I have not been posting, mainly because I have been working home projects. I am acutely aware of the many days of project time left and ever fewer work days available before summer turns to snow drifts. So the porch deck is done, even if paint scraping littered at the moment. So I have turned to the railings, repair, prep and paint. Loose spindles to tighten, gaps to caulk, lot of peeling paint to strip, and surfaces to sand. Some old pieces had to be cut out with an oscillator saw. Some new pieces need to be fabricated as replacement.
It appears I can theoretically process forty eight linear feet of railing system within an eight or nine hour shift. Unfortunately, my ass can only process sixteen linear feet before it needs to sit down. At this stage. three more days of tedium maximus before the job is finished.
Roof repairs – Mind games and psychological manipulation
The roof ridge repair has been completed, although four feet of ridge shingle evolved into forty eight feet of ridge shingle and some roof shingle replacement where dormers intersect the main roof. I confess some help was recruited for this heavy lift, high wire exercise. I’ve got a young guy who helps me out on such DIY endeavors, but ever since he turned sixty-seven he has grown reluctant to scale twenty-five foot extension ladders or scoot around on 12/12 pitch roofs. Remember when that was “rooves”?
When he came out to check out the job he was already grousing. “Man, that’s really high!”, “Whoa! Those bundles are eighty pounds! “This could take a week. Maybe a month, depending on what we find!..!!” In reality he is a great guy who always charges a fair price and never wastes hours. It is just this pre-project whining to establish his value that makes me a little crazy. So he set up his ladders, planing to start the job on the following day and left.
As soon as he was gone I carried a single bundle of shingles up the ladder and onto the roof, but in two installments and with a couple of boxes of 2″ stainless roofing nails. Each trip was only forty pounds, but gravity seemed to intensifying with each ladder rung. The next day he showed up, climbed the ladder to look around and discovered the shingles. “Who brought these up?” he shouted down. We are both hard of hearing, so every communication takes three attempts. “Oh yeah. I was going to stage all of the bundles for you so you wouldn’t have to struggle with them. I know you were worried about the weight. But I got sidetracked unloading trim boards from the truck. Sorry”. He did not complain again. Good thing as I could not have done the job.
Like vanilla icing on a giant rectangular cake
Flying the drone up to inspect while someone is working that high off the ground is not always a great idea. Especially when the guy on the roof is not expecting the drone and thinks the buzzing sound is a hornet swarm. For a moment he appeared as the final scene in King Kong, a slightly shorter version waving his arms and swatting with his hands. So I retrieved Dewey faster than he could descend the ladders, went inside, closed the doors and windows after taping a sign on the door, “Had to run into town. See you tomorrow”. Look at those pictures. Surely it was a critical drone mission! He had pointed out missing mortar on the top row under the crown.
The drone picked up two problems. The first, the missing/fractured mortar between the crown and the outside stonework. The second, surface cracking on the top of the crown. The cause of the first is that the crown to stonework seal was done incorrectly, or perhaps it was done correctly twenty-six years ago. The second was a problem because water gets in the cracks and Maine sub-zero winters freeze the water and it expands in the cracks. Left untended, the crown could fracture significantly and break off.
Because the chimney and crown expand when in use at rates greater than the stonework, so any seal to keep water out needs to be an elastomeric caulk. Because that open joint is several inches deep and follows the chimney perimeter, the equivalent of approximately sixty tubes of elastomeric caulk, foam rod backing is compress fit into the chimney abyss. When it gets within one half inch of the stonework face, the rest is filled with the caulk.
The stuff that looks like vanilla icing is ChimneyRx, a brush on elastomeric & waterproof coating. It is made specifically for this type of application. When I want to get my slightly younger sister angry, (What brother does not want to make his sister angry?) I remind her of the two words she mispronounced until she was age seven. The first was “shicken”, which was a feeble attempt at the word “chicken”. What was she, like French or something? The second was “Banella”, which was a disingenuous attempt at the word “Vanilla”. Reminding her three or four times over the course of a dinner will do the trick. It was funny when we were kids, but hysterical as old timers. Anyway…
What remains to be seen…
So the end of the side run is nearing an end. Then it’s hang a Louie and finish the back railing. The Truck replacement rear bumper needs to be sprayed before it gets too cold, an actuator switch on Sparky needs to be repaired or changed before the snow blower goes on, the garage door trim needs to be replaced before Sparky hits it again, fall fertilizer and insecticide needs to be put down before first snow… oh yeah, I need to replace the kitchen faucet. Wonder if King Kong will take my call?
Busy summer. At least the never ending list of home projects will have different line items next summer. House is looking good though.
Thanks, Scott. Hope all is well with you.
It has, so far, actually been challenging and fun. The truck did not get all of the attention planned, but maybe a safe heater in the garage will allow some winter work.