Operation Cover Up–The Sequel

#title “Operation Cover Up–The Sequel”

After much soul-searching, chasing moths out of my wallet, and other advanced avoidance techniques, we determined what we knew all along. The only right thing to side the utility room wall with was the round fishscale. There was just no getting around it. It adds interest to an otherwise boring feature (on an otherwise NOT boring house) and matches other details of the house.

This led to a series of what are no doubt, questionable events. Y’all might recall the “merchandise” acquired there.

Well, here, we put it to good use. It’s just possible we should have covered the wall in 10 dollar bills and given it a coat of poly and we may have come out ahead…but I guess it wouldn’t match the rest of the house. Maybe 100’s?

Careful measurement is the key here. You might notice the level leaning in the window in the picture below…but any of you that have worked on an old house know you must be very careful with the information it provides you…particularly on cosmetic stuff. Straight and plumb are not always the correct solution.

I expected this to take me a day…so of course, it took two!

Getting around the Water heater opening.

More careful measurement in laying these out is needed so that they line up when they reach over the water heater opening.

Carefully done so it lines up on the other side.

This is several hours work. We were dealing with temperatures only in the high 80’s (89!), but the humidity was only a couple points lower than the temperature and there was no breeze. Very stifling. It rained so much here last week that everything was damp. Even the discharge from the nail gun would produce a visible pressure wave. I could have cut the atmosphere with a knife, but I was afraid I’d poke a hole in it and it would burst like a water-balloon.

Half done.

It gets much harder from here…as more trips up the ladder are required.

Another shot

Everything lined up perfectly. This is MUCH harder than it looks. Remember that AC unit down the line there will vanish in favor of the original window someday soon.

Done. Much Harder than it looks.

They turned out gorgeous. I love the smell, and the color of newly cut cedar. It’ll almost be a shame to paint these.

It'll almost be a shame to paint these.

Everything lines up.

I need to add two pieces of trim…small 1/4 round type…and remove the extraneous wood…things…that are above the fish-scale touching the carport (the carport is subject for a completely different discussion). I also need to do the other side of the window, but that is waiting for me to finish the corner trim…which is waiting for me to actually install the durn French Doors.

The door is next weekend’s project!

The wide shot.

All of this trouble and expense may have been worth it. I only wasted two shingles in this entire process…bad cuts. Overall I am very pleased…

Deep down though…when it comes to finishing the other side of the window, despite buying extras, I expect I’ll be two shingles short!

Got some paint scraping to do…this entire side of the house…then a coat of oil-based primer…a marathon caulking session, then a finish coat and this will be lookin’ GOOD. Ur…um…well…after I replace the stairs, finish the deck, replace the AC with the original window, repair the other windows, re-glaze 240 pieces of glass, do something (I have yet to figure out what) about the carport, and…

But alas…the door’s missing and the old water heater blew a line. Priorities shift yet again! Bang! I’m off to other things. Sigh.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer