Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Two steps forward, ten steps back.

Step one of the deck project began with relocating some nearby bushes because the deck is going to be enlarged.  That went smoothly.

And then the snow came. And the cold weather. Not just for a day or two. Wintry weather has lasted more than a week.  So I started step two - the demo - with a snow covered deck.  At first I thought I’d be taking it apart board by board. But instead, since no wood was worth salvaging,  I took a chainsaw to it.  And because Martha built it decades ago, without the proper nails (of course) it just about fell apart on its own. I had planned on three days for the demo but I finished in one, including loading it all in our trailer and hauling 3 loads to the transfer station. Which was good because I needed two days and a bottle of Ibuprofen to recuperate.



And then things went downhill.

Years ago when the deck first started looking like crap, Martha wanted to paint it. I was totally against that since it would require so much maintenance, but she painted it anyway. And because she is not very particular in the way she works, she splattered a darker grey paint all over the light grey vinyl siding. Then she tried to paint the vinyl to cover it. Over the years it became a splotchy mess that looked terrible. So, before the deck went back up, I wanted to replace it.  




First step -  rip off the old pieces. But I found you need a special tool for that.  Go buy tool.

It was so friggin’ cold that it was twice as hard to get off as it should have been and some of the trim moulding snapped because it was so brittle.  Had to replace that.

Then under the french doors I found a whole section of rotted wood.  Aarrggghhh!



Now needing wood I had to hook the trailer back up. But it still had the last load of deck debris so that needed to be emptied first. We had lost a huge tree branch in the snow storm so I wanted to throw that in the trailer also.  Got out the chainsaw to find the chain now needed sharpening. Spent an hour looking for the spare chain (because every good lesbian carries a spare chainsaw chain, right?) Finally got that fixed, the branch cut up, trip to the landfill, trip to Home Depot (where all their computer systems were down and it took almost 45 minutes to check out)  

Cut out the rotten wood, filled with epoxy, and pieced in replacement wood.  It took me almost 3 days to replace 9 pieces of siding!  My hands were cold and raw and shredded, I wrecked my knees with all the kneeling on the frozen ground, there’s not one part of my body that doesn’t ache, and I am now way behind schedule and haven’t even begun the first step of construction. And now it is raining.

I have been trying to find some the blessings in all of this, but the best I can do this week is:

I am grateful to have a soft warm bed to collapse in every night.






14 comments:

  1. Wow! I am so impressed you know how to do all this stuff. There's a blessing to be thankful for right there. Fearless skill. I am a little afraid of chainsaws.

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  2. There's nothing you can't learn from YouTube! And chainsaws are just slightly bigger carving knives. But a lot more fun : )

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  3. I can commiserate with you. The weather is warming up enough to make the grass grow and then get cold that I freeze when mowing it. We have a small piece of siding that kept falling off - cause the builder was too cheap to cut a 1 foot piece of channeling to hook it into. I finally used gorilla glue and stuck it back up. So far... So good. Good luck! I am sure it will look spectacular when you are finished!

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    1. I hadn't thought of just gluing the siding on : ) Though we do have one piece near the fascia that is always loose, I might try that on.

      This weekend is finally supposed to be warm and I am hoping that it will make the work go faster. But more realistically, it will make for more work as the gardens and lawn will be begging for attention. I may have to give into my age and hire some help.

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  4. (because every good lesbian carries a spare chainsaw chain, right?) Right! (Though, this good lesbian doesn't have even one, let alone a spare.) :-)

    I'm pleased you have a comfy spot to rest up for the next phase. Congrats on getting where you are.

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    1. I suppose urban lesbians don't require chainsaws . . . but if you had had one, I bet that cab driver would have been a lot nicer to you : )

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  5. This woman will not be daunted! Throw all you've got at her, she will not stop! You are impressive, 8. And probably so sore! Thank goodness for bed, sauna, pain relievers...

    ***Spare chain -- I love you. :-)***

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    1. Actually, I have been officially daunted and hired some neighborhood kids to move all the lumber that was delivered on my driveway and help hold the joists while fastening them. It was a win, win.

      So, so very sore, but the heaviest part (the deck foundation) is shaping up and then things should go much easier.

      Fingers crossed.

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  6. I hate it when a job begets a job which begets another job and so on. It's so frustrating.

    I love my bed at night too.

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    1. Exactly! I kept thinking all these tasks were having babies.

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  7. This is so butch I'm having to fan myself a bit.

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    1. This made me laugh out loud : )

      I really don't identify as butch, and yet there is that little part of me that loves me a chainsaw and a good project.

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