New Room for the New Year

As the fall moved into the winter season with us still in Wisconsin, both Rick and I began to notice that the living room furniture was starting to be uncomfortable.  Certainly, his back and sciatic problems did not help the situation, but neither of us could comfortably sit for an entire evening of reading or of watching TV.  We were astounded to learn that our couch and love seat were 17 years old, and the recliner and platform rocker were not that much newer.  We had reached the point of getting something both newer and more comfortable.

Our first thought was to purchase a power sofa and love seat to replace those two pieces.  Stephanie had just purchased new for her living room, and we liked that idea that we could micro-adjust the back and the leg lift to fit us comfortably.  The one thing that we did not like about her set is that when we were just sitting rather than reclining, we both were too short for our feet to touch the floor!

Our search for furniture sent us to stores in Green Bay and finally to Appleton.  We found a set that we almost purchased, but in the end both the price (which was astronomical) and the structure left us both less-than-eager to make that final step.

On the way out of one of the Appleton stores, however, I saw a display of Stressless furniture.  I had heard good things about the brand, so I went home and did a little research.  On a later trip back from visiting my mother, we actually stopped in Appleton and sat in a few of the chairs. We had a saleswoman set up an order for us, but we still did not feel comfortable with that commitment.

We knew when we started to look that we needed to consider the colors in our area rug which we did not want to replace.

The rug gave us lots of options in various shades of
brown, ivory, tan, green, and rust.

Once in Green Bay again, we discovered a store right here in town that specialized in Stressless and Scandinavian furniture.  Long story short, we ended up buying two chairs with ottomans, a new couch, a love seat, and a new entertainment center.

The before and after pictures show the transformation of the room.  The first pieces to arrive were the two chairs with footstools.  The old recliner joined its twin at Lindsay's house, and the old platform rocker may end up at Habitat for Humanity.

I have always hated the overstuffed recliner as it was bigger than I am,
and my beloved platform rocker also was sagging and showing its age.

The new reclinable chairs are identical except that Rick's chair
(on the right toward the corner) has a higher base to better fit his size
since he is about 6 inches taller than I am.

Next came the couch and the love seat.  Once again, the old set found a new home in Lindsay's living room where she and Chris re-stuffed the cushions to make them more comfortable.

The old couch and love seat served us well for almost two decades.

The new leather love seat fits well in the same area even though
it is slightly longer.

The new couch also is a little longer.  We chose bright pillows
from Pier 1 Imports to coordinate with the henna-colored chairs.

Finally, today, the new entertainment center arrived.  The old table is in our basement reading room for right now.

Our old Ethan Allen sofa table served as a TV stand, and
while it fit well, we did not like the look of all the cables and
wires hanging down.

The new entertainment stand solves all of the problems
with cables and wires.

We still have to find some new art for some of the walls, and I would like to add some branches to the big orange pot.  The details are yet to come, but we are very happy with our new, comfortable furniture.

We went from this...

...to this.

The Power of Boredom

As the cold and snow settles in, we have found ourselves spending more time indoors, and that does not bode well with my restless husband.  We try to get out each morning to walk with all of the other "old people" in the mall just to get in some exercise, but other than a bit of shopping, our outdoor energy expenditure is limited.

Of course, spending too much time indoors is not good either.  I tend to have more hobbies than Rick, as I can keep busy with sewing, cross-stitching, weaving, and reading.  Right now, I have warps on both the big loom and the inkle loom, so Rick is shut out from both of those pastimes right now, too.

I also tend to take more indoor responsibility with cleaning and laundry.  Rick does his share of cooking, but cooking for two does not take up much time either.  

So what does that leave him?  Time for researching things on the computer, time for a bit of reading, and time for watching politics on TV (which just tends to raise his blood pressure and his ire at the politicians and their shenanigans).  That leaves him extra time to just sit around, be bored,  and to dream up ways to improve this house.

Yesterday he was looking at our old table which currently holds our TV until our new furniture and entertainment cabinet arrive.  Neither of us like the way that the cables and cords of the current system are splayed across the walls in opposite directions just to reach electrical outlets.  

"You know, Sher, I could put an electrical plug right in the middle of the wall.  It would be high enough on the wall to be hidden behind the new cabinet, and we could put in a double box so we could have one side for electrical and one side for the TV cables to come through.  What do you think?" 

What did I think?  I have been married to this man for 43 years, and I know that look in his eye.  His brain was already drawing up plans,  plotting schematics on how it would all go together, and envisioning the end result. At that point, what I thought really did not matter. He had already decided that he would put in that new outlet.  I was just glad, this time, that I actually agreed with him. 

