Weekend Work - Hardie Board Pics

As I mentioned a few posts ago, we had a problem with Hardie Board. It was rotting and coming off of the fascia on the house. Here are some pics I took of the process. Sorry they are late in coming, but I wanted to show you what I was talking about.

Hardie Board Joint Rotting

This pic is of the front of the house where the Hardie Board was soaking up water and growing mold. This is rotting because of the water wicking and the mold growing.

Hardie Board Rotting in General

This pic is of the Hardie Board after it soaked up water and the paint was peeling off. We've had a few pieces laying around the yard from other projects and it does soak up and hold water. It takes a few years to rot, as this has done. The next pic will show you how the Hardie Board did not protect the backer board.

Hubby Working

Hubby was pulling off sections of the OSB backer board a little bit at a time. He was working in about 12 foot sections so we could replace the OSB board with pine lumber and cover it with vinyl. Personally, if I was the manufacturer, I wouldn't have used the OSB board anywhere on a house. I'm also betting that the roof wasn't finished properly so I can't blame all of this solely on the Hardie Board. I still don't like the stuff nor do I like OSB board. I don't think I'll ever pay to buy this stuff again.

Extra Framing

Since the roof joists are 2" x 2", Hubby made blocks which wrap around the 2" x 2"s so we can nail a solid backer in place. I would never have made a roof with 2" x 2"s. In SC, we have hurricanes and I don't know how this kind of building passed the requirements for strong winds. We are now concerned that the walls and the rest of the house will have to be repaired little by little.

Vinyl Fascia

Here is a picture of the vinyl clad board we put up. It's not the best job in the world but it should keep water out. We used construction adhesive on the board to attach the vinyl. Then we stapled the vinyl onto the new backer board. Then we caulked all of the seams and the dents the stapler made. It may be overkill, but it should last until we can replace the whole roof, which looks like it will be in the near future.

While we were up on the ladders, we noticed some of the shingles were lifting. Not good! I hope it was lifting because of the heat, but I think I know better.

Oh well. I guess you live and learn and do a lot of work.

Take care.

Work Weekend

This work weekend is a pretty good one. Hubby and I have been revamping a table to use in our kitchen for meals. We have a really nice and huge dinner table, which is posted on a previous blog around last Thanksgiving. However, it is too huge for just two people to eat at. This one will be taller and I'll put it near my kitchen window so we can look outside and enjoy the view of our backyard. The only thing is, we've Frankensteined a coffee table and it is probably going to be heck trying to get chairs to match. If worst comes to worst, I'll cut down a pair of bar stools and rehab them, too.

The weather is getting a bit cooler, which is a really welcome relief from the hot weather we have in the summer. The leaves are falling and the yard looks fluffy in spots. The pine needles are dropping by the basketfuls. I'll need to pick them up for the flower gardens. Down here, they use these for mulch. People actually buy them in bales to use. I have a free supply for the raking.

I put in a small flower garden and used some of the pine needles for mulch. Let me tell you about the plants I scored at Lowe's this weekend. I've been looking to get some crotons and pansies for color. The crotons grow outside all year long. They are expensive! The pansies, not so expensive. So I decided I'd get a couple of large pots of croton and a flat or two of pansies. Then I saw my favorite clearance cart in an aisle. So, I drug hubby and his buggy to the clearance rack for a browse. SCORE! Small crotons, like I wanted...cheap! Pansies, like I wanted...really cheap! Mind you, the crotons are weepy, but I think they'll pull through. The pansies are really in good shape, but most of the flowers are gone.

Now, the fun part comes. I have a small flower garden near our fire pit. Hubby pulled weeds from it last week. This week I'm planting these flowers in it before they decide to croak. I spread some compost over the soil and started turning over the soil. WRONG! There were roots galore from spreading vines that we've been killing and pulling out. The roots are still spreading. They are poison ivy roots. Oh, yeah! They are thick and kept me from turning the soil. So I had to cut each shovelful of dirt before I turned it over. Then I pulled out the roots and filled two 5-gallon buckets with the roots. So far, I haven't got a rash. It would show by now. I planted the garden and it's going well after only two days.

Busy weekend!

Take care.

