A few little things

today was a bit stormy (read that very rainy) and I wanted to get something done outside today so I dug the last two pieces of my metal roofing out from under the snow.  I had propped the roofing against the shed and when the snow all began in earnest in December two panels fell down in the wind and were buried under the snow.  It has been cold enough to make the snow super hard, crusty and icy so I didn't bother trying to get them out.  Well, I'm going to need them when this round of storms passes.  Since it was so warm today I figured I might as well dig them out and it was easy.  Then I had to wipe them down because they were quite dirty.  That was task #1.  

Then task #2 involved digging out a tarp that had been used to cover the siding panels before they were put up.  A similar situation as the roofing panels took place only the tarp also had a layer of ice.   It happened to be right under where the snow careens off the roof and piles up.  It was slippery and in the way of my ladder, so I thought it was time to take care of that one too.  Lots of digging today.

Task #3 happened to be my favorite.  I have been looking for a small fridge online for a long time and was cringing at the prices, but I ran across this little gem at Target on sale $70 off. So I ran out and snapped it up today.  Now I can more effectively plan my kitchen.  I've been kind of waiting until I got my fridge so I can be sure of the counter height. SO EXCITED to get this for a good price. I unboxed it for the picture, but put the box back on afterwards so it doesn't get all dusty and dirty while building walls and cabinets. 

Task #4 put me one step closer to my finished roof...I put the vent material on the ridge cap. Not hard, but necessary. So that is now ready to go too when the weather clears again enough to get back up on the roof. 

One step closer

I had such big plans today! I was all excited to get going on the metal roof so that I couold ditch the tarp, but alas it was not to be.  So here is where we left off with the photos. This is the post-siding/pre-trim version of the front of the house so far.

Then the trim that no one will ever see.  Funny that you can't really see how unfinished it looks. The trim needs a coat of paint. :)

Then we have the trim and the drip edge all finished.  Had to go buy more drip edge this morning.

So then I needed to finish preparing the roof for the metal by securing the un attached edges of my roof sheathing and finishing up the roof paper.  So I finally got up the courage to get up on the roof...sitting on the peak is not all that comfortable, btw...and got half of what I intended finished.  Got the roof paper about halfway down one side and the roll was gone!  Oh! the nerve of my roof paper running out just as I was making progress!  SO, Mom and I went to get more roof paper...and a hamburger. By the time we got home, finished eating, and back out to the house I had lost my umph, so I moved the metal roof panels into the house and cleaned up. It is supposed to storm again for the rest of the week, so I'll leave you with this picture from the middle of the roof.  

Well, except for this one...Nellie checking out the new digs.

More siding...all finished with siding!

So today I cut and put up the siding above the porch. I had to do a little piecing on one side, but once it is painted it won't be noticeable.  I had some difficulty hammering because of the angle of my arm in relation to the wall. Such a strange kinesiology thing. Anyway, here is a pic of the mostly finished siding.

I also got halfway finished with the trim.  More piecing together, but it is the trim that no one will see. After putting on the last piece I didn't want to get up and down the ladder again, so I pulled the tarp over without getting a photo. I'll take one before I start on the drip edge trim. I'm now getting a little excited about the roof!  It is so close I can almost smell it.  We're supposed to get some precipitation this coming week, so that is my motivation.  I have until Wednesday if the weather forecast is correct.  I'm so excited about folding up that tarp and putting it away!

Drip edge...and more!

Well, I'm one step closer to the roof. Got the drip edge on the tongue end gable. Drip edges aren't usually used this way but the gable end caps seemed too big and bulky, were ugly, and cost five times as much so I opted to go the more simple route and use the drip edge all the way around the house. So now the trim is finished on three sides as well as the drip edge on three sides.

Didn't post when I finished this side it took a couple of days because I had to paint a trim piece. Yes, once again I painted in the house because it is too cold outside. Anyway, finished that a few days ago and then took a two day break and stayed warm in the house.  Today was nice enough that Mom could sit outside with me, get a little sun, and stay warm.

