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Recent Entries to this Blog
Another Haircut!
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Pianolady's Gardens
Windows Are In
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:11 pm Our old windows were single pane with all the glazing coming off, so anything would have been an improvement. Our new windows are triple pane with argon gas. It should make a huge difference. We changed the configuration of the living room unit. The center window stays fixed, but we changed to casement windows on the side with a 25-50-25 ratio to get more air coming in the side windows. Top photo is before, bottom after. 
All our other windows are double hung, oak interior, white exterior. As we update the interior, all the trim will eventually change to oak. 
They're coming back tomorrow to wrap all the exterior trim then I can take some exterior shots. This blog entry has been viewed 357 times
Getting Ready for Monday
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:17 pm Another weekend finishing up projects. Hubby got the garage finished taping and it's done, the storage pod is empty & ready to be picked up tomorrow, and he's doing some finish work on the porch posts to fill any cracks that show at the joints. Looking good! 
While he was working on that, I transplanted sedum to the retaining wall area and cleared out the areas in front of all the windows getting replaced tomorrow. I think we're ready! Last edited: Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:08 pm This blog entry has been viewed 362 times
Construction Update June 24
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:14 pm This will probably be the last update for a bit, as we're finished with the garage & our deck materials are yet to be ordered. I suppose he'll get the deck started but we've yet to special order the planking. My husband worked 8+ hours / day on the garage over the weekend. All the old siding and old sheathing is gone; the old window and door and all the framing is gone; new framing put up; new sheathing put on; most of the taping is done. The garage has actual walls! 
This blog entry has been viewed 367 times
Construction Update June 23
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 1:27 pm We didn't waste any time getting the construction on the garage started. We tore off the siding and sheathing on the north side & did get that side finished. On to the west side Sunday, then it will be ready for the vinyl siding. Work in progress... 
This blog entry has been viewed 388 times
Phase 1 Done!
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:39 pm Garage footings, new sill plate & rotted wood GONE! Ready for us to take the siding & sheathing off & resheath & wrap for the vinyl siding (we'll DIY that). We raised the footings of the garage several inches to match the level of the driveway. Someday when we pour a new concrete floor & driveway, we'll appreciate that. 
Retaining Wall is also finished. This came out so much nicer than I expected. 
This blog entry has been viewed 383 times
Construction Update June 21
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:56 pm The wall is a surprise! It's all wall now, no dirt to have to plant. This I actually like, as trees were always wanting to grow in this area, and it was a hassle to weed. 
The concrete footings for the garage did get poured yesterday. They did a really nice job. They propped up and leveled out our garage the best one could. It's a lot better than it was. 
This blog entry has been viewed 381 times
Construction Update June 20
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:48 pm Looks like they're getting close to pouring the garage footings. Maybe today! 
And the retaining wall is beginning to take shape. 
And my neighbor and I were able to use the excavated dirt to build up our gardens. My neighbor's is especially low, and a large portion was unusable due to flooding when it rains. They just pulled the truck up and dumped it in the low spot. Should be good stuff too, original Loess Hills soil, not fill dirt. This blog entry has been viewed 342 times
Building Porch Posts
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:54 pm We got a good start on building sleeves around our old iron porch posts. We started by making a PVC base plate to keep the wood off the concrete (PVC board). 
Lots of gorilla glue and use of the brad nailer later, we were putting the final side on our cover. 
We got started on the corner post, but ran out of time to work. But you can get a little bit of an idea how it will go together. 
Still have to finish the corner cover, then we'll prime & paint. We decided to cover what we had instead of putting up 6X6 posts to save room on our porch. It gave us a little more walking room to get by the posts since the porch isn't very deep. 
This blog entry has been viewed 719 times
Progress on Home Restoration
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:33 am I'm past calling it a remodel and on to calling it a restoration! Now we have a storage pod in our driveway the next month to store the contents in our garage while they fix the foundation of the garage. Our neighbors are going to love us! Actually, they'll be happy we're fixing the place up. The storage pod is an expensive thing, sure hope I can get my contractor out here to fix the garage before I have to pay for another month. Got some "before" pics of the house before the pod arrived. And I rigged up an "after" pic of what the house may look like after all the work is done. South Side of House Yes, this is how it's been for two years. Luckily trees hide it from the public view for the most part. 
Back Side with Deck Removed 
We're keeping the concrete steps behind the garage, they're actually in pretty good condition. We've been working on removing the rest though. 
Back Side of Garage 
North Side of Garage This side of the garage is literally hanging from the rafters. The concrete they put along the garage actually trapped water against the garage causing all kind of damage, and there used to be termites in this area. In fact, there are no footings in the garage, they just put down a slab and built a garage on it. It's a miracle it's not fallen down (mainly because we built a wall in the center to support it). You don't want to push on this wall, lol. 
If you've made it this far....here's my big experiment. It's my "guess" on how the house will look when it's done. We'll still need to replace the driveway, but that will just have to wait. 
This blog entry has been viewed 434 times
Day 2 of Home Remodeling & Deck Plans
Category: Home Improvements | Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 6:35 pm Well I got my new hot water heater this morning, and now I'm waiting for my dumpster to show up so I can put the old deck into it! That will feel good, and we'll have to comb through the house for stuff we've been wanting to get rid of. My next goal for today is to repaint our house numbers and get them moved to the garage. We removed the shutters off the front of the house last night, we're not keeping them. We've also decided to get rid of the wrought iron porch supports after all. That will probably be a project for next week. Probably going to go with square columns, tinkering with the idea up custom wrought iron, but I don't think that will be in our budget. We've also decided we'll probably do vinyl siding. It comes in 7" singles which should look pretty good on this house. We're choosing a darker blue-green/gray than what we have now. It's called "Everest". After looking around at houses, the seams show up more on the lighter houses in our opinion, so we're going with a darker color than originally planned. Something like this... 
Of course the shutters will be gone, and our new big window will be one unit instead of 3 separate windows, with casement windows. It'll look completely different. We are keeping double hung windows for the bedrooms since the porch isn't very deep & we'd have to walk around casement windows. Hoping to finalize the order on that tomorrow, then there will be ~6 week wait. DH has dreamed up his deck plans. He will rebuild the deck we had with the same dimensions, add a 2nd smaller deck behind the garage, both which will step down to our concrete steps already in place. Between the decks will be some sort of walk/patio area. The retaining wall installer is going to terrace that side of the hill in two levels, that was his idea and I like it. 
Last edited: Tue May 29, 2012 7:05 pm This blog entry has been viewed 381 times
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