More Weekend Work

More work for us this weekend! We saw that the fascia on our house is rotting and falling off, as I mentioned in a previous post. Hubby took down part of the fascia, which is Hardie Board, and saw a whole bunch of new problems. The backer board is OSB board and that is rotten. The Hardie Board wicked the water into the OSB backer and it is like a sponge. One more headache with this Hardee Board saga. So, not only is the Hardie Board falling off, the backer board is rotting AND...the roof was made with 2" x 2" joists. Guess what? The ends of the 2 x 2's are rotting! Go figure. Yesterday we made a trip to Lowe's to get our supplies for this mess. Hubby is making supports to wrap around the 2 x 2's so we can nail a new backer board on and clad it with vinyl. He did about 24' of replacing today. I helped where I could. I was a holder and a nailer and a climber. We will be at this a while. Moral of the story, if you see Hardie Board on a structure you're thinking of buying...RUN! That's my opinion and only MY opinion.

I made another set of curtains. This time it was for the kitchen. I'll be getting some pics in here as soon as I move the other project I'm working on. That is polyurethaning an old entertainment center. I have the shelves done and now I'll need to do the body. The entertainment center is in my kitchen between the wall and the windows where the new curtains are. This is going to be  pretty tight. I'll have to take down the curtains so they don't get anything on them.

Take care.

Weekend Work

This weekend we didn't do much work to prepare the house for company. This weekend was mainly focused on, for me, inside work. Cooking, cleaning, laundry. For hubby, he spent his time in the barn working on a small Case tractor we inherited from a neighbor before he passed. He was a really good man and we miss him.

Today we went to Wal Mart and picked up some more fabric for curtains.More pictures will be coming soon as they will be for a bedroom and kitchen. I got an extra piece of fabric for 'just because'. I don't know what I'll do with it. Maybe make an extra set for the kitchen or maybe our bedroom. I enjoy collecting fabric I like. I always find something to make with it. Right now, I have a lot of fabric for quilts. I guess I better get a move on those. Quilting isn't one of my most favorite things to do, but I like doing it, nevertheless.

Food-wise, I made kielbasa and kraut on Saturday. Sunday I made a beef pot pie. We'll be eating well this week! I've also promised Hubby to make a sugar-free dessert that I'm sure he'll like. I've never made it before, but it has bananas in it. That makes it a sure-fire winner. Actually, I had it when I was a kid and it was my favorite then.

Friday we had a birthday at work. I made a Pretzel Jello Salad. Check it out. This was another one of my favorites when I was a kid. I remember having some at a neighbor's house and I fell in love with it. My mother never made it and I almost forgot about it. I never made this before and it was a HUGE hit at work. Hubby liked his sugar-less version. It wasn't sugarless, it just had less sugar than the original recipe called for. It was also pretty easy to make. Hubby already had a request for it for Thanksgiving dessert. He's already mentioned a bunch of pies he'd like. LOL! He's my big kid.

We had a little bit of rain last night. The weather is getting cooler here. It was in the 60's this morning and probably in the 70's the rest of the day. I didn't look at the thermometer outside to see.Autumn is coming! I LOVE autumn!!! It's in the 60's again at 10 pm. Nice!

That's all the excitement we've had this weekend. So, all of you, take care.

Until next time.

Today's Work

Today Hubby and I worked on our den. We took out the furniture, cleaned blinds and windows, swept and rinse 'n vac'd the floor, cleaned the lampshades. We've just moved stuff back into there a little while ago. Now we're figuring out what to do next. This room will need only a good sweeping when company comes. Maybe we'll rinse 'n vac again. Oh! I just remembered. I have to clean the fireplace and oil the woodwork, clean the oil lamps and clean the mirror above the mantel.

I guess I'd better get going.

Take care.

More Work

We're getting some more work done to prep for the company coming in November. Hubby put the final touches on the deck. He painted the stair treads with Restore and I came home from work and stained the railing. The only problem we have is that the stain is 2 different colors even though it has the same name on the can. I HATE THAT! Our first 2 cans of Canyon Brown is a reddish brown. It looks really nice. The last can of Canyon Brown is really a dark brown. Totally different from the other cans. Must've been from a different lot or a different plant. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend? I can't stand all of the different shades on one project. I can handle 2 shades, but not three or more. Also, the wood we just bought (still from Lowe's) is taking the stain differently. How lovely is that?! If I restain the wood, all will be well.

