August Part One

When we bought this house we knew we had to replace the porch. Built in 1959 before there were codes in this part of the country, the original deck was built with materials too small to stand the test of time. Someone closed it in adding more weight. It was sagging and dangerous.

A lack of money and plethora of priorities put this project on hold. It was daunting. I shopped and found a company to tear off the porch and build a deck and another to replace all our windows. We also had all the trim wrapped in vinyl. No more painting for us.

This is Brian's photo documentation of the tear off and the rebuild. Although there is plenty more to do for this old house, one set of projects at a time.

It kept me home for most of the month of August. Josh and Juan from Archadeck built our beautiful new deck. They were challenged. A footing failure we addressed years ago left our house no longer square. It took days to be sure that they got the deck square. It was also 97 degrees outside so moving was slow.

Before the porch was torn off it would rain in our den. Even with the missing roof line the den stayed dry once the porch roof was gone.

The idea was that we would close it in someday when we had more money, but once that roof came off and we realized how it opened up our view we decided otherwise. It gets so hot here it's not like we spent a lot of time on the porch anyway.

Once the deck flooring was done , the window guys came. They were fast. Windows were popped out and replaced in no time.

With the windows out in the bedroom we got the hot tub removed. YAY! For 13 years our master suite has been crowded by a hot tub we did not use. To run it required chlorine and added humidity. We paid the window guys and two of their friends to take it out and bring it around back. It now lives under the deck. When we can afford the electrician we will get it up and running. For now it is just great to have it out of our room.

The 2nd morning the window guys were here brought the trim crew. At 8 a.m. I was surrounded by a S.W.A.T. team of Hispanic gentlemen. They got half the trim done swiftly but had to come back to finish after the roof line was rebuilt.


It fell to Brian because I was off to Fatima. He stayed home while I was away. Since my return we have had to nail down a few things. (Where were my shutters?!?!) We still have a little more to complete but it looks fabulous and feels like we moved.

Now there are gutters. When it rains the water stays outside. I only have to walk out the back door to fire up the grill for dinner. I have to drum up more business to pay for all this but it is worth it!