My Remodel Thread

[black2002ls]

You had it easy it looks like. My house didnt have a solid 2x4 fascia to nail the hardie to. The crew that did it had to mark the attic rafters to nail to.

That sucks! That is what I was afraid I was going to find. I plan to spend the next week pulling old staples from Christmas lights, re-caulking and re-nailing soffits and frieze boards and painting. Then comes the fun part, ripping the siding off and replacing. Still not sure if I do the install myself or see if my framing contractor will send a crew out one weekend to do it.

Here you can see our trim color:



I finally got my concrete contractor to agree to do our patio extension and 10x10 pad for a shed in the back. I also managed to get him to commit to re-grading my back yard while he is there. I haven't gotten a price yet, but he should do it pretty inexpensive since all of the material will be left overs from our jobs. We are doing a 20x20 patio, hoping to have that done by the end of the month.

[silverranger]

Looking good

[black2002ls]

Thanks. It is getting there slowly. We are finally to a point where we are happy with the inside. Now that thr weather is nice, it is time to do some work on the outside. It'll damn near look like a new house when we are done

[8mpg]

nice you have the hookup

[black2002ls]

nice you have the hookup

It has allowed a LOT more work to be done than if I didn't have the connections. I am hoping my concrete guy doesn't charge me for labor and materials, if so it'll be 500 sq ft of flatwork for the cost of concrete

[black2002ls]

I have spent every night after work, 6 hours yesterday, and 2 hours this morning painting the exterior. A second coat on the frieze and fascia and gutters can go up. Still need to replace siding. The fascia is the new color, everything above the garage is the old color.

[black2002ls]

A little progress this weekend. I needed to use up the scrap I had collected for the siding replacement to clear some room, as well as to determine how many pieces of 12' Hardie colonial siding I need to order. I am not 100% happy with the install, but it will work. Ideally there should be something let into the corners for the siding to butt up against. Due to the width of the wall with the door, I didn't have many options. Looking back, I should have tried some of the 1x6 hardie maderial I had to frame the sides of the door.

There was no moisture barrier on the wall with the door. The frame bays above the door were open revealing insulation, and the corners were no sealed up. Leading to excessive air penetration as well as greater potential for pest intrusion. I remedied this with a piece of thermoply and protecto wrap to seal it all up. The door jamb was taped to the 2x4's all corners taped up, and the t-ply taped on the edges to help seal things up.



And the finished installation. I only did the two short walls. Looking atvthe weather it may be a couple of weeks before I order the material I need to finish.



The front door will be trimmed with 1x4 hardie and 1x2 spruce to close the gap. Again not a perfect install, but it will work.

Now to figure up how many hardie straight edge shingle panels I will need.

I went ahead and put one coat of paint on what I installed so that we could make sure we like the color combination. I will get a decent picture and post that later

[lincolnboy]

That door would look good with wood stain.

[black2002ls]

Wood stain on fiberglass/metal doors is a REAL pita. I plan to replace it eventually. I can get a real nice 2/3 lite solid wood door with wrought iron grill from my vendor at cost.

[lincolnboy]

Come work on my house. Need bathroom finished and exterior painted.

[black2002ls]

I barely have the time to finish mine!

[black2002ls]

Well, made a little progress yesterday. All siding is up at the entry, all I have left is the 1x2 trim, cut the ledge off of the existing cornice where it wraps under for the porch, and add a box out over our cedar post. We also started hanging the shake shingle panels. We ended up leaving the old siding up. The edges were tucked under the soffit so pulling it off and starting fresh was going to be an absolute nightmare. We only had a 13 ft extension ladder so safety was a bit of a concern. I had a few chicken shit moments while I was up there. We got most of the full, or straight cut panels installed. Now for the tedious work of cutting the corners. I will need to pick up a 16-20' extension ladder before I procede.

Here is the before shot, that double flood light is gone, it was WAY off center, and with a street light on the corner it isn't needed.



And where it is at now. The light is poor, but we put 1x6 hardi trim up against the soffit and the shingles are laid in the field below that.

[black2002ls]

Continuing to make a little progress. Spent most of the day finishing up the trim on the front porch. The original install left a 1.5-2" ledge all of the way around the inside of the porch. This was a perfect spot for swallows and othe critters, so, it was removed. I had to create a box out over the cedar post to completely eliminate the issue. All that is left is to do a quick brush over the 16' section of siding due to some unevenness in my spray job. Porch light was swapped out today and I startex working on filling dents and prepping the front door for pain.

Here is where it is at right now. Still waiting on gutters, if we don't get completely flooded again this week, they are supposed to be put on this weekend.

[black2002ls]

A little update on our curb appeal. My fiance's grandpa had his azalea bushes replaced with a variety that blooms more often, so we ended up with 10-12 azalea bushes. We planted them along the left side of the home and one both sides of our mailbox. They were transplanted right before the first cold spell that we got, so we were a little surprised that they survived. Along with those, we planted a pair of crape myrtles on that side as well, in a couple of years, they should provide some nice shade for the west face of the house (also the exterior wall of the Master Bedroom).







I still need to finish the shingle panels above the garage and paint that area. We got our gutters installed last week, if anyone still needs a contact for gutters, let me know, these guys were by far the best estimate I got. As far as the front of the home, I plan to build cedar shutters for the front windows, and then seed new bermuda once it is graded.

The plan for the re-grade is to bring in a couple of loads of top soil, and basically have them re-work the whole lot. The front is very rough, and the back holds a TON of water! Once that is done, the gutters will be plumbed out to the street.

[black2002ls]

And just a refresher, this is what we started with!