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.

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.