My Oh My Oh My

What a difference a coat of paint can make.

It took several weeks to get to the final product. I had to start by taking down the old rain gutters, then remove the aluminum siding that wrapped the trim, and finally tearing down the wooden facia, soffit and frieze board. While removing the old trim I learned that the old soffit only had three vents seven inches by nine inches. Not nearly enough ventilation to remove the heat from the attic space. The house was "trim less" for a couple of weeks while we built a roof over the back patio.

Thank goodness Darby and David came to help construct the roof. Clearly a task I could not have accomplished by myself. Before they arrived I obtained the building permit and dug and poured the footings. We hit the ground running and after the first full day of work had the posts and beams erected.

We then proceeded to put up the ridge board and rafters.

Once we finished the frame we layed the sheathing on the roof.

Having Darby and David here reminded me of a project we did about 20 years ago with Darby and a different David, my father. It was great having three D's together for some bonding and manly work.

The pressure was on to not only complete the patio roof but to install the new fascia around the perimeter of the house. Both the roofers and winter were coming and this part of the project needed to be completed before the weather turned ugly. Mother nature threw us a little curve ball and decided to test our mental and physical fortitude with a little snow.

In addition to getting about three inches of snow we lost power for about 12 hours. Some were hoping for a snow day but it didn't happen and we were back at it just after lunch.

Having the covered patio will be great next summer but has already come in handy for a place for me to cut the door casing and baseboards when it rains.

You can't tell from the photo but it was snowing when I took this picture.

I was able to eventually install all of the exterior trim around the house and spray the brick with a coat of primer.

One coat of primer with the door, windows and trim masked.

Now we just had to wait for a day with calm winds and a "warm" temperature.

When I couldn't work on the exterior because of inclimate weather or limited day light, I was working in the basement trying to complete the bathroom before Darby and David arrived and installing Pergo flooring, the door casing and the baseboards.

Family room. Still need to install the slate surround.

Closet under the stairs.

The first room to be completely finished was none other then the fitness studio. Trish helped caulk the baseboards and apply the final coat of paint. We finished on Saturday morning and in the afternoon starting moving our equipment into the room.

We didn't waste any time and completed our first ride on Sunday morning.