Tackling the Shed: Week 4
This weekend we continued to wrap up work on the garage and shed.
Even though we replaced all the siding, we kept the original roof structure. The rafter tails and the exposed underside of the roof needed to be scraped and sanded before we could paint. We also had to install new diagonal soffits between each rafter. The picture below shows the rafter tails before we did any work, and after they were sanded and primed.
Alex finished installing the new elongated rafter tails under the overhanging roof. The final structure looks pretty good and now it just needs paint. We also need to install some corner moulding, various bits of trim, and we need to buy a 12 ft long x 6in x 2in piece of lumber for the final roof rafter. The original rafter is too short; it ends at the beginning of the overhang.
Tackling the Shed: Week 3
Another weekend spent working on the shed. This weekend we got some windows and the door installed along with all the associated trim, and then painted everything. It doesn’t look perfect, but…. it’s a shed. There is still quite a bit of work to do including painting rafter tails and other random bits, cleaning up the roof line, painting the drip cap and, most importantly, supporting the overhang for the shed.
I decided to redesign the supports for the shed overhang, since it has bothered me for a long time. You might remember that when this all started there was a 4×4 post holding up one side of the overhang, and a sort of storage-closet-thing holding up the other end. I wanted a cleaner look with no vertical members. Making this difficult was the fact that whoever made this overhang had basically just slapped it together with whatever they had on hand and hadn’t bothered to extend the rafter tails properly. So, after tearing off much of the old work, I put up new supports and started making rafter tail extensions.
It is a bit hard to see in the picture below, but to extend the rafter tails I used a lap joint and tie plates with the majority of the weight falling on a new 4×4 cross-beam. I ended up only getting about halfway finished installing new rafter tails, but once they’re done I will simply have to shim them level and then remove the temporary bracing and screw the roof to the new rafter tails. I think it will only be a few more weekends of tinkering before the the garage/shed is officially done and over with!
In kitchen news, we are still plugging away at the punch list of minor items left to do. We installed glass in the cabinet doors and rehung them. We still have a fair amount of trim work and caulking and paint touch up to do, as well as a whole host of other random stuff. Maybe it’ll be officially done in a month or two.
Tackling the Shed: Week 2
This weekend, between the occasional rain shower, Alex finished framing in and siding the shed.
Without any trim and the wrong color it looks pretty bad, but next weekend with trim and everything done it should look a lot better. There is still one wall on the back of the shed that hasn’t been reinforced structurally and the wall between the garage and shed is still just a random pile of wood nailed up, but we are much closer to finishing off the garage once and for all!
Right now one of the ugliest parts is the overhanging section of the roof which is held up by some 2×4 “pillars.” We’re planning on installing horizontal bracing instead. This should really open up the back yard and make it more inviting and happy.
Tackling the Shed
With the side of the garage done, and the kitchen almost done-ish, we decided to finally work on the garden shed. It hadn’t been reinforced like the garage so it had a long way to go. First things first, some temporary shoring had to go up…
Then the walls had to come down…
Once everything was cleaned up or moved out of the way, the new mudsill and studs went in, plus headers for the new windows and door.
When the sun set on Sunday, the shed looked like this…
So, we didn’t quite get it finished (the door is just sitting there), but it was a long weekend of very hard work. Next weekend we should finish with all the framing and hopefully even get siding up. With the shed done we will have more storage space and be more ready to turn the laundry room into a bathroom!
Garage Side 1 Finished
We just finished the west wall of the garage. Alex is outside making window planter boxes while I type this post.
The colors that we chose for the garage may end up being the colors for our entire house, so we’d love comments! Of course… it’s tough to judge from a single photo. We were trying to pick colors similar to our house’s current color (grey and white), but leaning more towards green and a creamy white. We also tried to match the design of the window trim to what’s currently on our house.
As you can see from the before and after photos below, the end result is about 1000 times better than what we started with!
