed how to replace the termite damaged wood (squeamish visitors don't look at this photo):
I kinda want to bake the guy a batch of cookies and deliver them to his office; he wouldn't take a consulting payment even though he spent about 30 minutes of his morning at the house. And saved me money!
Next up, the siding arrived in a big red truck. Even cooler was the little trucklet hooked on the back of the big red truck, which delivered the Hardie right to the front walkway. My nephew Quinn would have liked watching this even more than I did. That's the Kiwis looking on:
I left the Kiwis to start siding and headed off to work. After work, I stopped off to pick up all the fancy new door hardware I ordered. When I got home, I could see what a good choice the smooth, 4" exposure Hardie was! I am so excited. It looks gorgeous.
First the window guy. He (the window SALESMAN, remember), explained with great detail to the Kiwis how he would go about saving my windows if he was them. Here's the bay in question:
He completely understood my passion for this character-filled bay and my complete, um, lack of passion for this particular energy efficiency problem. In ten years, I'll replace all the windows in the house. For now, I really want to enjoy them. He and the Kiwis discussed how to replace the termite damaged wood (squeamish visitors don't look at this photo):
I kinda want to bake the guy a batch of cookies and deliver them to his office; he wouldn't take a consulting payment even though he spent about 30 minutes of his morning at the house. And saved me money!
Next up, the siding arrived in a big red truck. Even cooler was the little trucklet hooked on the back of the big red truck, which delivered the Hardie right to the front walkway. My nephew Quinn would have liked watching this even more than I did. That's the Kiwis looking on:
I left the Kiwis to start siding and headed off to work. After work, I stopped off to pick up all the fancy new door hardware I ordered. When I got home, I could see what a good choice the smooth, 4" exposure Hardie was! I am so excited. It looks gorgeous.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
House Number Heaven
Take your pick at housenumberconnection.com, the coolest house number resource I've found yet. Leave your choice in the comment box! (Disclosure: I'll probably *really* end up getting the cheap ones at Lowes...)
Friday, July 18, 2008
The arborist, or, how I'm officially a goody-goody.
I now understand that my main job (besides writing checks so large I want to faint) is to make lists. I'm becoming relatively organized relatively quickly. The job started so quickly, I haven't had time to catch my breath!
This morning was all about wood. First, we looked at all the termite damage, and there's only one window that *may* not be salvageable. That's pretty great news! Then it was time for the arborist. I wanted to be sure I didn't harm my two live oaks.
The first thing the arborist told me was that my project is in violation of city code. Yipes! I'm such a goody goody; you know, the straight-A junior high girl I've never stopped being. I was so horrified! I thought I was being such a responsible tree owner calling the arborist, but it turns out that this opened up a whole can of worms and ridiculously expensive remediations. I don't think anyone else actually follows the city code, but I'm going to.
The violation was this: I wasn't supposed to dig more than 4 inches below the grade anywhere around a tree that is more than 19 inches in diameter without going through a review process with the city of Austin Watershed Protection folks. Below 4 inches and I might expose my tree to Oak Wilt (terrible, horrible, no good, very bad killer). Oak Wilt was the reason I had called the tree guy in the first place, but before he got here the contractors had dug a trench along the base of the foundation about 8 inches deep in order to reveal all the wood skirting that needs to be removed. Oops.
I need to spend $25 to have the city approve my renovation, and they likely won't give me a citation for my error, since it's a completely necessary renovation. But from now on I need arborist dirt diggers to HAND DIG anywhere near the tree. It'll take 2 of these artistan diggers 3 hours to do all the digging they need to do to and don't even THINK of asking how much they charge. They'll also use an air tool (rather than a shovel, which can cut big gashes in things) to remove large quantities of soil around the building area and all around the base of the tree, which has, over the years, had too much of its base covered in soil. After that, I'll have a landscaper help me figure out how to maintain this new grading.
By the end of the hour the arborist and I had totally bonded over my live oaks and our respective California transplant stories, and he was giving me great advice about all sorts of things. My favorite piece of advice was that when I put my deck in, I should lay 3 inches of wood chip mulch under it, which over the years will deteriorate and provide essential nitrogen to the live oak's roots, which otherwise would be nitrogen deprived due to the deck. I had been wondering about that.