A few years ago, I got Hubby into solar lighting. I love the fact that there's no wiring to it. We've bought a bunch of sets for the yard flower beds. I just bought 4 for the deck stair treads so we can see where we're going. It'll help our little one, too. She's supposed to be going blind, but she sure doesn't act like it. Her eyes are just starting to get milky. Also, the people coming in will need to see our steps to get in at night. They're supposed to arrive at midnight so we'll need this lighting for their safety.

Today I'm working on the curtains I wanted to make. I'm almost done with one set. I don't know whether to put this set in the one guest bedroom or the dining room. It's a brown/green/blue flowered print with a beige-y background. Whichever room I choose, they will brighten things up a bit. The bedroom has a crocheted yellow bedspread (thanks Yuri) and beige and white walls. The dining room has the same walls but the furniture is very dark brown and rustic. Either way, I'll blog about it later.

Next sewing project will be the curtains for our company bathroom. That is a medium dusty blue background with dark pink, blue and white/cream flowers. I'm hoping to have enough to make a cushion for the project I have in this bathroom. I can't wait to get it done so I can show you.

I'll have more projects going this weekend, I'm sure.

Take care.

Weekend Work

As I mentioned before, we're getting ready for company this Thanksgiving. We've been doing loads of work on the weekends in order to get ready. So far this weekend, we've accomplished a lot of things.

We started repairing our deck. It's about 10 years old and is still in pretty good shape. There are a couple of boards we needed to replace. Hubby replaced the railing boards. They were warped and twisting. I painted them and the railings so everything looks fresh. We demo'd the steps and put new ones in. Hubby wanted to reuse the stringers, but I thought they were too shabby to reuse. So I went to the local hardware store and bought three 3-step stringers. My bill came to $29 and some change. SHOCK! When we last bought stringers, they were about $4 a piece! Whoa! $9.25 is what they were today. Double Whoa!! So I hauled them home. The steps look really nice. There is a lot of room for sitting on them and watching the bees, butterflies and butterfly moths drink from the lantana. That will probably be my favorite spot to sit at night.

Previously, we had covered our deck floor with Restore. It is that new stuff that puts a coat on the surface of the wood and fills in some small cracks. Remember...what you see on TV is after they put down a brand new surface then painted it with Restore. What actually happens is your surface will have some small cracks filled in with the larger cracks remaining to a certain degree. This stuff doesn't level any boards out for you. You will need to check your fasteners before you apply this stuff. It will coat the head of the nail and screws. We may not be able to unscrew anything when we demo in the future. One very important thing to remember...THIS STUFF GETS HOT HOT HOT IN THE SUN!!! We get upwards of 90 degree F weather here for most of the spring and summer. Since this stuff is a kind of plastic, it heats up quickly and stays hot for a long time. The dogs won't even stay on it. One good thing is that it is a clean up with water. It is easy to use. Just roll or brush it on. It is relatively inexpensive for what you are getting, which is a fairly new-looking deck. It gives a non-slip surface, which is a real plus.

We put a new underpinning around the deck. We used 6' pickets. We stained them and cut them into 3 equal pieces. It is cheap and looks great! We applied them about 2" from the ground and it should last a long time, too.

I've been working on another piece of furniture for our company bathroom. Pics to come soon!

What's nice about us is we work well together. He does the nitty gritty stuff and I'll help him if he needs it. I do the finishing stuff which usually isn't all that hard but it takes a lot of time. We're knocking off our chores rather quickly. I can't wait until he helps me get the house ready. That will be a great big blessing!

Take care.

Sunday Work Day

After yesterday, you'd think we had enough of working out back. Well, we rolled out of bed this morning. Actually, my dog made me get out of bed because Hubby was already up. She won't stop barking until we're all together. Anyhow, when I rolled out of bed, I found out I had muscles I haven't used in a while. It wasn't all that bad, but I had a workout yesterday.