Of course, if I step back a few feet and take another photo, you can see the massive amount of work that we still have to do. Like I said, the west wall was really just our “practice” wall. We refer to the back of the garage our “shed”. The shed is not connected to the inside of the garage, and it was clearly an add-on structure. Unfortunately, other than the roof (which we recently re-roofed), the entire shed needs to be rebuilt. We will have to build supports for the roof structure, then remove the siding, and then build up the walls. Just like the original condition of the garage, the shed is currently supported only by old, rotted siding – there are no 2×4′s in the walls.
Garage Revamp 2
This is just a quick update on our garage project.
Last night we worked all evening to cut out holes for the windows and the door, and then we put a good thick coat of primer over everything. The windows aren’t permanently installed yet – they are just nailed in place.
To do still: Paint siding, install trim around door and windows, paint door, windows and trim, and hang flower planters from windows. When all is said and done, this side of the garage should look downright cute. Then we’ll have to tackle the rest of the garage….
Garage Revamp
We just had another 3-day weekend and we’ve made the most of it!
Kitchen update: We had to “move out” of the kitchen again to seal the counters with Waterlox. Applying Waterlox is a minimum of a 5 day process, followed by a week of drying, and then two more weeks of “being careful.” Actually applying the stuff is a little bit trickier than we expected; unfortunately the Waterlox beaded up on the third coat, so we’re going to have to sand thoroughly before continuing. Optimistically, we should be able to gently use our kitchen again within two weeks.
Now, don’t imagine that applying Waterlox took the entire weekend. Nope, we actually decided to return to an entirely different project – the garage! Below is a photo of the west side of the garage from two days ago. We’re essentially using this side as a practice/test area. Whatever work we do here will have to be repeated for the entire shed section of the garage, which is in even worse condition – if you can believe it.
We began by taking off all of the old siding, which was barely attached to anything. Then Alex framed in openings for two windows, and reinforced the door frame. In the meantime, I worked on sanding and re-glazing the old but gorgeous windows that we picked from ReStore for only $5 each!
We went to Home Depot and picked out some decent looking pre-primed composite siding. I chose a few paint colors to test out on large swaths of siding. Working late into the evening, we managed to get all of the siding put up. Tomorrow, we’re going to cut out the window and door openings and get those installed too. Then we have to chose a final paint color, paint the siding, and then install and paint the window and door trim. If everything goes smoothly, we should finish this week.
Happy New Year’s!
We didn’t take any extended time off for the holidays, but we had a very pleasant three day weekend.
Our goal for the weekend was to install crown moulding and toe moulding, finish up some face-framing around the cabinets, and get the butcherblock counters properly sealed with a product called “Waterlox.” We originally tried to use mineral oil as the sealant for the counters, but it just didn’t provide enough protection; any amount of sitting water resulted in ugly raised wood grain, and pretty much anything (except paper or plastic products) resulted in stains. So, assuming we can trust the blog-o-sphere, Waterlox appears to be a much better option. Unfortunately, we can’t buy Waterlox in L.A. County due to laws restricting volatile organics. So, we spent Saturday morning driving an hour to Ventura County, and then back again to buy just 3 quarts of sealant. We haven’t actually sealed the counters yet though; we decided test the stuff on a piece of scrap butcherblock first.
We were slightly more successful in our other goals. We managed to get 90% of the face-framing, toe moulding and crown moulding installed, giving the kitchen a much more finished look. Take a look at the pictures below!
We also went to the Rose Parade this morning for a the first time. Even though the parade route begins about 1 1/2 miles from our house, we decided to drive over to the far end of the route where the curbside is much less crowded. We found parking about 3/4 of a mile away, and had a nice walk. Ultimately though, it was just too darn hot (about 75, and a blazing sun), so we only stayed for about half an hour. The floats are pretty cool (decorated entirely with flowers or other plant matter) but I don’t think I would make a special trip to Pasadena for it.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone! We are basically done with the kitchen. There is still a punch list of things to complete but everything is working and looking better by the day.
As you can see in the photo set below we still have a lot of moulding left to install and we spent Friday and Today working on getting that all painted and ready to install. We also got the dishwasher installed with the proper insulation and foil heat shield to protect the under side of the counters.
So, just a few more weekends of work and we will officially be moving on to other projects. What projects? Well, you will just have to find out next year!
