damn its been a cold winter!!

Well thank god winter is nearing the end, last year I was able to get some work in during the winter but man this winter has just been so cold with very few breaks. So i've just been working on the old original 12 over 12 windows in the basement and warmth of the rental house and checking craigslist daily for any good deals on stuff for the house. I've made a few good purchases which i'll go over but before I do that I've been meaning to post a couple photos of the dining room window bump-out I was working on in the fall...

Its not totally complete but its close, I just finished building a window planting box that will go here

I built it using old solid but dry 1x6 pt deck boards and 1x2 pine, sanded thoroughly and filled nail holes and applied 2 coats of oil primer and 3 coats of white semi-gloss. I taped off the top edges and sprayed the interior with 3 coats of spray rubber to water seal the interior real nice! holes are drilled in the bottom for drainage of course.

Ok, so back to craigslist. Near the end of august I found an ad from a nice guy who was knocking down his cottage on the lake in Morris, CT, he was offering everything inside and the decks outside for free, and of course I was all over it.
I salvaged pressure treated 2x6 & 2x8 deck boards and took home 36- 2x6x16's and 25- 2x8x12's with
a retail value over $770. And other random smaller 2x6 boards. All Like new condition, none of it had cracks and splinters that old decks get. I won't use it for decking anyway, 2x8's for joists and 2x6's for some sort of framing project probably.
I was also allowed to remove interior wood, the entire cottage was covered in wood paneling,
I took about 40-50 1x6 T&G 8' boards (value $250-$325. range) and a stack of other misc wide pine boards and trim/baseboards, all great useful material with a light coat of stain on some on one side and no paint. He also gave me 3 unused 6x6x12 pressure treated boards ($120 value)
A great haul that will come in handy in many ways, and already have, I used some 2x6's for framing that window bump-out and trimmed it out with some of the paneling which I cut the t&g's off.

Other craigslist purchases this winter:

3 bundles of 10 - 8' primed cedar fj clapboards for $100. from Canaan, CT resident
(value approx. $180.)

35 pieces of new 5' rebar for $50. from Torrington, CT resident.
(value approx. $100.00)

50 new unused concrete foundation blocks 16x8x8 from Barkhamsted, CT resident
value approx $75. bought for $30.or $40., can't remember, but still a good deal.

10 Harvey windows - wood interior/aluminum exterior simulated true divided light colonial 6 over 6,
 tilt to clean, insulated glass, etc Awesome high end windows for less than crappy new vinyl.
value approx $400.ea bought for $100.ea. from contractor in Sandy Hook, CT
These are them...

Front Porch Progress

Wow guess I haven't posted much of the progress i've made on the front porch so better get to it. Haven't had a whole lot of time in the past month or so to work on the house but have managed to put a good dent in the front porch, put up most of the siding and blocks for wall lights, installed trim and casing for door and got the door hung and sanded and watersealed the porch deck. Finished painting the window for the porch as well and put that back in its place. Also been working on the driveway side of the house framing a bump-out for the window in the dining room area so there will be a big window sill for plants, etc and will also build a planter box for the bump out, it will hopefully be a nice looking feature on that side of the house.

July progress update

July 1st 2013 yet another rainy day, looking out the back of the house

nothing better than a good rain storm to find the low areas in the drveway!

Finishing the foundation and floor joists

Floor joists completed and open deck area floor laid, still have to trim the floor overhang on left

Yes! Porch roof completed! Nice to have a open dry area to work on rainy days.

Plywood wall sheathing also started

July 27 - Plywood wall sheathing completed on front and housewrap installed.

Stripped/scrapped/sanded all paint off window trim & sills on left side of house and oil primed, also did lower right trim & sill that was removed when the outside wall was removed to expand and enclose that right side of porch, ready to install next work day.

work on the front porch continues

Over the past few days I've been chipping away at the front porch, I expanded it a bit from the original and we're enclosing the right half where i'm working now to make a larger dining area. I finished the new foundation wall for the enclosed half of the porch/dining area, its half concrete block and half wood framed. With support posts in place I've started removing the old exterior wall and a row of blocks from the old foundation so I can tie in to the floor joists. I installed enough floor joists to get a 4x8 sheet of subfloor down so that I could start framing some walls for support before i go any further down the line of taking down the old exterior wall and foundation.