Scraped, sanded, and painted the rusty screen door. The door turned out to be in in worse condition than I thought it was. Prepping and painting the door took a lot longer than I expected it to.
DAY LXVII
Tag Archives: diy
DAY LXIV
Finished installing the top planks on the deck. Coated the bare wood with insect-resistant wood treatment.
DAY LXII
Gale force winds. Rain. Are you kidding me? This crappy weather has been going on since before Christmas.
Worked on the deck all stinkin’ day. Still not done. Probably gonna run out of deck screws and lumber.
DAY LIX
I started working on the deck project around noon, and continued, making slow but steady progress, until I was thwarted by gale force winds and monsoon rains!
A couple of small trees in the yard blew down. Two fairly large papaya trees in the neighbor’s yard fell, a result of the saturated soil and the intense wind.
This weather is insane.
DAY LVIII
I had a dentist appointment at 11:00 a.m.
The rest of the day I moped around. Very depressed. Very tired. Slept for two solid hours in the afternoon.
My weight is up, despite having resumed jogging during my sojourn on the Big Island. I’m at 207 pounds.
I am SO TIRED of people telling me how to do the deck project. Neighbor guys keep offering their “advice” as to what materials I should use, what tools I should use, how I should put things together, why what I’m doing isn’t right, how it would be so much faster if I did it this way or used these tools or… gah!
The stupid stairs I built leading down to the beach last summer, the ones I cobbled together out of cast-off and leftover lumber using my electric drill and a cheap Black & Decker jig saw, survived their first TOTAL INUNDATION by the ocean last week. They didn’t budge an inch. The surf came up into the yard, over the steps. They’re still fine.
The deck will be the same way. It’s an OLD DECK. It was built fifty years ago. It was built totally “wrong” by today’s standards –– the joists are spaced fifty-one inches apart, there are no support piers under the 8-foot span, and even though most of the supports are badly rotted and termite-damaged, it’s still holding together. I’m putting it back together “wrong” as well, making it up as I go, patching the rotted joists using salvaged 2×4 lumber from the old deck top. All I have to work with is a jig saw and an electric drill. It’s slow, but it’s going to work. What I don’t have is a ton of money. I’m tapped out after buying deck screws and 2×4 stud grade lumber. I can’t afford TREX® planking for the deck. I’m not going to buy, or fuss around with, hidden deck fasteners. I’m not going to buy plywood at fifty dollars a sheet. I’m not going to replace all the 2×6 and 4×6 support beams with new lumber. Sure, if I could afford all that stuff, I would. If I could afford new power tools I’d have a miter saw and the job would be done hours more quickly.
It’s gonna look adequate and it’s gonna function adequately.
Or it would, if I finish it. Right now there’s a big, ugly hole full of rotten wood and rusty nails in front of my house. Since everybody else seems to know how to do things better than I do, maybe I should just let somebody else finish it.
DAY LVII
Drove to Lowes Home Improvement Center to purchase supplies for the deck project. I am attempting to complete this project as inexpensively as possile, simply because I haven’t much money. I am using plain, stud-grade 2×4 lumber for the deck planking. I will be salvaging what I can from the old planking to shore up the rotted, termite-infested supports.
I removed the remainder of the deck planking and started reinforcing the most badly damaged support beams.
DAY LVI
Started removing the old planks from the front deck.
DAY LV
Two projects underway:
1. List house for sale. I have the paperwork. I need to complete the paperwork, scan and email it back for listing on the MLS, and take photos to submit with the listing.
2. I am going to replace the front deck of the house, as it has nearly rotted through in places.
DAY THIRTY-ONE: Slow Going
Little visible progress toward anything today despite hours spent on caulking and patching. I more or less finished the necessary pre-painting work in the main bedroom and the kitchen and I started on the bathroom. I was not able to mark very many things off my weekend list. I find it frustrating to leave projects half finished.
DAY THIRTY: A Rough Start
I woke up feeling irritable, frustrated, and depressed and the feelings just got worse as the morning progressed. I started to jot down a list of things to accomplish this weekend. I expected the list to have three or so things on it. Quickly it expanded to over twenty “must do” items.
