Thursday, March 14, 2013

More Porch Renewal...

We I've opened it up, removed some, if not all, of the rot from the corner structure and now await tomorrows further operation.  The surface boards were rotten only within the last 8 - 10 inches of the porch towards the street...as one would think...but the beams underneath show rotting further back, some rather extreme and that will have to be addressed.  All the measurements show these beams and joists to be during the days of TRUE 2 inch by 4 inch wood and 4 inch X 6 inch beams...not like now where 2"X4" means 1.5" X 3.5".  That means I'll have to stack some of the new lumber together to makeup the sizes as I do the repairs and trim some of the pieces as well.  A bitch.  Anyway, it's drying out right along now that it's open and will be a lot easier to deal with in that condition...I HATE wet wood! 

The cats have returned, many new ones too...which makes the upcoming capture another great cat challenge.  Too many cats, not enough time.  Two large bowls of food a day plus scraps from chicken, fish and whatever else I find as I prep lunch or dinner.  They aren't as good as a dog in getting rid of the unwanted stuff...but they aren't half bad either...it just take more of them!  And we have them!  Sunday 24 March is the next great neutering.

I've run into a really interesting video blog for you.  It's on youtube.com ... search for "Real Russia Ep 1"  it's a kick, the guys are really straight forward and sincere and it's a great travelogue taking in many aspects of Russian culture that have escaped the news or other documentaries. Try it, I think you'll like it.

For you Techies...here's a new site I found that'll help you make a descision regarding which CPU is which...a really good comparison between all the offerings of Intel and AMD.  http://www.cpuboss.com   Pretty neat!

Later folks!  More tomorrow and some pictures of the great rotten porch too! 

Monday, March 11, 2013

The Porch

The Porch.  Not a big one or a wrap-around-the-house kind...but big enough to sit on and relax late in the day on a sunny afternoon in the shade of the house.  It's covered by the roof and with it's advanced age (127 years old) for a simple wooden construct it has done quite well.  It's on the north side, the cold and wet side and shady side of this house.  Dry rot (a misnomer if ever there was one) is an ever present danger to these rather lightly built subfloor structures.  The wood is white/live oak or worse yet common fir...and it simply can't take the weather.  Oh it's painted, the same grey paint the body of the house has but it isn't enough protection.  Thus the corner column has pushed it's way into the structure as the floor and the structure supporting it are rotting away at a stately pace.  I started today to repair the damage before we do any travels (IF we do any travels) this summer.  It isn't extensively damaged, just the corner and a few boards along the front will need replaced.  The supporting beams and whatever underneath are more interesting and MAY take a bit more construction than the simple flooring will require.  I will be finding out soon...as I used floor jacks today to jack the overhang off the corner a bit (about 1.5 inches) so that I could examine the rot better and decide what must be done.  The jacks are quite stout, they are railroad train car truck jacks and probably could lift a good portion of this house if it needed lifting.  They are substantial!  Tomorrow I'll dig further into it, strip off some dead wood and see what kind of beam and joist material will be needed.  Then off to my nemesis HOME DEPOT to acquire the wood.  Check back tomorrow, I'll have some pictures of the rot and what I'm up to.  Til then...so long for now!