September 19, 2013

More Progress On The House (Back Porch)

Continued from Progress On The House.

After Dan finished installing the new bedroom windows and I primed and painted the new siding, we discussed the back porch.


The back porch is my laundry room plus summer and canning kitchen. Initially, we weren't planning on replacing the old jalousy windows. The problem, however, was that the cranks had been stripped out so that they neither opened nor closed. They were what they were. I favored replacing them, because it gets mighty hot and humid on the porch during summer canning. All the heat remains on the porch because there is no air conditioning, nor heating for that matter. That's not a problem, but ventilation from open windows would help.

Pulling the vinyl siding off revealed another problem.


When the porch was built, the framing for the windows jutted out farther than the siding. That's not particularly a problem but it meant our new barn board panels wouldn't lie flush.


Dan modified it by ripping off just enough so that our new siding would lie flush.

He also discovered some wood rot in the rim joist/sill.

Two side-by-side rim joists serve as the sill. It was planed to create
a slope in the porch floor. We leveled the porch floor in March 2011.

Replacing the sill and rebuilding the wall would be a huge undertaking. Perhaps someone else would have done it, but instead, Dan decided to treat it with 1 part polyurethane to 4 parts naphtha as a preservative.


Rather than purchase new porch windows, we decided to use the storm windows from the old bedroom windows. He modified the frame to incorporate those.


He used boards from the original siding as nailers for the barn board panels.

Notice anything unusual about this photo? The sky is BLUE!
In most of my photos this summer, the sky is overcast grey.

The siding went up before the windows went in.


Next: "House Exterior Done For Now"

16 comments:

Chris said...

It looks wonderful. Well done at persisting with your little gem. Just a few more chips away at the exterior and you'll have revealed your pearl.

Renee Nefe said...

It looks so good! I'm so glad you were able to use your old windows for this project. :D

while I love crank jalousie windows, the cranks always fail. They made us put one in the sewing room. Luckily that isn't a room that gets a lot of use and there's another double hung window in there. Oh and the crank is supposed to have a guarantee on it. We'll see.

The Squirrel Family said...

It's looking great , her in the UK wooden framed houses are few and far between but they seem to make so much sense for DIY home repairs and remodelling


Pleased the sky turned blue for you

Farmer Barb said...

The blue and the brick foundation look so nice together! I am pleased for you that it is coming together so well. Yea for repurposing!

Yea for the guinea/goat picture! It looks like a stand-off!


Anonymous said...

Everything is looking so nice Leigh. It is a bit of hard work, but it is worth it. :) m.

Benita said...

One more step to getting an all blue house!

Quinn said...

You two remind me so much of me, when I used to do be more able to do everything myself, reusing materials and designing around the available parts. I am cheering you on!!

Willow said...

Reusing material is super. Our farm house is over 130 years now ... we reuse lots of supplies from other older houses.
Her's to blue skys annd pretty blue houses !

Woolly Bits said...

I wouldn't need a summer kitchen for cooking/canning - but I wouldn't mind one for dyeing:)not going to happen - but at least I will have more space for my stuff eventually. can't win them all - one of the most fitting proverbs, I think!

badgerpendous said...

Looking great! I especially like the way the trim around the octagonal window will work with the horizontal trim from both sides. Yum!

daisy g said...

Getting closer to being done! Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

What a great re-purpose for those storm windows. So glad you guys actually ripped that siding down and caught the problems early. My parents are in the midst of replacing the sill on the back side of their house...it's not pretty.

Leigh said...

Thank you everyone for your kind words! I'm delighted with the way it's turning out and that we can reuse so many things. That partly comes from a limited budget; have to cast about for things we don't need to buy. One of the blessings of not having a lot of money!

Shawn said...

Looks great Leigh - I was catching up on some of the blogs I follow today and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that you too were working on siding on your laundry room as well. I began the MASSIVE residing project at our farmhouse a week ago as well - I'm re-milling and rehanging original siding back up after sheathing - check it out!

Agree 100% on re-use - on top of the cost often times the quality of materials is FAR superior - even with age - than the stuff sold today! Love the blue, good luck!

The Stay @ Home-Gardener said...

Nice. :)

Sandy Livesay said...

Leigh,

Oh, I love what you've done to the exterior of your house. I can see a lot of work went into making this home exactly the way you want it. Totally beautiful!