Finished PorchThe weather shields are in place and I even managed to attach the old steps as a temporary access to the porch. They will definitely have to be worked on since they now slope away from the house just a tad and are not level. Then again, nothing in this old house seems to be square or level except for the new porch. I found that out when trying to attach the weather shields to the facia boards and roof beam that run off the old house. The screened porch was square and level when I built it more than five years ago but it too has gone oblique.
The West end of the porch.
The East end of the porch.I will say that the Tuftex PolyCarb is great stuff to work with. Cuts like butter with a pair of tin snips and you can predrill the holes with out a problem. It doesn't shatter the way plexiglass does at times.
Constructing the frames for the weather shields was a snap, too. Especially since I made liberal use of metal T-braces to create the corners. I also used T-braces to attache the shields to the facia board. and beam, and used L-brackets to connect the frames to the rail of the porch. It will take one heck of a wind to rattle those babies! I didn't enclose the entire front porch because of the need during the summer for some ventilation from that quarter.
T-braces used on corners and to attach frames to facia and beams.
L-brackets to attach frames to porch rail.The screened porch was even easier to protect. I installed a couple of furring strips as braces across the screen and then simply screwed two sheets of the PolyCarb to the screen's frame, the braces and the porch's end joist. That should keep the water from splashing onto the porch from the first floor roof.
The Screened Porch corner.
The splash maker. Water off the top roof hitsthe corner of the lower roof.
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When I finished with the porch, I grabbed a sandwich and then went to do battle with the lawn. First I had to get the lawn mower started. Damn ethanol! I had filled the gas tank the last time I was here about a month ago. At that time the mower had been working just fine. Today it didn't want to start. Or if it started, it ran for a few seconds and then died. I checked the fuel line and guess what I found...oh, you peeked! Yeah, water. Rather than try to drain just the water, I drained the whole thing. I have to tell you that what came out of that tank didn't even smell like gasoline. Heck, it didn't even taste like gasoline.
Luckily, Mark had left that can of real gasoline (the non-ethanol kind), so I refilled the mower with that and started priming and pulling the cord. It took a while to get the water out of the carburetor, but it eventually caught and continued to run. Then it was time for me and the mower to walk...and walk...and walk. One snake and one toad later I had finished the west side, the east side and part of the north side when the tank ran dry and I decided to quit. I refiled the tank to the brim with the good stuff and put it in my shed where it seems to fare much better than the garage.
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The day started out looking rather gloomy. It appeared it wanted to rain at any moment but just couldn't make up its mind as to how much or when if at all. The overcast all disappeared by 2 PM and the sun was shining brightly as I took the mower for its walk about the yard. The temperature never got much above 60 though the brisk walking did cause me to perspire a bit. The light breeze that is blowing is coming from the west northwest so I expect it to get pretty chilly tonight if the clouds stay away.
Tomorrow I'll do a little more clean-up, pack the truck, hitch up the utility trailer, steal my log splitter back from Mark and head home to the Aerie.
Tonight, I'll light a couple of fires in the wood stoves (because it will be getting pretty damn cold, okay) pour myself a couple of fingers of Dewar's (because it's all I've got up here, okay) and settle back to finish another of Jim Butcher's Dresden stories. (I'm reading Proven Guilty at the moment.)
1 comment:
Sit back and reward yourself. You deserve it.
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