Saturday, July 18, 2015
Shingling again
Last week I pulled the old window and stripped the clapboards off the south side gable end.
Got the new window in
And sealed to the weather
Re-nailed the old sheathing boards
Tar-papered the wall
Set up my pump jack staging . . . and trimmed out the window. . . . I hate pump jack staging cause it is
heavy awkward and I always hurt my back when setting it up or taking it
down, not to mention the sudden shorts-soiling moments it provides when cranking it back
down and it suddenly slips down the pole a foot. How many times did I bang my head on the braces or scrape my shins on the jacks?
Bought a cheap 10 inch fan at Wally-World and made it in to a box fan to fit in the gable end.
Fitted the fan at the peak of the gable end, to keep the roof cool, and trimmed it out
Then last Wednesday we rejoiced as a moving van arrived to move the neighbors out across the street. I like it when chaos goes away. The new owners of the house seem a bit more normal. We just met them, a young physicians assistant military veteran and his wife. No slackers like the last bunch. I get good vibes from them.
Then Thursday dawned bright clear and low humidity in the 40s, so I figured it was my one chance to get the wall shingled before the full blown heat of August hits us.
It was a long day, every row had at least 4 shingles on either end to cut and fit, some more.
Almost done, might as well keep pushing
By 8;15 pm I had put in an 11 hour day, sore achey, scraped shins, bumped noggin, cut and splintered fingers, but it is done.
7:30 am coffee on Friday I have to look at it just to make sure it is really done and not a figment of my imagination.
Hey Mike, congrats on your new hopefully normal neighbors. Your place is looking real good. Great job.
ReplyDeleteHey John, Things are looking up lately, I think everyone will be happy with the new neighbors. It is definitely a positive sign. Still more work to do on the house but I am slowly beating the place in to submission. Hope all is well with you in Alaska.
Deletegreat job! i bet you are glad to have it done. is there any better feeling than seeing jerko neighbors move? i would love to see a few moving vans pull up on my street!
ReplyDeleteHi Jaz, finishing up the gable ends has been a long time coming. It sure feels good to get it done. Next is a proper front door on the house and then the exterior will be finished. Tax assessor will probably up my rate as punishment. On the neighbors, it is one down two to go. The bully that gets his rocks off by cussing at me and throws food left overs in my driveway is still there. The day he assumes room temperature I will host a keg party for the whole block. The chaotic crack junkie behind me is still there as well. We read the police blotter every day hoping to learn she has finally been hauled off to crowbar hotel for good.
DeleteYou are surely a skilled carpenter. I wish you lived in my neck of the woods, there's a lot I would like to know how to do that you surely could teach me.
ReplyDeleteYour place really looks good. I'm glad the bad neighbors have moved away. That should give you more peace of mind.
Harry, in thirty years plus of pounding nails I have learned a thing or two. The one nice thing about working on my own projects is I get to do it the way I wanted and not the way some architect that never touched a tool drew up on a piece of paper. The final look I arrived at was a collective result of the many projects I worked on over the years. When I started the place had no overhangs, you could say a garrison style and was clad in vinyl white and aluminum trim over old wood, all hiding a multitude of sins. It has been a lot of hard work but I am very happy with the results. Got a lot of thumbs up from folks in the neighborhood while working on it. So that is satisfying as well.
DeleteI'm the same, once I start if I think I can finish I'll do all I can to! Looks really good and glad you've got rid of your horrible neighbours (I'm assuming they wete the bad ones?).
ReplyDeleteI've got so much to do on the house but I've also got too much work on over the summer. Some things never change!
Hi Kev, unfortunately the ones that left were not the worst of the three troublesome ones. These were directly across us and most of their bad behavior was just due to a chaotic life styles and lack of consideration. Lots of odd friends coming and going, noisy boy racers, teenagers playing infantile games and leaving their toys laying in the street and making noise at all hours of the day and night. Not mean just thoughtless. I have two more that I will be happy to see leave. The old pervert across the street to the right of the one that just moved. He is an obese old sicko and is the one screaming profanities at me every time he drives by. He has done some vandalism to my property in the past and is the one throwing food scraps in my driveway. I also still have the crack junky behind me.
DeleteI clearly live on the wrong side of the track.
Looks great...
ReplyDeleteI had a summer shingling a big roof when I was 17 loved every minute of it..;b
Hey Brian: Doing cedar shakes is not so bad but it tends to be fiddly work especially when you but up to the rake on the gable end. Its nice when you have some straight runs where you can make some good headway and cover some area fairly quick. But climbing staging is a young man's job, and this clown is getting a bit long in the tooth. Price on the B grade white cedar shingles was 200 U$ a square (10x10 feet) Not cheap.
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