Busy Summer Awaits

It's going to be another busy summer for me - probably busier than ever. As you may know, I am in the process of buying my new home and the sale closes at the end of the month. So I have a little bit of time to prepare for that. In addition to getting myself moved in, I also plan to make a few improvements to the house, even though the place does not need a lot of work. I don't know if I'll be doing much to the new home this summer as I have plans with other assorted projects, but maybe more this fall and winter. Whatever the case may be, it'll finally be nice to have my own home where I can do whatever I want with! That is what's rough about renting - you pay your rent every month and it's basically like throwing your money away. So in that regard, it'll be fun to gradually make improvements to the place.

Phase two of the major siding and windows project will get started on my parents house this summer as well. In fact, our order of windows and siding will be dropped off this coming Thursday! We still need to pick up a few things from Menards - but we should be able to start the project almost immediately once my dad and I have time off together. I wouldn't say it's as extensive of a project like last years', but it'll still be a lot to accomplish. We're not rebuilding walls like we did last summer, just basically going over top the existing siding and replacing windows along the way. We elected to save one existing window that was roughly 15 years old (relatively new) and two others since they let out light from the attic and garage. The other important windows of the house will be replaced. I don't know what it is, but anytime my dad and I plan a major project, I just can't wait to get started. It must be the inner-carpenter inside of me.

Also on my parents house, we have one exterior door to change out. Last winter we had a lot of trouble with cold air passing through around the frame. It's not in physically bad condition, but it's just letting in too much cold air. Changing out this door might be tricky because around it is the new siding we put up last year. I have a feeling I might be taking it all down just to put the new door in. Hopefully not! Anyways, it should be an adventure as always. We also plan on installing metal roofing on the remainder of the garage. When we built the addition to the garage ten years ago, we installed a metal roof on it. Gradually my dad has been putting metal roofing on the rest of the garage. It's been a few years since he put the last section up, but he's looking to finish off the remainder of the garage roof this summer. It needs it, too, since part of the garage roof that's shingled started leaking last fall. Hopefully we'll be able to fit this project in once the siding is complete.

And if you thought that's all we had planned on my parents house, you're wrong! My dad also wants to dismantle the old chimney on the south side of the house. We used to have a wood burning stove years ago. After we remodeled the kitchen, we opted not to include the stove as part of the new kitchen, so the chimney inlet for the stove was covered up. Now, ten years later, we'll be taking down the old chimney. It shouldn't be too much work as the chimney's not all that big. However, my dad had the top of the chimney re-done 15 years ago when we installed a new roof on the south side of the house, so it might be kind of tough knocking the old bricks off. We'll see if we get that far.

Those are just a few of the projects planned for the summer of 2009. That doesn't include visits to see my sister in Wisconsin along with other fun activities that I plan to be part of. Before you know it, summer will be over and I'll be wondering where it all went. And then I'll think back, "oh, I was doing this, and this, and this!" Hopefully mixed in with all these projects, I'll be able to enjoy some of the U.P's wilderness. After all, I think summer in the U.P. is why many of us choose to live here year-round. Happy summer to all those out there in blog-land!

Home Remodeling

Next month, my dad and I are tackling a home remodeling project where we'll replace two old windows and re-side a portion of the house. The windows are different sizes from what is currently in place, so we have to create new rough openings, make some minor repairs inside the house where the new windows will be installed and then eventually re-side two portions of the front of the house. This type of construction is what we've done on our house in the past - but dealing with vinyl siding is something we both have never dealt with before. My dad is more familiar with installing new windows more than I, but it has been years since he's done such work. So we're going to be a little rusty when it comes to actually performing the work in the new month. But I must admit, doing these kinds of projects really gets me worked up and it's something I enjoy doing.