This weekend, I'm hoping to test my paint colors and shop for some light fixtures and a mailbox. Next time: myths about insulation.
--Molly
This morning was all about wood. First, we looked at all the termite damage, and there's only one window that *may* not be salvageable. That's pretty great news! Then it was time for the arborist. I wanted to be sure I didn't harm my two live oaks.
The first thing the arborist told me was that my project is in violation of city code. Yipes! I'm such a goody goody; you know, the straight-A junior high girl I've never stopped being. I was so horrified! I thought I was being such a responsible tree owner calling the arborist, but it turns out that this opened up a whole can of worms and ridiculously expensive remediations. I don't think anyone else actually follows the city code, but I'm going to.
The violation was this: I wasn't supposed to dig more than 4 inches below the grade anywhere around a tree that is more than 19 inches in diameter without going through a review process with the city of Austin Watershed Protection folks. Below 4 inches and I might expose my tree to Oak Wilt (terrible, horrible, no good, very bad killer). Oak Wilt was the reason I had called the tree guy in the first place, but before he got here the contractors had dug a trench along the base of the foundation about 8 inches deep in order to reveal all the wood skirting that needs to be removed. Oops.
I need to spend $25 to have the city approve my renovation, and they likely won't give me a citation for my error, since it's a completely necessary renovation. But from now on I need arborist dirt diggers to HAND DIG anywhere near the tree. It'll take 2 of these artistan diggers 3 hours to do all the digging they need to do to and don't even THINK of asking how much they charge. They'll also use an air tool (rather than a shovel, which can cut big gashes in things) to remove large quantities of soil around the building area and all around the base of the tree, which has, over the years, had too much of its base covered in soil. After that, I'll have a landscaper help me figure out how to maintain this new grading.
By the end of the hour the arborist and I had totally bonded over my live oaks and our respective California transplant stories, and he was giving me great advice about all sorts of things. My favorite piece of advice was that when I put my deck in, I should lay 3 inches of wood chip mulch under it, which over the years will deteriorate and provide essential nitrogen to the live oak's roots, which otherwise would be nitrogen deprived due to the deck. I had been wondering about that.
This weekend, I'm hoping to test my paint colors and shop for some light fixtures and a mailbox. Next time: myths about insulation.
--Molly
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Mmmm...wood is yummy!
Today the Kiwis removed the rest of the siding. Who are the Kiwis, you ask? My great pair of contractors with the fab New Zealand accents. I like them a lot. They seem to handle my oddities well, which says a lot.
So here's the update. Most of the house look great (that is, what I can see around the edges of the Tyvek). Here's the side that faces the street:
Here's the front porch stripped. See how lovely the wood looks! Great condition, perfect for siding:
The back of the house likewise looks great. The concrete foundation skirting you are seeing is only on the laundry room. Hilary and I had fun testing a bunch of paint colors on the house last week; all our test samples except the fuschia & red are gone with the siding. The door will turn into a wall and the stairs will be covered with a deck. Bye, bye! The smallish window just to the right will be replaced with french doors:
For the most part, the house seems to be in good shape. Windows, as expected, are the biggest issue. The bay of three windows at the front of the house is very badly damaged by termites. No shock there; I knew about that damage from the beginning. The bathroom window, likewise, has quite a bit of rot around it, which isn't a suprise. The wood foundation skirting that is sunk more than six inches under the ground is, of course, in awful shape and is one of the most important reasons to undertake this residing project. Texas weather means that wood should never touch the ground. The workers dug out this lovely view, under the termite-eaten window:
Blech. Finally, there was one really nasty surprise--so nasty I couldn't help but just laugh at it! Who knew that there was a major party going on some time in the past underneath one of the living room windows? The Kiwis left it open for me to see:
Yipes! Actually, this isn't so bad (at least that's what the optimist in me says). The sheathing can be replaced, and I'm removing a window of this exact size in very good condition from the laundry room. I'll suggest to the Kiwis that we swap them out. I'll let you know what they say. It's such a relief to have everything exposed so I can fix it. Happy house!
That's all for today.
