Hello! Where have I been? What the heck is going on with that house, you ask? Well, here is some of what we have been up to this month. When we bought this house we knew that the first thing it would need was a roof. You see, the house had (and yep it still has) it’s flaws, and that big flat roof there in the front was one of the biggest. There were a number of leaks, causing mold and dry rot and inviting wood eating bugs and according to the neighbors, everyone who has lived in this house has suffered the plight of this roof, for years. I won’t go into the details, but the design was flat out crazy. To just replace the flat parts really would have been pretty simple and relatively inexpensive, but it just didn’t seem right to do the same crazy thing over again and so, we ended up with what has become at least a 3 phase project. I am happy to say it seems we are entering phase 3… but for now, here is a walk-through of most of phase 1.
That photo above shows the house as it was when we bought it. In fact, that photo was taken the first time we ever looked at it.
We started by taking down that storefront type board. It was rotting, unnecessary and really unattractive.
We have tried to save everything that is salvageable, and we kept every bit of solid wood from going to the dump. There have been quite a few instances already within this project, where we have been able to reuse some materials.
We decided to completely remove the porch covering. One of the worst leaks was just to the right of the top of the door. It was very moldy in there and pretty well infested with carpenter ants, and you should have seen the inside of the coat closet, which is just on the other side of that wall. Have you ever seen a wall growing fur?? This is also the south side and on the Oregon Coast, sunshine can be a really big deal! Being the sun lovers that we are we felt like we really wanted to open this side up as much as we could. We may even add a window in the future.
Here we have cut back the overhang quite a bit, minimizing everything down, preparing for the new one over the porch, and the new fascia. The porch covering is gone and those strange blue bedposts that used to stick out of that planter box are gone too.
Part of the plan to change the flaws, was to pitch this little roof over what is now the utility room. This would eliminate the most problematic area and update the look of the house a bit. The garage roof, unfortunately, is still pretty much flat although we removed some of the flaws that were in the old design (like downspouts within the roof structure, all of which were located in high spots!).
The framing of the new little pitched roof – our contractor’s fantastic idea.
In the next few days I hope to focus on some indoor projects a bit. There is a potentially exciting discovery I want to explore, which I’ll share the results of later.
Enjoy the day everyone! And thanks for visiting.
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Before patching, I sewed the hole up, loosely but securely, so it wouldn’t continue to unravel.
I almost could have called it done at this point, but that fix is not nearly as fun or lasting as patching.
I made a patch pattern to my desired shape and size, and then cut 2 patches from an old leather skirt. Then I marked out and punched my stitch holes.
The location of the hole was the perfect reference for where to place the patch. For the other sleeve, I matched it to the first by measuring, and then eyeballing it into position.
I think that now it’s better than new! I also like to think my sweater even looks a little less frumpy now.
