On Tuesday I worked on the side porch again and managed to finish most of the railing area for the front of the porch. The two sides will need to wait until the bricklayer has finished later this month. I was going to install the spindles on the steps when I realized I needed a piece of 2by4 to act as filler along the stringers. Well before I went to pickup subject 2by4 I decided to install 4in pieces of 4by4 along the soffit as freize blocks for a future freize board that I will install after the bricklayer is done.
Here is a picture of the blocks installed on the house. The Freize board will most likely be a piece of 1by6 Fir coloured the same as the posts.
On Wednesday I managed to finish those railing spindles and install a pair of solar lights on the 6by6 newel posts. I then spent some time in the house working on cleaning up and trimming some clear Pine and a piece of Red Oak that will be used for the basement hand rail. The clear pine is a 2by4 size and will be fastened to the wall slightly lower than hand rail height. Then the red oak which is a 1.5by6 will be fastened to the pine such that approx 2in sticks up higher than the pine. This will be rounded sanded and varathaned to a smooth finish for the hand rail. So today we cut the wood to size rounded it over sanded it and gave it a coat of Cabernet stain. Lastly we spent some time moving some dirt from the front yard to under the future front deck to raise the ground and give it good slope away from the house. The dirt was from the city when they installed my culvert they asked if I wanted the dirt they would dig out. I said yes, big mistake it was mostly clay from the moat I had. Oh well it still works well as fill under the deck area. As well I started to work on the shower tiles cutting the first row to size, that is until I realized I was one short and would need to pick one up. Here are some pictures, first the more or less finished side porch, second the handrails after staining and third a picture of the front yard showing one of two piles left from culvert work and the dirt from the other pile under the deck area. The large dirt pile is topsoil from the initial excavation.
Today Saturday the first thing I did was give the railings a second coat of Varathane. I actually managed to give them their first coat on Thursday evening after work. They should have received their second coat on Friday after work however I spent all day Friday in bed fighting a 24hr flu bug. This meant that even today I was not 100%. After the varathane was done I went outside to spend some time moving dirt and gravel around trying to sweat out the flu bug. I finished moving dirt under the front deck area, at least for now. I then moved 10 wheelbarrow loads of gravel that was left over onto the driveway in various spots to help level it out. I then also leveled of the side of the house where I had dug a ditch to drain water away before the eavesthrough were installed. This also ensured a smoother area for the bricklayer to stand his scaffolding. Lastly I spent some time moving a little topsoil around one side of the garage. I figured might as well start on this as it was just grunt work and nothing was in the way. Towards the end of the day I went inside and quickly installed the casing on the window and the cubbyhole in the Master Bath. So here are some pictures showing the topsoil along the garage and the casing in the bathroom.
Ok so on Tuesday the brick and stone get delivered and the bricklayer should be starting shortly thereafter. As well I plan on installing the tile work on Tuesday and if all goes well the grout on Wednesday. After that one toilet and one vanity are all that stand between me and an occupancy certificate. That is as long as the inspector approves it all. Until next week have a great time.
Harold
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