Friday 1 August 2008

House Repairs

The Space Cadet decided that today was the day he'd scrape the window frames and clean and recaulk the storm windows in the "orange room", so called because it has an eyecatching vivid orange carpet.

When the house was built in the 1890s, this was originally an open verandah and was enclosed sometime during the 1940s or 50s, so that's how long the windows have been there.

Plenty of time to go rotten without anyone noticing.

He got started but.... Uhoh.... he found a huge area of dry rot.

The Space Cadet would never allow his DIY talents to be outdone by a mere beam of crumbling rotten wood, so the battle began.

He pried out all the bad wood, and replaced it with 2'x6' cedar, but the whole window had to come out eventually.

"Shall I move all the stuff that's inside?" I asked.
"No need, I'm not going to make a mess", he said.
So I moved all the stuff anyway. Good thinking.

Once the beam was replaced and the vertical supports were strengthened, it was time for a coat of primer. Luckily I found a can of white primer stored in the basement with just enough left to do the job.

I'm so thankful he's not afraid of heights.
Repairs continue tomorrow....

21 comments:

  1. That looks like quite a job to do!

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  2. That's great that he's handy to do all that! And it's great that you know what he actually means by not making a mess. LOL!

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  3. And I'm so thankful you removed the stuff anyway! :) I'm not afraid of heights either, but Donica is. So I'd have to be the one up there...or else hire Mr. Space Cadet to do it for me!

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  4. I dont know about other girls but I do find guy with that are good at fixing things sexy... lucky you!!!

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  5. What a challenge to keep your house ship shape all the time. The climate is rather rough and brutal to houses in areas with four seasons. Like Canada. Like Norway.
    But this was a good days work, with surprises and a person that moved away "things" from the window-area.

    Great post.
    Mats and Lori seems to have the same challenges, maybe even more.

    btw. Only 5 hours away? That's only 2 1/2 hours half way for each of us.

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  6. That looks like a huge job. Good for him for taking it on.

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  7. Big job...your space cadet did fine work. It seems that repairs are always more than what was planned.
    Good pictures of the work.

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  8. What a shame you don't still have a veranda. My grandmother had one and I remember sitting eating my breakfast with her in it.

    Brilliant job the space cadet did!

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  9. Yikes! I got queasy myself seeing him on that ladder! I am more afraid of ladders than I am of heights...there's just something about a ladder....

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  10. Looks like you have a good handyman at your house!

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  11. didi is onto something. there's nothing like competence, a nice suntan and muscles (from working outdoors), and one of those cute little carpenter's aprons to make a guy exude sexiness.

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  12. You are so lucky to have a man who can DIY. My hubby is hopeless so we always have to pay for a DIYer to come in!!!!!

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  13. ALWAYS move the stuff that's inside; always . . . Nice to have someone around who's so handy.

    BTW: blogger is not letting me see when you update, or maybe it's RSS feed, so sorry about that!

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  14. It's great to have handy man around! Yes, a century home is likely to need plenty of repairs, but they have so much charm.

    The orange carpet made me giggle. When we moved into our house it had orange shag carpeting! It's long gone. YAY!

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  15. Oh wow we have had things like that and i am always glad when Nevada isn't afraid of heights as there is no way i am going on a ladder.

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  16. Yes, that looks like quite a job!

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  17. I know all about repairs. We have to do ours soon. But we will have to do it ourselves. Your house looks great now.

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  18. They never intend to make a mess and usually we're just glad they can do the job. How smart of you to move the stuff anyway. A wise woman indeed!

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  19. The Space Cadet is might handy. Me, not so handy with power tools.

    In fact, I just had the super come and install a towel rack in my bathroom this evening. Normally, I would do it myself but the wall is made of sheet rock and it needs special rubber studs to hold the screws or else the whole towel rack will come off the wall easily.

    I wish I were a better DIY guy.

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