Sunday, November 18, 2012

The barn gets a facelift

A Sunday spent fighting with a ladder. And my knees are not what they used to be. Must have gone up that thing 50 or 60 times. Never much cared for heights. In the plane it does not bother me one bit but on the ladder I am not at all happy. Might be the 18 foot fall I took 25 yrs back breaking both my ankles..... but that's an other story for an other time..... The barn trim needed painting, a change in color was in order and we really did not care for the cheap skinny low quality trim the mooks that built it had used. So I resolved to change the rake boards and give them some more substance.

 After prepping the new 1x8 Toughboard composite with a couple of coats of stain, the first job was removing the old trim and the 1&1/2 inch wide CDX plywood sheathing firring strips behind it. Then I cut the vinyl siding back 3 inches along rakes using tin snips which was the hardest task of all. Wretched stuff and the man that invented vinyl siding ought to have his gonads nailed to the side of a barn.

Then I reinstalled the old trim as a new firring strips and started applying the new wider trim.

Each joint got a couple of biscuits in order to keep everything on the same plane with the lower edge floating over the vinyl siding.

Here is the finished job. The upstairs barn door and the garage door trim got a couple of coats of tan stain last week previous to replacing the trim. At some point I will replace the corner boards as well.


4 comments:

  1. It's clear that as a pilot, climbing up LONG ladders is a breeze for you.The knees I know the feeling.Most interesting house you have.Very nice setting.Must be great to have that garage area for a vehicle and workshop. Great Blogs.Your blogs covers such a large subject matter.All of the entries are very interesting. Love the food segment.Keep up the good work.
    ES

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    1. See the problem with ladders is that if they slip and you fall you don't have wings to carry you down gently. At least not on American ladders. Perhaps those french flying ladders may be a different thing!!! ;-) Having experienced the feeling of hitting the ground from 2 stories up once already I just can't erase the dreadful feeling from my sub-conscious. In the airplane heights don't bother me in the least bit cause I have total control. On the darn ladder I just get all wobbly and just can't overcome the tingly creepy falling out control vertigo thing... I do it, and in my brain I know the ladder is secure but I find it very stressful.

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  2. Love the building! I'm cringing at the thought of you breaking your ankles in that way! Sounds painful!

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    1. Kev: The fall was a lesson I could have done without. It was one of those things that happened because we were not careful enough. Digit damage is almost inevitable in the business. Many in the trade have lost a finger or two. After 30 yrs I have manged to keep all mine but now have wires an screws in my ankles. I was standing on a 2x12 plank spanning 12 feet with one end on the outside wall and the other inside the building on a temporary 2x4 brace. I was holding and attempting to nail in place one end of a 10 foot tripled up 2x10 that was to be a header for a dormer between a span of rafters. My boss standing on the top plate of the outside wall sought to help me and walked between the rafters on to the same plank and it did not hold our combined weight. I went straight down 18 feet. He managed to catch himself on the rafters. The header punched a neat hole through the 3/4 inch ply ground floor deck and wound up in the basement. I chewed on my hammer handle all the way to the hospital. As the years catch up with me I find I am not as brave nor agile as I once was. Perhaps its the achy ankles that remind me of my own mortality.... be safe out there, the missus and the kid are counting on you.

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