It Takes A Village...

Today I woke up with a clear vision in my head of what I wanted the porch railing/wall to look like.  It would have to be 36" tall with a wide shelf all the way around to hold drinks or maybe a pretty potted plant or two. Because of this, the design had to be modified slightly.  Instead of the end posts reaching all the way up to the ceiling with the eventual screening in mind, I would cut the studs, lay the board for the shelf on top and when I am ready to screen it, I could just cut a stud from the shelf to the ceiling.  No biggie.

This might be better anyway, because then I could take the screening down at some point without having to tear down the railing or trying to make awkward cuts sideways to cut it flush with the railing wall.  I'm not sure the set of circumstances that would lead me to take down the screening - perhaps a sharp blow to the head or some world wide event that led to the destruction of mosquitoes, but you never know.  I'm sure the little bloodsuckers fulfill some sort of biological nook that if empty would lead to something horrible, such as a shortage of hops or some such catastrophe.

At any rate, after employing my youngest daughter, I was able to obtain accurate measurements.  Guess what?  The top rails were indeed slightly bigger than the bottom ones.  Measurements in hand, I headed down to the local home supply and purchased my supplies.  I decided to try my idea out on only one side for the moment to see how I liked it, so I only bought enough material for the driveway side.

Since I don't own an electric saw, I got one of the helpful sales associates to cut my pieces to my specification.  This is one of those services they offer that is priceless.  I also stopped and looked at house numbers and signed up for a free estimate on a kitchen cabinet facelift.  Or whatever they call it.  Where they take the doors and drawer fronts off and slap some new ones on and veneer the cabinet bases.  That thing.  I doubt I would go for such a thing at this point, simply because a.  the cabinets are of the cheapest quality (although they ARE wood) and b.  I want the kitchen to be redesigned to actually be practical.

Getting back to the porch... here is my materials list:

1.  4 2X8 framing studs cut into the following lengths:

• 83" for bottom rail
• 83 1/4" for top rail
• 4 pcs 32" 

2.  1 8"X1"X96" pine board cut to 83 1/4" long

3.  Finishing nails

4.  Masonry screws

5.  3" long deck screws guaranteed not to rust

6.  Caulk 

7.  One male neighbor to come over half way and tell me what to do

I did not have to get that last one at the store, since I already have several of those at home.  I got home, dug out my drill and got to work.  There were a couple of moments where things started to go pear shape, but I persevered and this is what I ended up with:

Now from the other angle:

I'm pretty freakin' proud of myself.  Now I have to get the panels and attach them to both sides to finish it up, cover the edges with molding, paint it and I've got my first railing/wall done.  

About the point at which I got the top rail attached and was trying to figure out how much of an overhang I wanted for the shelf (known as the reveal), one of my male neighbors came over to tell me to use screws and not nails because I was "killing myself with the nails."  I held up the drill and a handful of screws.  This did not bring the instruction to a close, however. 

 "Use finishing nails for the top and then take this little thing that looks like a round screwdriver and tap the ends into the wood."  

"A nail set," I said.

"Yes," he said then continued, "Then hit it with some wood filler and it will look great."  

"Thank you for your help," I said and after he walked away, I walked over and picked up the box of finishing nails, the nail set and the wood filler I had sitting on the porch about 2 feet from where he was standing.  I've got this.  

The Maths Are Hard

Okay, not really.  I'm adequate at math, despite the B- I received from my college math professor (I'm looking at you, grade-curve spoiling math majors).  But when it comes to this kind of stuff, which is really straightforward math, I get a little intimidated.  It's wood, but for some reason my brain says, "Oh, I bet that bathroom really could use a good scrubbing."

So here we have me as I went out to measure the porch:

Handy measuring tape and pad of paper with porch roughed in...

This is what I came up with:
For the side nearest the driveway, the bottom where the wall will sit measures 83".  Up 36" from the base of the columns in that opening measures 82 1/2".  The columns narrow as they go up.  See the problem?  That second measurement should be bigger, not smaller.

Not to be daunted by mere measuring issues, I moved on to the next opening, between the two front columns, which also taper ever so slightly towards the top.  The bottom opening measures 84".  Up 36" from the base, the opening measures 83 1/2".  Again... should be a bigger number, not a smaller one.  Right?

But whatever, it is math, right?  I moved on to the next opening - where the steps are.  bottom measurement is 50".  I didn't bother with the upper measurement for railings 'cause there's going to be a door there.  A 30" door.  Which means there will be a tidy 10" on either side of the door.  Sort of.  Because once again, the column narrows as it goes up, so that 10" on the column side will obviously be a bit bigger as it goes up.

I think that says it all.

I never want this to be a whiny space, because that gets old real fast, but after saying that I must say that every muscle in my body is screaming at me in capital letters today.  If you listen real closely, you can hear it, "WHAT do you think you are doing?  You're not 20 anymore! Blah blah blah"

They're saying a lot more, but basically, it's more of the same sort scolding tone.  Whatever, muscles... all the scraping, sanding, demo, etc., is complete and I spent all day Sunday painting and I gotta say, I am happy with the result!

