You have all been waiting....HOUSE UPDATE!

As you all know...I had been in the process of removing the old green asphalt siding from my hut...In the beginning I had no idea how to replace the horrendous ugly siding that adorned it...how do you buy siding with no money? paint was not an option...this stuff is like gravel and it is UUUUGGGLLLEEEE! And people just don't leave new siding laying around in piles for scroungers like me to take home...

After the first winter...I was working away outside and noticed that a piece of that siding was askew...hmmmm...it was white underneath it...I went over there and ripped it right off!   underneath that green gravel  nastiness was cedar clapboard...why would they side over that? I know it was considered a "poor" siding...meant for cheap building of the mining houses that are so prevalent in my area but why would someone let Mr. Siding salesman put that nasty stuff on their house?  Well...after questioning several of the natives...they all were of the same mind...INSULATION! and at the time, I suppose...there was no HGTV and no decorating no no's! HAHA!  and insulation was a new concept beyond stuffing paper under the linoleum and wall papering with news papers to keep out the draft...

Another concern, though...did they do it to cover worn out siding? were there pieces missing? broken?  I spent all that day carefully prying up random pieces of that asphalt siding...peeking under it to see if all the clapboards were still on the house....AND THEY WERE!  I got really brave the next day and took off two entire layers on the bottom of the house...I found some damage...water damage mostly...from being exposed to the elements...but nothing structural...nothing a reallly good pallet or cheap board could not fix!

I got this far before I could not reach any more without a ladder...and it stayed that way for the better part of 6 months...and went about my business...the wooden orchard ladder leaning on the house was beyond my comprehension...NO WAY was I shimmying up the side of a house on that thing....

My Honey finally borrowed a ladder from his family...a nice, adjustable ladder that reached to the roof...I was still not getting up there...it is a really long way down! I couldn't let go of the ladder with even one hand after I got up there...this little hut is 3 floors tall....and it felt like Mt. Everest to me....so I would go half way up...stick the pry bar up under the siding and give it a tug and then duck really fast...it was a long...slow process....It was either that or wait for Honey to do it on the weekends...I climbed, pulled and ducked a lot that week...Honey got the top most siding...and it was gone....I saved every nail...an entire 4 gallon tub....and that ugly green asphalt is now a floor in our shed.....and I have 16 pounds of  green finishing nails...

That siding was in amazing condition! We did end up buying a roll of insulation to stick in the walls upstairs as you could feel the draft....the house had blown in insulation and it sunk! The ground floor has lot's!

Then came the sanding...it took 5 days and 1 roll of auto body sanding paper to get the house sanded...I had a palm sander...that lil sucker sanded that entire house...and it still works! We had been given some scaffolding and that was a great blessing, considering my aversion to the ladder...Baahaa!

Ready for Primer!! YAAAAAAAAAY!

I had been decorating , setting up and bartending all summer for the weddings in our area and I finally had saved enough money to buy the doors I wanted for the house...with what was left over I bought primer...

Before

New door!

 After

and we borrowed a sprayer from the neighbor...

And my Honey went to town...we finally finished at 10p.m...that evening....aided with the headlights from our car....

It took 6 gallons of primer to cover that thirsty old cedar in two coats....

And another new door!

I don't know if any of you have noticed the details on this lil hut? the foundation is hand tooled rock...and just painting the house with the primer brought it out in all it's loveliness....

But this is where we left off for the winter...more compost pile runs for firewood and garden clean up took up the rest of the season...

The sunlight thru those doors is wonderful and I can't wait to show you the house color...and what those doors look like painted red.....