Finished at Last

We finally have finished the total rebuild of the back patio enclosure.  This remodel took much more time, effort, and most of all cost than either of us had thought, but we know that is is built far better than was the old structure.

Even though Rick was in pain from his back for much of the time he worked, he felt he had to get it complete so that we can have a new roof installed on the rest of the house. Only my sister-in-law Chris really can understand what it is like to live with an Anderson who is determined to finish a remodeling project.  We both are happy that the major build is now complete.

The new roof now covers the patio table so we can enjoy meals outdoors.
The treated lumber of the structure must dry for a while before we can paint it.

Thankfully, the patio is large enough to include room for the
double rocker loveseat and my tomato and bean plants in the pots.

This is the best that the screen door has ever fit on this patio porch.

The white vinyl covers for the screen tracks makes the porch complete.

In the end, since the boards are all screwed rather than nailed together, since the roof structure is more sturdy than the old structure, since the roof now has a drip edge all the way around, and since the screens and covers are all new, this structure should keep the bugs out and should last us for the next 20 years.  The roof is strong enough to withstand snow loads, the screens are strong enough to stay in place during the most harsh winds, and the door is now installed between two sturdy posts.  Our only regret is that we do not have an equally spacious and well-built structure at our home in Florida.  For now, though, we will be happy with what we have.

The time has come to sit back, relax, and enjoy the results of our labors.

It's a Roof!

At the start of this summer, we had one mission in mind: put a new roof on the porch so the roofer can come in and "marry" a new roof to our existing structure.  To do that, we needed to do much more work than I originally had thought.

We ended up completely taking down the old roof and the entire roof structure.  We removed all of the screens and the three walls of the porch, leaving only the corner posts and the center supporting post.  Then we started to rebuild.

The roof structure came first.  We used screws instead of nails, and we supported the roof every 24 inches which is far more study than the original structure.  Then we added treated lumber to rebuild the walls, fastening them into the concrete with Tapcons to keep them secure.

From that point, we finally were ready to add the roof panels to complete the roof.  We started that two weeks ago, took a week off to go to Mayo for Rick's back, and came back to finish the roof this week.  Today we reached our goal.  We now have a secure, completely covered patio once again.

The roof is complete, and the patio furniture is clean and back into place.  Summer can
officially begin for us again.

The next step will be to purchase the screening system and to get screens back on to enclose the walls.  I really never realized how many bugs we have by our back flower gardens until we have had to deal with them this past month as we worked! Getting the screens back on will both keep the bugs out and keep the yard debris from blowing in. Hopefully, we can come and go again soon without dragging leaves and dirt into the kitchen while bugs follow us in to make themselves at home.

We have to contact a gutter company yet, but we cannot add rain gutters until the new roof is complete on the house.  We hope that will happen soon, too.

While I spent the day doing touch-up paint on the new structure, Rick took some soap and water and scrubbed down our patio furniture.  For the first time all summer, we actually can sit out on the patio and enjoy the breezes... as long as the bugs do not get the better of us.

A (Partial) Roof Above Our Heads

We came back from Mayo on the Fourth of July which was, surprisingly, a very light traffic day to travel.  Apparently everyone was already where they intended to be.  We spent most of yesterday just recovering from the trip and getting this house restocked with food.

Today promised to only have a 15% chance of "scattered showers" in the morning.  We were in work clothes and ready to pull the tools out of the garage when the first raindrops fell.  A look at the weather radar showed us that the morning would be lost to heavy showers, so we showered ourselves, changed to everyday clothes, and went on with our day.  In the end, that included a walk in the Mall and stops at both Menard's and Kohl's.

After lunch, the sun finally made an appearance, so we were able to resume work on the dripping, soggy porch.  The good thing is that after the rain, the humidity dropped as did the temperatures.  A breeze kept the atmosphere to an almost comfortable temperature which made the work on the roof much easier.

To keep going, I positioned the rest of the rafter covers while Rick followed after me and screwed them into place.  Then I did the same with a few bays of support covers, and when we had enough installed, we started to add more roof panels.

At this point we have six of the nine roof panels firmly supported and in place.  The weather is supposed to cooperate again tomorrow, so we hope to finish the roof panels by noon.

Today, we actually got further than I though we would.  That is a good feeling.

Rick screws down the support beam covers so the
roof panels have something solid on which to rest.
The rafter covers are the rounded ones in the foreground.
Completed roof panels are behind Rick.

The roof before this one had wooden supports and the panels
were nailed in place.  With this new roof system, everything is
screwed into place, and the supports will not rot or rust.

For each panel, Rick starts at the outer roof
line and works his way back to the house.

When completely finished, we will have rebuilt the porch from
the ground up.  New support beams are all treated lumber, the roof
structure is painted 2 x 6 construction at 24 inch intervals, and the
new panels are polycarbonate which will stand up to the sun well.
We'll add new screens and rehang the door to completely enclose the structure.

If we can get the rest of the roof completed by tomorrow, we will have met our goal of getting the roof finished before Rick returns to Mayo for a spinal injection.  If the roof is on, we also are ready to call in the main roofers to replace the shingles on the house.  That, ultimately, is our goal.