From Hovel to Home

This is our forth house, fifth roof and the first time I have not been involved at all.  Because I am still recovering from a broken ankle my doctor forbid me from setting foot on the roof.  So I don't have many photos and they are all shot from the ground. The old roof was tolerable but nearing the end of it's life.  It had two layers of 3 tab shingles so it was time to remove all the old roofing and start fresh.  Plus our new porch roof needed to be tied into the main roof. My family came out to help with the project.  This is the third time they've helped us with a roof and we are so grateful for their help, especially since I am out of commission this time. In the past we have used Owens Corning and IKO shingles.  This time we upgraded to Malarkey which have a much better nailing strip. Our color is Storm Grey which has a nice color variation.  The colors and high profile on the laminated shingles make the roof look more like shakes ...

Over labor day weekend we managed to get the garage dried in, but it was by no means finished or secure.  And since cooler temperatures are on their way we thought it might be nice to work without the wind ripping through the garage.  We put a window over the future workbench (right) and one looking out to the west.  Our back door worked out better than expected.  We snapped up this fiberglass half light door on clearance even though it was an unusual out-swing configuration.  Fortunately our vintage heater will be tucked inside this corner of the garage so it will never be blocked by an open door. The side garage door is just down the sidewalk front the front door so I wanted something that would not look cheap in comparison.  My solution was found in the clearance bin. Yes, we used the same door twice.  I think they look great together but I do have slight obsession with this door. We even managed to install the used garage door we...

Labor day lived up to its name this year.  Luke and I labored our butts off.  I'm still not fully recovered from my broken ankle, but I am doing well enough to work on the house again.  I puttered on small projects like installing flashing and working on the porch while Luke tackled big projects. He sheeted the garage roof which really made the garage seem a lot more finished He also installed synfelt on the roof and we managed to get the house wrap on as well. I built real steps for the front porch.  We've been using a temporary set since April so it's nice to have something sturdy and facing the right direction. My doctor forbade me to on the roof this year, so I sent Rikka up to check things out for me. It's really amazing how different the house looks with the garage and porch.  Here is a photo from this spring before we started work.  And how it looks now (sorry about the cars in the way, we're protecting the new driveway...