SideTrip Notes (PROJECT 1: Repaint Outdoor Railings and Trim)

 
At last, some progress was made with the intended project.  Good thing my Mother-n-law reads my Blogs.  She harnessed the creativity of her husband to solve the issue of raising the pole to replace the rotten wood.  In the last post I was perplexed about the method to support the posts to install the new solid pieces I purchased to replace the rotted wood.  My Father-n-law suggested using 2X4s that are slightly longer than the actual space between the cement porch and the overhang roof.  He suggested I place them in the space between and hammer in gradually until there is enough room to replace the wood.  Success!!!  Not only with the idea but getting additional resources to assist with the project.  Husband and Father-n-law lent their hands and creativity to this solution.

While waiting for their assistance last weekend, I managed to finish one of my side projects.  Goodbye old green doors, hello midnight blue.  Clean, contemporary look to spruce up our curb appeal.  However, only ‘laneway appeal’ thus far as the front of the house provided a larger challenge.  I need to back-track to explain why.

 In addition to the doors at the back, I realized I had to remove and paint the shudders to complete the look.  Very happy with the final results and moved to the front to replicate my success.  Thank Goodness Husband caught me before I started painting.  “Come across the street ad look up”, he suggested.  Oh no – not another wrinkle!!!  I can handle the front door, and the shudders beside them, but I am not so sure about climbing on the overhang roof to remove, repaint, and reinstall the shudders on the second floor exterior.  I completely forgot about them. 

 

I bolster my courage and think I can climb out my son’s bedroom window without too much risk or knees shaking from my fear of heights.  As I am voicing my plans, my husband looks at me skeptically and his Mom begins to regale me with tales of injuries her friends have I incurred falling from roofs and other risky locales.  I decide I will leave this next side trip for a ‘spring vacation’; perhaps when we get our shingles replaced next spring I can convince the roofing company employees to remove the shudders for me …

 Back to the project at hand.  New pole bottoms are now secure, however, since the replacement pieces are a little smaller, the horizontal railings no longer have a surface to lay on for support – so, my husband and our friend/neighbour John head over to John’s scrap-heap from deck building and fashion several shunts to support our horizontal rails.  Next, I must prepare the wood for painting but before that, I take two extra precautions, at the advice of my helpers and audience.

 

 Precaution 1:

Husband wants L-brackets added to each connection of the horizontal rails as well as the new shunts.  That was a breeze, well perhaps closer to a high-wind, when you consider the angle needed for some of the shunts, but a small ‘girly’ screwdriver comes in handy for that issue.

 
Precaution 2:

My neighbour, Karen, tells me that the person she hired to do her trim and railings also applied silicone seal to each joint of wood to deter future wood rot, in those lower areas where water tends to pool.  I think that is a great idea and proceed.  This takes much longer than anticipated due to the large number of spindles on the railing but, well worth it if it saves me from replacing the wood in another 15 years …. Hmmmm ….that is a long time away.   Maybe I am doing more than needed but better safe than sorry!

 

New additions to the supply list:

·         L-brackets made of galvanized steel
·         2- pressure treated pole toppers
·         2-2X4s 9 feet tall
·         1 pressure treated 2X4 cut into shunt sized pieces (caution – raw edges are no longer pressure treated so use caution)
·         Exterior silicone seal.

Come back and visit next week (optimistic) to see resutls of my first finished project!