How I spent my summer. After almost 30 years, our little house was in need of some sprucing up. Several windows had lost there ability to hold out the cold, and the wood siding was looking a little long in the tooth. It was decided (OK truth be told wifey decided, I was fine with moving to a warmer climate), we would put in 6 new windows, all new vinyl siding, fascia, soffit, shutters and rain gutters. Once the decision was made and a color was chosen, (Spruce Green), all that was left was to choose a contractor and sit back and watch it happen, HA, NOT !!
Not many know this about me, but I can NOT buy anything at first quote. I absolutely have to research it to death and get multiple quotes, until I am sure I have the best possible price. So after multiple quotes, from this contractor and that contractor and this giant home improvement store and that giant lumber yard, it came down to buying the ingredients myself locally, having our retired neighbor act as general contractor, having bro-in law Steve buy the windows at his work place and install them and finally have an old co-worker from NY come in and do the gutters WHEW. Let the games begin.
We were fortunate that the old siding was not rotted, so we were able to put the new siding right over the top. And in a total fit of pure genius, I decided to have Vic start on the house the EXACT same weekend we flew to Wisconsin, AND the exact same weekend Hurricane Irene decided to come roaring through. Needless to say, I spent many an hour wondering if all his hard work (wrapping the house in body wrap, J channel, starter strip, etc., etc.) was now being ripped off by said Irene. Talk about shocked when we arrived home Monday night at 10:30 pm to a GREEN house. WOO HOO, Vic and his lovely assistant (his wonderful wife), had finished the entire front and most of both sides, YEA. Here are some before and after pics;
The very next weekend was let's finish the house day. So a whole host of helpers turned out, (Thank You, Mike, Chris, Steve and Casey), and we proceeded to get the entire back done and some of the front facia. A few days later, Vic came over to finish the peaks and the facia and soffits and about a week later, (after my discovering that YES, rubber soled work shoes and a wet metal roof are in fact VERY slippery), Vic came back over and helped me finish the last piece of soffit and facia between the garage and house.
On another fine weekend, bro-in-law Steve came over and put in the first 5 windows. What I imagined to be a very long and painful day, turned out to be done in 2 1/2 hours. This man is a genius when it comes to installing windows.
I will post a few more pictures when we are completely done. Currently, our to-do list is down to , cladding the windows with metal, gutters and shutters. Stay tune, more pics to come. Oh, and lest I forget, we removed a huge pine tree from the edge of the driveway. Nothing wrong with the tree so much, other than a constant drip of sap on my car (wifey gets the one car garage). And the 2-3 ft of pine needles every fall and spring we have to clean up. So one sunny Monday , off with her top. here are the before and after pics;
One last set of pics before I sign off on this column. Bro-in -Law came over to clad the windows and what a great job he did. I can't believe how great they now look and dad came over to help me last weekend and we put up the shutters. All done, except the gutters. Here are the last of the pics;
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