Projects, Projects, Projects

My arms probably won't recover from the another house project started this weekend. Because it is spring/summer here most items are focused on the outside work...with some inside jobs on the list when it over develops and starts to thunderstorm. This week was a case in point.

Since building the house there has always been a observational issue with the underside of the deck/balcony. Because the approach is uphill the deck joist were always pretty obvious.

We have talked about a number of ways to fix it, e.g. staining, putting in a cross hatch panel and the one we have decided on putting beetle kill Ponderosa Pine furring strips on the bottom of the joists. This weekend we got started.

Marlys has been putting a first coat of stain on the 150+ strips in the barn for the last two weekends and probably has another full day to go, while I stood on a 6 foot ladder and installed them. Marlys will put another coat on when she re-seals/stains the entire deck later this summer. Marlys has been putting the HVLP sprayer to work with the staining and I used the finishing nailer I got for Christmas a few years ago. This nailer has been very under used in that I can do most everything with the pin and framing nailers, but with this project it is earning its keep (what ever that is). But, it does weight a few pounds and after a period of time I can hardly lift my arms.

Anyway, we got the north side of the deck done before the storms rolled in and I think this will be the ticket to camouflage the deck joists. probably a couple more days needed before it is done.

When the storms rolled in we moved inside to finish the railing re-model. The color of the Paudek is great after a couple of topcoats. When it started raining on Sunday I put the post caps together and I am going to hold of on taking a picture until they are installed.

The old railing caps (curly maple) have been re-sawn and will become the top to a table for the living room.

On Sunday morning we went into town to visit the Western Heritage Festival at the Abbey. It was only its third year so there is still a lot of room to grow, but they had Old Time Baseball games going in the afternoon with the Colorado Springs team playing Canon City. Turns out this is an organized league. An because the teams are playing in the 1860-1880 era, they don't use mitts of any protection for the catcher, pretty basic just a ball and bat.