Future Projects

Well now, if all the yard-work and the front steps weren't enough, I decided to walk around the house and look at problems I'll be facing this spring.

As most of you know, we are planning on at least getting the house primed and the fence put up this spring and summer. As part of the prep for priming we know we'll have to repair and replace parts of the clapboard and molding.

So I figured, what the hey, why not share this with all of you.

This is a view of the porch molding that needs replacing.

When we bought the house there were a couple of huge cedar trees (around 25+' tall) on either side of the porch steps. Both of the trees were dying and had tons of ivy growing all over them.

At this particular spot the ivy had entered around the molding of the fascia.

This shot is of the fascia on the left-hand side of the attic gable on the east side.

You can barely see where the molding is pulling apart. What doesn't show up too well is the pitting caused by the weather. It won't surprise me at all if we end up having to replace most of the molding around the eaves.

Here is the north east corner of the very top eave.

There is a small gap in the corner. That will have to be fixed.

Look real close at the lower part of the picture. Do you see that dark smudge? We do not know when it happened (it was before we bought the house), but evidently there was a short in the power line and it scorched the eave.

Right smack in the middle of the smudge is a clear spot about the size of a quarter. We have no clue as to why this perfect little circle didn't get scorched.

This picture scares me the most. It shows a section of the molding that has pulled away from the fascia on the west side of the roof.

What scares me is where it's located. It's at the highest point of the house (as far as fascia goes). It's well over 25' straight up!! It's not that I'm afraid of heights, what scares me is GETTING to the spot. You see, I HATE ladders!!

I hate them to the point it's almost a phobia. When I was a kid, about 8 I guess, I fell off a ladder. I was climbing up into a peach tree and the ladder started sliding and then buckled from underneath me. Since then I have never trusted, or liked, ladders. I do not care how big, or small, they are - I HATE THEM!!!!

So, I need to come up with some sort of scaffolding system to work on this side of the house.

Cheers!
Larry ~