Garage Update

When we finished the siding project on the house last fall, I had some siding left over. I didn't want to get rid of it, nor was I all that excited to keep it, since that meant storing this really long awkward stuff somewhere on the property. Luckily, I found a place to keep it in the garage.

Then we had the garage mishap, and needed some siding.

I finally got the siding replaced yesterday. I thought at first that I had only one damaged piece to deal with, but when I looked at the others, I found that there were three that had damage. Two I could have used in a pinch, but since I had undamaged siding to use, I just threw the broken stuff away.

I ended up putting it on the house twice, as the first time when I tried to bridge the last gap and noticed I had things on a little crooked. So I started over and on the second time got things in place properly.

We still have some painting to do, and a lot of stuff shuffling inside in order to get my car in there, but we're a lot closer than we were just a few days ago.

$1,290 Later . . .

 So, $1,290 later, the garage is back in action.

Good news in the following categories:

1. We no longer have to have someone sleeping in the kitchen with a baseball bat in case someone tried to break in or steal something.

2. The garage door components were undamaged, so the door functions just fine without having to spend additional money to fix.

3. I'm rearranging things in the garage in a vain attempt to make things better.

The corner by the door is turning into a tool/recycling center area. I've moved some shelves in for some of Isaac's tools and folderol, and the camp chairs and other long-ish items are going to be moved out to the shed.

The more I poke at this stuff, the more I really realize we do need a shop in a desperate way, becasue SO MUCH OF THIS STUFF COULD GO INTO A SHOP and we'd have work areas as well.

I still have to replace the siding on the front of the house and do some painting or some kind of weatherproofing on the new wood. Not looking forward to that, but it's gotta be done.

It's Done

 

Finishing today, that was the goal.

To do that, I had to call in the heavy guns: My wife Michelle, who spent her summer at the COPE and climbing tower at Island Park Scout Camp and thus is more inured to rickety ladders and heights than I am and was the one who went to the top of the second floor so we could FINISH THE FREAKING SIDING TODAY.

It's a good feeling.

I don't know that I enjoyed every aspect of this project, but it has been satisfying to do it, and seeing it done is even a better satisfaction.

All that's left is to clean up the horrendous mess in the backyard from today's discards, get all the discards hauled off, and then figure out how to store the bits of siding I have left because that's traditionally what you do with the leftover stuff. I have a few shelves in the garage where I think it'll hide nicely.

This also means if I can get everything cleaned up I'll have an easier time parking my own car in the garage this winter.

Closing in on Finishing

Started out today on the last major wall of this project. But was stymied because I forgot to buy more housewrap. My wife was nice enough to get some for me while she was out, but was a little miffed in her OCD way when all the wrap I put on today was upside down.

Good news is, I got it all covered.

Hoping to get more done tomorrow (hoping to finish, actually). But we'll see if that happens. I'm going to have to get the ladder up on the roof and then an assistant to hold the ladder as I work. Going to try to get as much done from the "ground" as I can, though. I don't like ladders.

This might be the wonkiest wall of siding I've done on the house, as I've struggled to keep it level. It's in "close enough" territory, so I'm not that worried about it.

I am down to only one box of siding in the garage. Which is a good thing. I still have to finish the big wall and the chimney, including the short side seen in this photo, as I haven't even started on that wall yet.

Here's one thing to think about, though. As I buy my supplies at Home Depot, I note they have vynil soffit and fascia there as well. So I may be doing that next year. Though I think next year will be a "finish the fence" year.

[Laughs Pessimistically]

So I'm back on the siding thing. No, wait, still on it.

All I have left to so is the upper part of the northern part of the house to do. If I could only figure out how to get the truck up there so I can put the ladder in the back of it like I did on the lower part of the north side, I'll be in business.

But, of course, that's not going to happen. So I'm going to have to use a ladder.

Dammit.

So right now I'm concentrating on the lower bits I can reach from the roof. Behold, after two days of work:

I'm actually a little further on than that, having covered most of the house wrap on the chimney here. I was just too tired to go out and take another picture.

I don't mind saying getting the angles along the bottom of the chimney kicked my butt; I ended up wasting two lengths of siding trying to get it right.