We've made big improvements to the house over the years. Probably the biggest project we've ever finished was an addition to our garage. I can't remember the exact dimensions - but it was somewhere around a 24' x 18' addition. We had an old storage shed where the new addition currently sits and it sat atop a small embankment. It was an older building - if I was to guess when it was constructed, I'd say the 1950's or '60's at least. The timbers supporting the structure were beginning to rot and the embankment was slowly starting to erode away. We were running the risk of having the building slide into our existing garage, so we decided to make the move and demolish the old shed. It was something I really looked forward to doing, that I ended up tearing the entire shed down by myself. I was probably 15 or 16 years old then. It only took me a couple of days to bring the structure down, too. It wasn't a huge building by no means, but it probably was something that should've been handled with two people. But I was so eager and anxious to get the structure down - I didn't need any help. And I took the building down piece by piece. There were no backhoes, power tools, or other heavy machinery used to bring it down. All I needed was a crowbar or two and a hammer. I actually enjoyed it.

Once I had everything cleared from the old building site, my dad decided that he wanted something to replace the old shed. And seeing that the old building sat directly behind the garage, the piece of land would be perfect for an addition. The only trouble was, the building site was built up some six to ten feet above the existing garage structure, so we had to have the area dug out. What made it even worse was that the area could not be accessed with a backhoe because of terrain and building issues. My dad and I had to dig the entire area out by hand in order for any thoughts of an addition being built there could happen. So that's what we did. We hauled load after load of soil over to my uncle's property where we helped him build a new road on the backside of his property to access one of his buildings. Eventually the digging got even tougher as we got into some bedrock. I remember my dad and I swinging a big sledge hammer to break up many different slabs. We eventually hauled this gravel-like material over to my uncles and laid that ontop of the soil we previously put down on the new road. Heck, we became road builders, too!

I think it took us two years before the area was finally dug out enough to where construction could finally take place. However, we had to have some material brought in - sand to be specific, so a cement floor could be laid. Also, since the south end of the new addition would actually be built into the ground, much of the walls on the south and west side had to be constructed of cement block. Neither one of us had ever dealt with laying cement walls, so we had that and the pouring of the cement floor contracted out with a couple of local guys. They did a decent job and I know they were much quicker with it than both my dad and I ever could've been. So we let the cement cure for a good few weeks at least before we purchased lumber and started building walls. And really, we didn't have too many walls to build since a lot of the structure would already be cement. That part was probably the easiest. Once the walls were completed, our biggest challenge would be setting the roof trusses. My dad ended up recruiting my uncle and his son to help us out. And with those two extra helpers, it really went fast! Before we knew it, we were able to start tacking down some plywood. I do remember my dad becoming very frustrated in building new valleys for the addition connecting to the house - which he needed my uncle to come back and help us with. So with that out of the way, we were able to put on a roof. We went with a metal roof for the addition, which I think looking back, my dad probably wished he went with shingles. But nontheless, what's done is done. He's now looking to put metal roofing on the rest of the garage as the old portion of the garage is shingled.

Eventually we'd get the metal roof installed, have the windows and doors installed, put up the siding, and the structure would finally be all-weather proof. Our work would now be focused on the interior, where we'd make the new addition more of a work shop and portion to the east side set aside for a sauna. The sauna took us some time to complete as we had to construct it with cedar paneling and make it moisture resistant. When it was done, it was certainly worth the wait. Heck, after nearly 10 years later, our sauna is still often used. And our new garage workshop gave us much more room for storage. We really ended up doing a good job with the project which is why it's one of our most memorable home remodeling projects ever.

My dad and I probably are not done with the home remodeling work on the house yet. Just this afternoon, he was discussing with me his plans to buy two more windows and replace them in his bedroom. I know we were looking at doing this next year - but he may be seriously considering doing this fairly soon. Whatever the case, it needs to be done. The house isn't getting any younger and he really needs to get it fixed up before he retires. Then, he won't have to worry about any major improvements to the house for the rest of his life. Whether we do that this summer or next, I know it won't be the end of our construction work. And I'm not afraid to admit that I certainly don't mind.