The mass of electrical cords and TV cables made a mess
of the wall behind the table that holds the TV.  We needed an outlet
in the middle of the wall to take care of the clutter.

He started yesterday shopping for supplies, drilling holes, cutting drywall, fishing wires through the wall, and installing the box.  We re-routed the TV cables into the box, and he set it up for the electrical connection today.

With the drywall cut, Rick pulls the electrical cable
through the wall so he can feed it through the box into
a new outlet.  The other cables control the TV.

This afternoon, he used ALL of the 50 feet of wire that he purchased yesterday to connect the outlet to the electrical box in our basement.  We now have a working outlet with TV cables that will be hidden from view once our new entertainment cabinet arrives.  

The new outlet has room to plug in the equipment and
an opening through which the TV cables come from the basement.

Our new couch and love seat will be delivered on Friday, but the cabinet, unfortunately, will not arrive until after Christmas.  At least when it arrives, we will be ready to supply it with hidden power.  Then our living room will be complete in time for the new year.

Fall Finishes

I know that I have not posted in a long time, but that does not mean that we have not been busy.  Right after we finished with the porch roof, we went to Rochester for a little medical services for Rick's back and sciatic problems.  While there, I tripped and fell on my left knee, shattering it into four pieces.  I broke the knee on August 12 and had surgery here in Green Bay on August 19 to screw and wire the pieces all back together.  Lots of physical therapy is helping me get my mobility and life style back. Healing just takes time.

Another thing that takes time is getting the roofers to come to install a new roof.  Rick called the roofer in May, and he promised that we would have a new roof before winter.  Record rains have prevented the roofers from coming on promised days in early September, so finally on September 30, we greeted roofers on the one day that we did not get rain.

Before the roofers came, Rick had to take out the old SolaTube in the kitchen.  We bought a new SolaTube to install after the roof was complete.

Rick removes the old SolaTube cover from the roof before the
workers remove the roof and chimneys.

I'll let the pictures tell the roofing story.

Workers removed the first unused chimney that
used to vent the long-gone fireplace.  The chimney
was filled with nesting materials from birds and squirrels.

The roof comes off, only to reveal many, many warped boards
that needed to be replaced so the new roof would be level and smooth.

This picture shows both the hole from the old chimney and
the water damage on the edge of the old boards.

A huge lift delivers almost 30 new roofing boards to make
our house water tight for the winter.

The lighter boards are the replaced boards.  Up goes the price
of our new roof!

We chose a light brown for the roof that coordinates well with the brick.

After the roof was installed, we also had to get all new gutters and gutter covers.

Workers lift the new gutter onto our new back porch enclosure.

Once the roof and gutters were finished, Rick and I (mostly Rick) spent the last two days installing two new SolaTubes.  The one in the kitchen was just a replacement, but the one in the interior bathroom was a life-changing new feature in our old house.

Rick saws a hole through our new roof to install
the SolaTube in the kitchen.  The new tube even has
a solar-powered night light that allows a person to
see the whole kitchen at night... which is a safety feature
should one have to get out fast or get into the refrigerator
for a midnight snack!

Rick snaps in the dome for the kitchen SolaTube.  He then
went into the house and finished the job from the inside,
which took another four hours!

Today (October 4) Rick cut the second hole in the roof
to install the bathroom SolaTube.

Once he installed the flashing, he added the reflective
arc to the dome and positioned it to face south.

The hole in the bathroom ceiling awaits the
new SolaTube.

Putting the tube together is easier on the kitchen table.

Once installed, the new SolaTube lights up
the entire windowless bathroom without any electricity,

The tube is so bright that it lights up the interior hallway also.

We both are exhausted but extremely pleased with the results.  We have a new roof that will last us the rest of our lives, and we have completed the last tasks of the summer by getting the SolaTubes installed in the kitchen and the interior bathroom.  Now we both need to rest.

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.

Progress on the Porch

I never quite  know what to call the structure that we are building.  In Florida, it would be a "lanai."  Here in Wisconsin, it really is a screened-in patio slab.  I call it a "porch" for convenience, but in reality, a porch has a wooden floor and a shingled roof.  Ah well, whatever it is that we are building, the work continues even as it tries to kill us.

Why the fatalistic viewpoint?  Well, we work each day in pain (Rick has more pain than do I), and we work past our limits to the point of exhaustion.  Add in the heat, sunburn, and a constant threat of dehydration no matter how much we try to drink, and you start to get the picture.

