Perry and I finished installing the soffits, then put two coats of latex enamel satin finish paint on the fascias, feature strips, and the soffits. The first two could be done standing up; the soffits had to be done lying down, scooting along on your back after every two feet was painted, which sounds a lot easier than it was. Tammy Walsh came over to give me her invoice for guiding the car turnaround area retaining wall construction. First bill I’ve gotten in months that was less than I had estimated. Unfortunately, the difference between estimate and actual isn’t going to keep me out of debtor’s prison, but it was a nice surprise anyway. After the painting was done, Perry and I applied 30# felt to the entire roof area, effectively waterproofing it (and the building beneath) forevermore.
In the morning Perry and I installed the feature strips (narrow boards nailed to the fascia to introduce an additional shadow line… a subtle but important Architectural Digest detail) and the soffit vents (3″ x 8 foot louvered metal strips that let air into the building just below the roof line). Then we began cutting and putting up the soffits. These are being made from ⅜″ PTS underlayment instead of AC plywood… far less costly and nearly the same quality. Unfortunately for our elderly bodies, the scaffolding is about three feet too tall for working on the soffits and it would not be worth the substantial effort to lower the working level to the right height. Therefore most of the soffit work has to be done sitting cross-legged with both hands holding lumber and/or tools over your head. Great exercise… for about five minutes. After that it’s just plain tiring. As Perry says, “Think of all the fitness club dues you’re saving by doing this kind of work!” By the end of the day about 75% of the soffits were nailed into place… and I was almost too tired to drink my after-work beer. Notice I said “almost”.
The only local “damage” from the hurricane was one fairly large oak branch that came down into the recently created shed turnaround area extension… where I was going to park the Ranger for the storm but didn’t due to tiredness. Obviously, if I’d done as planned, the Ranger would have suffered grave bodily damage. Delores and the shed came through just fine, with only the upper floor of the shed getting wet from water bouncing off the scaffolding and into the door openings. Elsewhere in Vermont there was much more severe damage, mostly from flooding. U.S. 7 (the main north/south highway on the west side of the state) is cut in Brandon and again south of Rutland; state routes 125, 73, and 103 (routes across the mountains from the east and southeast) likewise are closed; Otter Creek in Rutland was 8 feet above flood stage and still rising as of this morning. Perry finished installing the roof sheathing before lunch. Marty came up to take the commemorative picture for this major construction milestone. In between occasional moments helping Perry, I spent most of the day priming all of the fascia, feature strip, and soffit lumber… turning my hands completely white in the process. In the afternoon Perry cut, then we installed, all of the fascia boards.
Here’s a gender testing question for you: Does being low (not out, just low) on beer and honey roasted peanuts constitute an emergency sufficiently dire to go out into the teeth of a hurricane for resupply? Not that “Hurricane” Irene was worthy of her moniker – highest wind gusts were only 33 mph, though we did get 7 inches of rain… that immediately soaked into the gravel here at Fern Lake. After the run to Hannaford’s, spent the day reading, beating my brain into mush trying to solve a couple of Master Class sudokus, and trying to figure out how to stay out of debtor’s prison while still finishing the woodshed construction project this year. In a month or so you should be able to write to me care of cell 5733.
First thing in the morning I clambered atop Delores and liberally applied silicone sealant to several cracks in the bathroom skylight and over the forward cabin. Hopefully that will keep the 4 – 7 inches of rain that we’re supposed to get tomorrow outside where it belongs. Perry and I had a productive day, getting about ¾ of the ⅝″ Advantech tongue & groove roof sheathing cut, put up, and nailed down. Concentrated on the north, east, and west sides of the roof, as that is the direction from which the high winds associated with Hurricane Irene are expected. Perry thought we could have gotten the whole roof sheathed if I hadn’t insisted we stop that work in order to secure the worksite for heavy seas. After Perry left to attend to his own house, I moved all the patio furniture and associated paraphernalia on Kate & Dan’s outdoor porch into their indoor porch. Then I moved the campsite lawn furniture into the shed garage and made some attempt to secure all the stacks of wood scattered about the joint. Frankly, I was running out of steam by the time I got to that task... so if it all blows away I won’t be horribly surprised. Another 8:30 “dinner” straight out of the can… and too tired to even open a beer.
A totally dreary day with on-again, off-again showers. Perry and I worked steadily, up on the scaffolding when the rain abated putting on the sub-fascia (horizontal 2 x 6’s that are nailed to the ends of the roof rafters, onto which the fascia boards will be nailed), inside the almost totally dry shed setting up for the collar tie installation and putting in the rest of the hurricane ties when showers were upon us. Yes, you read that last sentence correctly… except for one minor pinhole leak that will be fixed with some duct tape tomorrow, the upper and lower levels of the shed are (finally!!!!) protected from water intrusion. At the end of the day the sub-fascia was attached to the rafter ends all the way around the building and that roof ain’t never coming off them walls, I don’t care how hard the wind blows.