I also finished the porch roof today and realized just how un-square it actually is. At this point I'm going to leave it alone and have an un-square porch roof.  As long as it does the job of keeping me dry during rainstorms while I'm sitting on the porch enjoying the lovely smelling rain, I really don't care if it is square or not.  Ask me again when I have to cut the metal roofing to make it look nice, my answer may be different. I also added a drip edge between the house and porch roof and started on the siding on the porch side gable.  I wasn't actually going to start that today, but I had a bit more sunlight when I finished with the porch roof so I figured I might as well get started on it. I'll finish that tomorrow and maybe get the trim on too. Only a few steps left before the roof! And now that the porch roof is on and sturdy, I feel much more comfortable getting on the roof. Wow! Sometimes I have a little reality moment and I get really excited that my little house is actually happening!  WAHOOOOOOOOOO!

More trim...

Another beautiful sunny day, so I decided to work on the trim again, as well as a couple of cosmetic things.  The first thing was to cut off the bottom 8 inches of siding from one piece that I didn't cut before putting it up.  Don't remember why I did that, but now the bottom line of siding is even all around.  Then the house wrap that was hanging down on the starboard side was quite ugly, so I trimmed that off and now it is taking on a more finished look.  I hadn't trimmed it before because the panels of siding were leaning there, but now the panels of siding aren't leaning there any longer.

Next I put up the trim on the porch side corners...

And then finished up with the window trim on one window.  I underestimated how much trim I would need, so unless I want to do a bunch of piecing together I'll have to go get some more trim.  I'm actually thinking about getting narrower trim for the smaller windows in the gables.  I don't know I'll have to think about it and maybe sketch it out to see if I like it.  I really like the look of the bottom corners of the trim.  I hadn't planned to do it that way, but I like the way it turned out...adds a little character.

Love a good sale!

Just scored some half-price tile to use for my backsplash in the kitchen! Waahhoooo!

A bit of trim

 The weather was quite nice again today, so I started on the trim. I got the corners on the tongue side finished and the gable.  Now I can start the eave trim on that end and the other side.  I think I'll try to finish the trim tomorrow and then I'll post some pictures. I've been so glad that the weather has been decent enough to work on the outside of the bungalow.  As I was going outside to clean up tonight the moon was peeking over the mountain. I decided that I had better take a couple of minutes to watch it. So inspiring to watch the full moon come up over the mountains. Very interesting that the detail of the trees on top of the mountain are visible with the bright moon behind them. Love it!

More siding...

The past two days have been quite nice weather. I haven't gotten a ton of things done on the bungalow, but the siding is almost finished. Got the siding under the porch roof put on yesterday.

Mom even sat outside this afternoon while I worked.  It was chilly, but in the sun I think she stayed warm enough.

Then today I got the siding put on the gable end on the other side. I had to buy another piece of siding so it hasn't been painted yet.  I might paint it tomorrow depending on how warm it actually gets.  I forgot to take a pic before I secured the tarp so this is a weird picture. 

Another strange one of the last piece going up

Mom enjoying the sunshine!

Sunset last night from the porch. A few minutes after I took this the moon came up over the clouds.  So pretty! (it was brighter pink than the pic shows, quite brilliant!)

Sunset looking out the opposite window.  It was a good one!

The Porch Roof!