Today, we got up and went out back again. Hubby pressure washed the cement picnic set we have. It had a nice thick layer of black and brown mold growing on it. So much so that when Hubby pressure washed it, there was a bit of a raised area between the clean part and the moldy part. It was noticeable to me. The picnic set hadn't been treated before and we had it for about 8 or so years, so we decided to put a finish on it. We bought gray cement paint for our pavilion (which is almost completed) and I painted the picnic set today. Here it is.

Cement Picnic Set Just Painted

Looks pretty good, doesn't it? This was a few hour job because we had to wait until the cement dried before I could paint it. I didn't paint the bottom bit of about 1-2 inches because it was in the dirt or close to it. We're going to level it an put rock around the base so you won't be able to tell.

Hubby and I started our fires again after calling in another burn permit. We got some more stuff burnt up. It looks really clean out back. Next, we're going to get the rock for under the picnic set and enough for around the fire pit. Then, we'll be making some Adirondack-style chairs for around the pit. Hubby made two already, but they need a couple of coats of paint. He only got one coat on before the rains came. Now the things are starting to mold.

Thursday night, we got our order of bug spray. It is heavy duty stuff. We must be the last customer on the route. Our delivery guy comes around 7 pm. Our mosquitos are so bad we can't be outside for long. We sprayed immediately after we got the order. We were able to work outside yesterday and today WITHOUT MOSQUITOS! Yay!!! This stuff is supposed to last for about 6 weeks before we have to apply it again. We may have just found a way to get our yard back! It also took care of our mole crickets. One of the dogs kept picking up the dead bodies. I hope she didn't eat any. She likes to eat bugs for some reason. You'd think we didn't feed her. Blah!

Well, I hope you had a great day.

Take care.

Saturday Work Day

Hello everyone! Today was work day on our little patch of Earth. Saturdays usually are work days outside for us, but today we accomplished so much. We are expecting a lot of company for Thanksgiving and we're trying to get our yard in order so we can all spend time outside.

First of all we planned to burn brush. Hubby called for a burn permit, which is required in our state, and gave our information. If we don't call in to burn brush and a fire starts and spreads...BIG FINE! We make sure we always call in a burn permit. Then we get things going. We run a water hose out back, just in case we need water. We get supplies loaded into our garden tractor and yard trailer, like a pitchfork and axe and chainsaw. Now this was about 8 am. We worked and worked for what seemed forever. Hubby asked me what time it was. It was 10:28 am. Holy cow! We accomplished so much during this time. I brought out one of my painting projects to work on while stuff was burning. I almost have the first one finished. Now I need to do the second one. Both of these things will go in our house and I'll give you pics of the before and after.

I packed lunches in my work cooler. Not just lunches for me and Hubby. The girls get some too! It was pepperoni and mozzarella rolls, soda and doggie biscuits for lunch today. Yum! Well, I can't say 'yum' for the biscuits, but they didn't last long.

We finished up around 4 pm. We're wiped out!

Hubby went into the house with the girls and I finished up a couple of rows of sanding between the cracks of our picnic pavilion. We're using polymeric sand. It is good stuff and shouldn't let the weeds grow between the cracks. That's looking really good!!! Pics to come.

Tomorrow will be more of the same. Up early, burning and a project.

I hope you had a productive day today.

Take care.

Back to the Grind

Well, it was back-to-work day. I got there a little late because I had to do a few chores before I left. I managed to feed the chickens, put clothes in the dryer, make coffee for hubby and clear the dishes out of the sink.

I give myself an hour to get ready for work. Here's how I spend my time.

Shower = 10 minutes
Hair & makeup = 10 minutes
Choosing and prepping clothes = 10 minutes
Getting breakfast and lunch ready to go = 10 minutes

OK. I have 40 minutes accounted for. Where does the rest of the time go? I guess playing with the dogs 5-10 minutes. Feeding the chickens for 5 minutes. Enjoying the outdoors before I go to work...maybe 10 minutes. That takes it over 1 hour. OK. I played around too much today.

After a long weekend, I really HATE going back to work. I really LOVE sleeping in a little bit. Mind you, I love my job and my co-workers, so it is not that. It's just that I got a bit lazy because I can call the shots with what I do at home. I work my butt off at home but it's something that I want to do.

Does anyone else enjoy doing hard work at home rather than at work? Or, is it me?

Take care.