The Sunday Comeback!

Okay, so it sounds a little more epic than it probably was.

But that's how we feel! This past weekend was half and half. It poured all day Saturday at the site, which didn't seem to hurt our feelings any. We took that time to catch up on the day to day chores and errands that have been pushed to the back burner as of late. We are heading out on vacation at the end of this week! So we definitely needed to get certain things done. Dan and I are returning to my home turf to meet the family, attend my 10 year high school reunion, and have some true down time. Nothing like kicking back at the lake! Can't wait!

But on Sunday- we were determined to get a thing or two done so the whole weekend wasn't a wash. We arrived to work at 8am. We didn't have any demands set for ourselves, we just wanted to work on whatever we could, but at a pace that wouldn't kill us in the heat.

The day turned out to be absolutely GORGEOUS! It remained in the mid to high 70s, at my Dad's, with a nice breeze coming through every now and then. The sun has also been slowly changing it's path in the sky, and as a result, our work space remained in the shade until about 2pm! 

The nice weather and the relaxed attitude helped us accomplish far more than we expected. We started off by building a set of steps up into the house. We both (but especially shorty here) were sick of hoisting and heaving ourselves up and into the house every time we needed something- which is A LOT.  It was even more of a pain when carrying something large and heavy. And I, with my shankles, was just waiting for the time I would hop down and wreck my ankle when landing. So steps became priority one.

 I began by sorting through all of our scrap wood. We had a lot of 2x6 pieces which seemed perfect for the job. We began laying out the matching lengths and cutting others to size. We had several pieces that were one consistent size (the scraps from the roof rafters) and I had planned for those to be the treads. After we constructed the sides of the steps, Dan pointed out how ridiculous and narrow they would be if we used the treads I had in mind. I had a good hearty laugh envisioning the steps being 3 feet deep, but only 20 inches wide. Yeah, not a great design. So we took some of our longest scrap and cut treads to be just over three feet wide. When we were done, we had a nice big set of steps that easily escort you up into the house. :)

Completing a small job like that can have a profound affect on your attitude and outlook for the rest of the day. We were so happy about how quickly and easily the steps came together- not to mention the small pleasures of actually having stairs now- that we moved on to the next project with vigor. We started working on the insulation board for the roof. We had used a hand saw in the past because someone told us the foam would probably melt onto the blade. Using a old school hand saw sucked. The lines never stay straight, the pieces never seemed to fit nicely....Well, we decided to give the circular saw a shot anyway. It worked fabulously!

No melting whatsoever. Cutting time was reduced at least by 70%, and it was far more accurate. The nicely cut pieces fit into the rafters much more easily than the ones we cut by hand. We zipped right through that project as well.

We then decided we would tackle the large window. It was an intimidating undertaking, but the day was going so great, and it was only noon by that point! I began by cleaning up all of the silicon and foam on the outside of the window and removing the screws. Then, using a drywall knife, I started cutting out the foam from inside. It certainly took some time to get the window out with all that gunk that was meant to keep it sealed. After much maneuvering and tapping hear then tapping (okay more like banging) there, we finally got the window free. The reason the window did not go in properly the first time is because the rough opening was built to the wrong set of dimensions from the window. This particular window had three "steps" if you will, where the frame gets increasingly wider. I thought I had measured the largest part, but I had not. 

Dan was up there on a ladder with the skill saw for the better part of an hour cutting and hacking away to get us the extra 3/4 of an inch we needed for it to fit. That was probably the most precarious and tedious part. We lost count of how many times we put the window in place only to find that a tiny bit here or a hair there needed to be chiseled out. Finally the window fit in snugly and level. We re-taped, applied silicone, and then slid the window into place. The flanges are now flush with the outside as they should be.  And it looks MUCH better too.

After a day well done, we decided to go for a dip in the lake. We were so happy and more so relieved that the large window was fixed- and it really wasn't that bad. We don't feel like we are too far off track any more! 

We will be on vacation next week, but we plan to return home by Wednesday and spend the rest of the week working away at the house. We hope to cover some serious ground!

Thanks for reading!
Like Us On Facebook!