Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Porch Project

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Porch Project, a set on Flickr.
Our front porch was in dire need of an upgrade. The paint was a mess; dry rot had set in

Once Josh removed the boards, we discovered a gopher had taken up residence at some point and enormous amounts of dirt had been relocated into a single area. Not only that but we discovered that gophers are very fastidious creature. Our gopher had a front door, a living area, and a debris wall blocking off a second room that served as a toilet. Amazing.

We were able to save about 2/3's of the boards so the completed porch is a combination of new and old. For the next month, the redwood will breathe and release the tannin from the wood otherwise future paint will bubble and blister.  So for now it's raw wood and the old will be sanded so when we stain next month, it was have a nice even appearance.

And, of course, what is recordkeeping if you don't have the crew?  From left to right we have "The Idea Man", "The Contractor", and "Josh, The Tool Man".

It was an interesting 2 1/2 days and even Tanner finally settled down and seemed to accept all the strange noises coming from the other side of the door.

4 comments:

Jeanie said...

Wow -- looks like a big job. The gopher story is fascinating!

Ginny Hartzler said...

So how long will it take altogether? And how do you know it was a gopher and not some other burrowing animal?

Annie Jeffries said...

Well, G, the first part took 2 1/2 days. After a month they'll come again and sand, stain and seal. That will probably take a couple of hours so really, not much time.

We don't have much in the way of burrowing animals. Gophers are king of the underground here. It's a safe bet.

Barbara said...

Don't they all look so pleased with themselves at the end. Guess you are now enjoying Annie.