We have worked nine to ten hour days for the last few days just trying to get the porch finished.  We leave on Sunday again for a week at Mayo as Rick undergoes more tests and tolerates some diagnostic injections. We hope that they will be able to discover what kind of physical therapy he can use to alleviate his Piriformis / sciatica pain.  He also will find out soon if he needs back surgery.  Before we leave, we both desperately want to put on the roof.

To get to that point, since my last blog, we have done the following steps on the porch:

We completed the cross braces on the roof frame.

We added fascia boards to the rafter tails
from the house to build a frame for the soffits.

We used treated lumber to frame in the north wall
of the porch.

We replaced rotting 2x4s with a 4x4 treated post to frame in
the opening for the door.  Then we completed the frame of the
east-facing wall.  We also took all of the timber that we tore out
to the city landfill.

Yesterday we spent the day framing in the soffits.
Today, Rick added the final bracing brackets to support
the roof we will try to install tomorrow.

The new roof structure has braces every 24 inches which should better
support the heavy snow loads we seem to be getting each winter.

And each day as we build, I move my bean plants and
my cherry tomato plant out of the way so they continue
to grow.  I can almost taste the fresh veggies already!

While the porch still is not complete, each day we DO cross off more items on our "to do" list.  Eventually, we will complete the porch, even if it takes the entire summer.

Raising the Roof

We have known for a long time that we needed to put a new roof on this house.  The last time this house got a new roof, we put it on ourselves, and our 38-year-old daughter was all of 10 years old.  I don't think this roof owes us anything.  Although we do not think it leaks, we also do not have confidence that it will survive another harsh Wisconsin winter.

So one of our main objectives for this summer was to get a new roof installed on this house.  We saved the money for the past year, so cost is not a problem.

We have two chimneys on the house, and both of them will be coming down.  The north chimney used to service the fireplace in the den.  We tore out that fireplace at least 20 years ago, so the chimney has just stood there acting as another weak place on the roof, just waiting for water to find its way into the attic.  The second chimney on the south side used to be a conduit for both the furnace and the hot water heater.  A number of years ago, the furnace was re-routed to the back wall of the house; that left just the hot water heater venting out of the chimney.  This past year, we put in a new tankless water heater, and that, too, now vents out the side of the house.  We will be happy to see both chimneys go. Our new roof will have two less penetrations in it, and two less places for birds to try to build their nests.

Additionally, we want to replace the SolaTube in the kitchen and to install a smaller SolaTube in the main bathroom.  Putting on a new roof will give us the opportunity to do both.  We went to Milwaukee and purchased the two new SolaTubes.  They await their installation.

So what is the problem?  Well, before we can have a new roof installed, we have to replace the leaking polycarbonate roof on our covered back patio.  (In Florida, we would call this screened-in room a lanai.)  Our neighbors said they were shocked that the old roof actually held the snow load that piled on it this past winter, and we know that some of the structural boards for the roof were rotten.  In fact, when Rick tried to pry out a nail on the north wall header, his hammer went right through the rotten wood!

With the old structure down, Rick fastens the new
ledger board onto the house.

Down came our old roof.  For the past couple of weeks, we have been working to put up a new structure.  The old roof was illegally attached to the end of the house roof rafters.  We knew when we removed the old roof that those rafters would not support a new structure.  (And we are further amazed that the snow load this past winter did not collapse the whole structure!)  So Rick ripped out the soffits and installed a ledger board to the house.  Lots of lumber and lots of painting gave us the new long board which Rick hung with rafter hangers on one end and notched support at the other end.

Our garage has become a production paint shop for all of the new
boards that will go into the roof of the porch.

The first day's support work got us into a rhythm of working together
to get the cross-ties into the structure.

The view from the dining room shows that we will have
a solid structure onto which we can attach the roof panels.

More lumber and painting later, we are now to the point of putting in the support pieces every 24" between the long boards.  This should be enough to withstand snow loads for the coming winters.  Once they are in place, we will add the transition pieces from the roof line to the new panels and screw the whole thing into place.

Work continued today as more cross-ties went up.

Then we'll figure out what to do with the soffits and rebuild the side walls and screens to keep the porch bug-free.  Only then will we be ready for the roofers to come in to attach the new roof.

Of course, the only problem with this whole scheme is that Rick is facing major back surgery, I am facing a second hand surgery, and Rick needs Achilles tendon surgery. Perhaps our bodies are trying to tell us to slow down a bit.

One day at a time.  Tomorrow we will install some more braces and try to pick up the roof panels since Menard's is having a sale.  Later this week we go to Rochester and Mayo Clinic to get Rick's back checked out, and heaven only knows what will happen from there.