I love, love, love the clean, perfectly white paint and how clean it looks.  Don't you agree?  The previous owners got paint on the beaded ceiling when they painted before, and I gotta be honest, it irks me completely, but not enough to remove it.  Therefore, I just didn't add to it.  I have a real steady hand with painting and a great sash brush that I love, so not so bad.

I really can't believe how much better it looks already.

Two coats of paint with primer - I chose a flat finish rather than satin or any type of gloss because honestly, I was a bit worried about how those other choices show up any imperfection that exists and believe you me, there are plenty that exist.  However, I feel I must say this now - none of this woodwork I've scraped and painted have lead paint.

If you think you have lead paint (there are lead paint tests available at your local building supply place and I don't believe they are expensive), please be safe.  Purchase a kit and if it tests positive, you're should contact your local government to learn how to safely deal with this.  This is especially important if you have small children or dogs who might ingest paint chips.  It's just not worth it folks.  Nothing is more important than your family's health and well being.

Stepping off the soapbox... I am at a point where I am going to have to go down to my township office and apply for a building permit.  Even though all I am doing is screening it in, my township requires it.  While I can ignore it and just build the thing, I'm running the chance that one of my neighbors complains or simply that the code enforcement comes around - and I would be forced to take it all down.  Kinda worth the $75 it is going to cost to avoid such heartbreak.

I'll be able to build the railings while I wait for the permit to come through since I must have one.  So next up... railings!  Now, I'm going to go soak in the tub for a while.  Maybe pour a glass of wine... candles... bubbles...

Porch Project - Scraping, Sanding, Washing...

Ugh!  That's all I can say!  What a hot, sticky, miserable job to scrape all the loose paint.  About 1/2 way through, I was tempted to go in the house, snag one of my daughter's beers and burn the paint off with vile curses I hurled at it from the comfort of my air conditioned living room.  But alas, that will not work in this universe (I'm totally putting in a request for that super power), so I persevered, urged on by the constant mosquito strafing and finished it up.

After I finished scraping, I gave the whole porch a light sanding with a medium grade sanding sponge, switching up when the sandpaper seemed gummed up (it took three altogether).  Once that job was done, which seemed like a walk in the park compared with the scraping, I swept up all the debris and got ready for the next step.  By getting ready, I mean getting a hoagie for lunch and watching an hour of HGTV in the air conditioning.

After dragging myself  eagerly returning to work, I filled a bucket with warm water and a healthy squirt of the blue dishwashing detergent preferred by oily penguins and started to work scrubbing the woodwork down.  Up until this point, I was just sweaty with decorative paint chips plastered to my cleavage (and in my bra as I later discovered), but as filthy nasty water showered down on me I moved into a whole new area of funk.  10 years of dirt and whatever all loosened up, I then turned my hose on the wood and got it all rinsed until no more suds were seen.

Since I got the wood pretty saturated, I decided to wait until tomorrow to start painting.  I went inside, got a nice long hot bath and took my daughters out for dinner at Kraftwork in the Northern Liberties section of Philly.  If you're ever in Philly, you MUST go to this place:  great beers, wonderful food in a great atmosphere.  Shameless Philly plug finished.

Oh one thing I have to replace is my house numbers.  Even though I tried to very carefully remove them so I could put them back (not that they are exceptional or anything - just didn't think about replacing them), this is what happened:

Poor little tiny number one.  He used to be big, but snapped right in half and then some.  Oh horrors... now I will have to find some on the intertubz that appeal to me.  Darn.

Next up... Painting!  But now it is time to feed my kitties before they eat my soft bits.

It Begins

Hello and welcome to my new blog, "There's No Place Like Home."  My vision for this blog is to show the rehab and repair of my 1929 attached home, known in this area as a twin.

Since I am not particularly handy, I'm going to be learning as I write and blogging about the different projects I take on.  Although my home has the character of the year it was built, it is need of some TLC if I am going to eventually sell it, which is my goal in the next couple of years. Funds are limited, so I'm going to have to do most of the work myself and I thought it might be inspiring to other women to tackle projects around their homes as well. 

After looking at my list of projects, I chose the front porch as the first project. 

I love my front porch - I think it's charming, but after a very wet spring and a tropical summer, I am being eaten alive by little mosquito buggers.  Seriously, it is like someone rings a dinner bell when I walk outside (even during the day) and a swarm of blood-thirsty tiny vampires descend on me.  

I've really just had it, so I've decided to screen in the porch.  I could be entirely delusional, but I'm thinking this should be a fairly easy project to complete and I priced out the materials at a little under $500.  

 Plus, as you can see it needs a new coat of paint in a bad way. 

 

 After taking a good long look at the railings, I've decided to replace them rather than attempt to repair, strip and paint.  

So a little work with a hammer...

and the railings are no more

Next, I need to scrape the loose paint, sand and wash down all the wood to prep it for painting. More tomorrow, but would love to know what you are working on!