Loose Ends and the Shed Project

Tracy was a proud new homeowner when this was taken in 2010. Here's a shot of our Grand Avenue home today.

back yard:

As you can see, the shed needs a paint job.  The fresh mulch project was instigated in part by the necessity to protect the new paint on the shed from mud splatter.  The area behind the shed had been overgrown for so long, ivy covered more than half of the siding.  When Andy Podhany took out some of the fencing, removed the dog house and a few small trees; he also went after the ivy.  As I removed the dead ivy from the siding, I realized that each vine left a fossil-like impression that was very difficult to scrape off.

Here's a snapshot of the north side...before

and after...

Oof.  I used a drill with a wire-brush bit to sand the vine remnants away. It was one of those north carolina june days in the humid mid-nineties, and I was covered in paint chips and sunscreen. I followed behind the drill with an orbital sander.  It took all day to get around the exterior, and I still have about three feet remaining on the back wall.

To my dear friend Ray Jones, who is probably the only human that actually looks at this blog, I offer this as a small apology for my lack of blogging:

I know that you were anxiously awaiting the completed kitchen nook photos, Ray... even though you saw it in person before the blog post. We've been a little too busy to blog for the past seventeen months, and it's because we have a new roommate in our Grand Avenue home:

Emmett Josiah Brown, born 1/5/14.  He's generally an agreeable fellow; drinks 1.5 gallons of milk a week and doesn't pay rent. Ha Ha. We're going to keep him.

Our Shed


Wow...has it really been two years?  I believe that our last post was related to the kitchen nook...it turned out great. Ha Ha.

Since then, I cleaned/restored/painted all the exterior windows and cleaned/painted the base of our home.  The place really looks great now.  We had three huge sweet gum trees removed from the back yard.

Unfortunately, we could now see this clearly...

Yeah.  I think that the open covered area was constructed as a golf cart garage years ago.  We do not have a golf cart.  The 'garage' just contained yard waste cans, old buckets, and a section of chain-link fencing.

The fence is still up around the perimeter of a previously claimed area behind the shed.  The gate was here on this weed-overgrown corner; and it served as the entrance to a huge dog pen.  Recently we cleared this area and removed the dog house, some small trees, and an incredible amount of ivy.

The shed is really useful; so we decided to give the old thing a facelift.  Step one: get rid of the golf cart garage.  It only took about two hours for my friend Greg Readling and me to remove the aged appendage.  Looks better already, doesn't it?

Step two: spruce up the ugly roof.  Yipes...and yes, I used a hoe to remove the moss from the shingles.  Then I swept it all away.

Greg thought that tin would look great; and Tracy and I agreed.  So...

As you've probably noted from early shed photos, the roof had a slight bow that went from 1/2" on the edges to 3/4" near the center (both sides).  A purlin frame was constructed out of the 1" X 6" treated boards shown above (this creates airflow below the tin and keeps the shingles and plywood from rotting due to excessive moisture).  It also allowed us to shim up the purlin frame to create a roof line that seems more level to the eye.  Shown below is just the center frame-we cut more boards and continued the frame until we had a 5" overhang on each side (front to back).  I also ripped up that yucky old spider plant bed (surrounded by house brick) across the front and left side.

Then we ran the tin!  Well...first Greg replaced this trim board; which had rotted somewhat.

This photo shows the northern edge.

Ok.  Step three: door and footing.  Not much to say here...Greg did it again.  The door is made out of pine and the ramp is constructed of durable treated lumber.

The fascia board above the entranceway had to be altered slightly (the new door was perfectly square and the opening wasn't).  Carpenter bees had nested in the board!

I love barn hardware...and I think the exterior hinges are sweet looking.  Leave it to Greg to make some smart choices.

I've been scraping, sanding, brushing...and repeating.  It's going to take some effort to get all of the dead ivy fossils off of the building.  Stay riveted...I might post about the beginning of another project in two years-and forget to show you the end of this one!