Clearly the north side is where all the bugs, particularly houseflies, go to die, because the old siding has been absolutely full of bug corpses. I've swept a lot of them up.

I had hoped to be further along than this, but what I've got done has taken a lot out of me. Walking on the slanty roof is a lot more tiring than it should be. But I can see the end of it, so that's good news.

Almost Done, but Nobody Cares

One little strip to do along the side above the right bedroom window. And then I have to clean and re-hang the shutters. Then it's on to the last bit to do: The wall with the chimney.

That's going to be a challenge. I keep thinking it won't be bad, but then I look at the house from the back and that back wall is a lot taller than the front wall.

 

The Siding Project Continues Apace . . .

So after the elbow thing, it got really hot. Like into the 90s hot. Which was fine; that meant I could rest my elbow a bit longer. Tuesday night, however, I decided it was cool enough, and my elbow was healed enough that I could start again on the upper front of the house that Liam and I prepped way back on the Fourth of July.

I didn't get as far as I wanted to tonight as some of my siding slid off the roof into the front yard. I did not fall, but I decided by the time I got down to get more siding that I wasn't going to do any more siding tonight. I think I got the hard part done, getting that first layer on the bottom so I could go up both outer sides of the house. Started filling inbetwen the windows, but then I met the octagon window and the last of my siding fell off the roof, so I was done. I'm thinking eight or nine more pieces on the front and then I'm on to the side of the house, including the chimney.

But my right arm -- not the elbow -- is feeling a little funky, so I think I'm done typing tonight too.

 

Siding Continues, and the Elbow's Feeling Much Better, TYVM.

Finally got that angle above the garage finished, meaning everything I could start from the ground is finished. That's a good thing.

Also good is that the front upper portion of the house is prepped to receive, including getting all the trim around the windows done. One challenge I'm facing is that I'm out of the blue J-channel, so I have to decide if I want to try to scrounge some up, or just use the white J-channel I can find at Home Cheapo. I know of one local distributor, so maybe I'll try them out. I'll have to see if they'll sell it to me by the stick, rather than by the case, because I'd rather not have to buy a full case of it. But that might have to be the way to go.

This effort, of course, is coinciding with the hottest weather we've had all summer. I either have to go out really early in the morning (which is fine, as I'm the only one home right now since the rest of them are at scout camp, but I like a lie-in) or I have to go out later in the day when the house is casting a shadow over itself and I'm not baking my brains out in the heat. Either way, it's not pleasant. The only reason I got the front stripped was that they all were here on the Fourth of July so I had a little help getting it all taken down.

What's also a bit of good news is that my right elbow, which started to act up a few weeks ago and was making cutting siding painful or almost impossible, is finally on the mend. I'm not sure what I did to hurt it, but I think it's some kind of carpal tunnel thing, as I've been doing a lot of awkward cutting and a lot of typing for my day job. I'm glad it's feeling better, as having it hurt really put the spoiler on doing anything with it. There was even a week or two I could hardly carry any weight on that arm at all, it was so sensitive.

On the Injured and Stupid List

From the "I'd Give My Right Arm to Be Ambidextrous" department:

A week or so ago, I injured something in my right elbow. It's probably a repetetive stress injury from typing way too much on the computer and using my right hand heavily to hand-cut vinyl siding.

I talked to my doctor about it, and she gave me a brace to wear on my elbow. I've been faithful in wearing it, and I've been careful with my activities to try to give that arm a rest.

Today, I felt in fine fettle, so I decided to work on the siding some more (as evidenced below) as I took a break from working a little overtime for the full-time job.

My elbow, which had no complaints this morning, is now screaming at me and calling me a lot of names. And I didn't finish the siding spot I hoped to finish today because the last bits will require a lot of cutting.

Just tell me the siding looks good.

Also, don't let that ladder fool you. I got onto the roof like a man: Climbing out of a bedroom window onto the porch roof.

My Zipper is Missing

I spent an hour rolling around on the roof removing old siding and getting the area prepped for new siding.

I rolled around so much my pants rotated about 45 degrees so when I went to use the bathroom my zipper was missing.