And it all came tumbling down

Yesterday was a productive day. Not only did we go to the farmers market, buy some strawberries, and make both pie and jam, we also knocked down our existing garage. The garage was old and quite beat-up. Actually our insurance company stated that they would not cover anything inside it. Between the condition and the size (only one car), we decided to knock it down and build a new one. Now, looking at the garage you would think that a push from a 5-year old would perhaps make it collapse. Amazingly it is not that easy. We started by removing all of the inside wall covering (3/4" plywood) and then removed the wood siding outside. This left only the frame (or skeleton if you will) standing. After debating for a little while, we tested several of the supports and found only a few were holding weight. The weight seemed to be held mostly in the front. So, as logic goes, knock out the front supports and it all falls down. We first pulled out the right side support with the truck. Still standing. Then, the left side support. Still standing. Then the front outer supports on both sides. Still standing. Then we manually knocked out a few of the side supports. Still standing. And then a few of the back supports. STILL STANDING BUT HOW IS IT STILL STANDING? Finally the structure started to fall but not all the way. After chopping at the two remaining supports. The structure was still off the ground, although closer to the ground. Finally we resorted to pulling out the final support with the truck to get the garage on the ground. Kind of a crazy day but a very productive one. It was kind of fun. Part one of the garage project is done now the clean-up begins. Check out the pictures. There is one before, one process, and two after. Check out our "red neck" backyard complete with a bath tub, sink, tires, garage door and piles of random stuff.

Treasures Behind the Walls

We started the tear-down process for the garage. Kevin pulled off some of the 3/4" plywood and discovered these posters! How cool is that!! (I had some fun with photoshop, too.)

It's alive! It's alive!

After several weeks of work the porch is ready. We completed all of the scraping (nasty), priming (OK), painting (OK), and screening(kind of fun). After all of that we found that the porch walls did not fit back into the original space. All of them seemed to miraculously grow about 1/2 an inch. But we made them fit and now the porch is ready to be enjoyed. It turned out great. One added touch is a hammock which is currently on its way from Florida. Afternoon nap ---- here I come!

Little bits each day.

Well, the lack of posting is due to busy evenings and weekends. Most of it is painting and repainting, but the porch is getting there. I just finished the second coat of blackboard paint and am having a hard time waiting out the 24 hour cure period. I promise to post some pictures this weekend.