Today the weather was quite warm compared to the last month or so...in the 40's! Wahoo! Decided to take on the porch today.  I had an idea of how I wanted it to go, so I went out and measured, then started cutting.  Put the framing together, but then the dilemma...how to get it up to where I wanted to attach it to the house and hold it there while I attached it.  So I put on the support posts then with my Incredible Hulk- like strength hoisted the whole thing up onto the porch. The support posts did their job and I was able to adjust the part that would be attached to the house and get one screw in. Whew!  Put a few more screws in and came in the house for dinner.  After dinner I put Mom to bed and went back out to do a bit more work. I took a light with me and I have to admit it was really nice to work out there with a light tonight. It stayed realtively warm until I came in at about 11.  But it is supposed to snow again tomorrow...big cold front coming through. So after dinner I put some sheathing on the porch roof. I'm determined to not buy another piece of plywood so I'm piecing together the porch roof.  One side is 1/2 inch plywood and the other side is 3/4 inch plywood. But I think I'm the only one who will know (except all of you who read this), and it won't be noticeable once the drip edge is on. So I was really happy with what got finished tonight. I still need to finish the sheathing because I didn't want to run the saw after 10pm.  I cut what I could and put it on, then covered it with roof paper, hoping that the wind will not blow it all away.  Since I finished so late I obviously didn't get any good pics.  I'll add some to this post tomorrow.  Yipee!! Now I can finish the siding on the porch side too. VERY excited about that.  Making progress and quite pleased with it.

Porch in the dark...

Porch in the light...

Looking out from inside the house

Another view

Port side eave trim!

I was conflicted today about what to work on...outside or inside. The weather was quite warm in comparison to how it has been lately. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer, maybe even in the 40's. So outside won. I got the eave trim on the port side as well as the drip edge. It took me much longer than I thought it would, but then what hasn't taken me longer than I thought it would? I took a picture, but it didn't turn out very well because it was getting dark again. Putting up stuff like this by myself has been an interesting challenge, but I have adopted a new motto. "The best way to finish something is to start." So I just start things and they miraculously get finished! I also have learned to have more realistic expectations. I used to think I could finish three or four things in a day. Now if I finish the top one on the list I get way excited! So the debate begins...with the weather so nice tomorrow which outside thing to begin? Starboard side eave trim and drip edge? Gable end siding? Porch roof? I think the two contenders are gable end siding or porch roof.  Have to say I'm leaning toward porch roof. We'll see what happens in the morning! Yipee!

Lower roof vents

I got the screen attached to all the vent pieces and here is the before and after.  Got all the pieces attached except for one which I had to recut and repaint the cut end. That is actually finished, but I haven't been back out to put it in.  I also realized that I need to finish the siding on the gable ends before finishing up the roof. Today it is snowing again and it is supposed to snow the next couple of days so guess I'll have to bundle up a bit.  I've got plenty of projects I could do on the inside as well. On the list...easy gable end, porch roof, porch side gable end.  

More little things...

All the hurricane clips are moved, and the eve end of the roof sheathing has now been secured (I forgot that I hadn't done that).  Now I've moved on to making sure the roof has enough ventilation. I've done quite a bit of research and looked at a ton of videos, manufacturers information, blah, blah, blah.  Anyway, I hope what I decided to do will be enough ventilation for my roof.  I've put in rafter vents between the rafters and what I'm working on today is the lower air intake side. Many houses have soffits, but mine won't so I'm cutting a big notch in the pieces of siding that will fill the space between the header and the roof sheathing.  Getting all the siding pieces to match up has been quite frustrating.  You know that measure twice cut once thing? Well, it works but only if you cut the correct side.  Yep, I cut the pieces for the starboard side, had them all matched up between each rafter and then I cut the vent on the bottom instead of the top. Technically I could just turn them around and they would still fit, but the siding wouldn't match. (And yes, I AM being that picky about it, because I know that in the future it would bother me, even though no one else in the universe would ever even notice.)  I will even admit that I cried when I realized what I had done, because I had just spent hours matching, marking and cutting.  So I was twice as careful when I did the port side and did that side correctly the first time.  Ran out of daylight before finishing the second round of starboard cutting, so that is on the list for today, but I figured I would do a little painting this morning inside while waiting for the outside temp to go up a little bit. Here is what my kitchen currently looks like.

Next up...attaching some screen material to the back of these pieces to keep the bugs/birds/squirrels/anteaters/kangaroos etc out of my roof. :)