--Molly
So here's the update. Most of the house look great (that is, what I can see around the edges of the Tyvek). Here's the side that faces the street:
Here's the front porch stripped. See how lovely the wood looks! Great condition, perfect for siding:
The back of the house likewise looks great. The concrete foundation skirting you are seeing is only on the laundry room. Hilary and I had fun testing a bunch of paint colors on the house last week; all our test samples except the fuschia & red are gone with the siding. The door will turn into a wall and the stairs will be covered with a deck. Bye, bye! The smallish window just to the right will be replaced with french doors:
For the most part, the house seems to be in good shape. Windows, as expected, are the biggest issue. The bay of three windows at the front of the house is very badly damaged by termites. No shock there; I knew about that damage from the beginning. The bathroom window, likewise, has quite a bit of rot around it, which isn't a suprise. The wood foundation skirting that is sunk more than six inches under the ground is, of course, in awful shape and is one of the most important reasons to undertake this residing project. Texas weather means that wood should never touch the ground. The workers dug out this lovely view, under the termite-eaten window:
Blech. Finally, there was one really nasty surprise--so nasty I couldn't help but just laugh at it! Who knew that there was a major party going on some time in the past underneath one of the living room windows? The Kiwis left it open for me to see:
Yipes! Actually, this isn't so bad (at least that's what the optimist in me says). The sheathing can be replaced, and I'm removing a window of this exact size in very good condition from the laundry room. I'll suggest to the Kiwis that we swap them out. I'll let you know what they say. It's such a relief to have everything exposed so I can fix it. Happy house!
That's all for today.
--Molly
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Getting Started!
Just two days in, my exterior seems utterly transformed. It's exciting and scary. I expect the project to be completed in about a month (ok, you can laugh now). Comments, encouragement and opinions are welcome!!
The renovation will include the following projects:
1. remove vinyl and asbestos siding, soffits, etc.
2. frame in laundry room window and door
3, create a new back exit from kitchen with french doors
4. reside the house
5. trim out a newly stylish front porch
6. add a deck off the back
7. surround the back yard with a privacy fence
8. replace the shed (maybe) and shape up the carport
9. Gut and replace the kitchen (NOT part of the current plan, but hopefully up soon!)
Here's the front of the house BEFORE:
Two days ago the contractors came by to take a peek under the siding:
As you can see, the vinyl covers asbestos shingles. Underneath are gorgeous wood windows and good, solid wood planks that hold the asbestos. The following detail shot shows you the planks, which will hold the Hardie Plank siding well. They are smooth and flat, which is important because Hardie is so straight that it shows flaws underneath. Don't miss the cute ripply edge of the old asbestos siding! Why oh why do people install vinyl?
Today when I got home from work, half of the house had had its siding removed! The Tyvek is just temporary, protecting the house in case it rains (yeah, right; we would do anything for rain right now!). Check out the windows, released from their ugly screens, and the big porch. The gutters are gone, and underneath the aluminum soffits, the wood soffits coverinf the underside of the eaves seems to be in really good condition:
OK, that's all for today. There is some rot here and there (as expected) but I'm so pleased that this project is actually underway. There's no going back! Please send good renovation karma.
--Molly
The renovation will include the following projects:
1. remove vinyl and asbestos siding, soffits, etc.
2. frame in laundry room window and door
3, create a new back exit from kitchen with french doors
4. reside the house
5. trim out a newly stylish front porch
6. add a deck off the back
7. surround the back yard with a privacy fence
8. replace the shed (maybe) and shape up the carport
9. Gut and replace the kitchen (NOT part of the current plan, but hopefully up soon!)
Here's the front of the house BEFORE:
Two days ago the contractors came by to take a peek under the siding:
As you can see, the vinyl covers asbestos shingles. Underneath are gorgeous wood windows and good, solid wood planks that hold the asbestos. The following detail shot shows you the planks, which will hold the Hardie Plank siding well. They are smooth and flat, which is important because Hardie is so straight that it shows flaws underneath. Don't miss the cute ripply edge of the old asbestos siding! Why oh why do people install vinyl?
Today when I got home from work, half of the house had had its siding removed! The Tyvek is just temporary, protecting the house in case it rains (yeah, right; we would do anything for rain right now!). Check out the windows, released from their ugly screens, and the big porch. The gutters are gone, and underneath the aluminum soffits, the wood soffits coverinf the underside of the eaves seems to be in really good condition:
OK, that's all for today. There is some rot here and there (as expected) but I'm so pleased that this project is actually underway. There's no going back! Please send good renovation karma.
--Molly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
