Ohio (part 2, some of the work)

I know I said I'd give less explanation and concentrate mostly on just providing pics this time around, but it turns out a certain amount of explanation is necessary—or at least helpful, I think—so...


This installment brings us to some of the actual work that was done. The hard stuff was done by Dan, the man with the expertise. I just pitched in wherever/whenever asked, mostly in a "gofer" capacity.

The main work to be done was putting tin roofs over the old worn shingles. Tin is much more durable and it looks nice too. Dan already had the main part of the tin on the garage/apartment done, but that was the most level of all the structures and utilized some of the shortest sheets of tin. The only thing he had left to do there were the side trim pieces, but to do those he utilized the lift he had rented for a week (see first photo) and that made the trim job very easy.

Then there's a shot of the little side garage (with a ladder still sprawled across the peak because a few mid-screws need to be put in yet). I was actually on the peak of the roof screwing down the top of the tin sheets. I'm not a fan of heights, but with a little patience and care I managed and did OK (I think). We also installed the nearest half of the driveway gate you see there. The ground was full of stones, so we ended up having to use a powered post hole digger instead of the manual one, but Dan said that "took all the fun out of it."

Last are the before & after shots of the tenant house roof. This was by far the most difficult one due to the size of the tin sheets and the pitch of the roof. And by this time I'd strained my back (lifting large chunks of sidewalk into the bucket of a dozer which Dan had used to knock'em loose), so I ended up being only minimal (but necessary) help by assisting (along with a couple others) in handing up the sheets of tin. Each sheet on the long back part of the roof is about a yard wide and runs the entire length of the roof. The "after" shot is actually not quite "after" yet as there is a little more work to be done, but it shows the bulk of the tin in place. Dan is eventually going to gable the lowest, flattest part you can see over that little back entrance...

     

     


Dan installed a few ceiling fans, one in the dining area and one in each of the three bedrooms. I assembled, he wired and hung...

     


Then there's an old Chevy truck that Dan has been restoring for Dave. He's modified it for some modern conveniences like disc brakes and will eventually intall power door locks, but cosmetically it's pretty well finished in these shots...

     


There's a beautiful antique cabinet that we moved from the master bedroom to the living area because we had to make room for a small bathroom—well, showerroom—Dan's going to put in a corner of the bedroom. The cabinet could not be tipped and carried out of the room, so it had to be disassembled—it's held together with simple wooden pegs and braces—and then reassembled in the living area. The antique coat rack that was where the cabinet is now went to the bottom of the stairs where Dan had to move the end wall back about a foot. That was so as to make room for a door to still open properly, allowing access without damaging the coat rack (sorry, forgot to get a pic).

And lastly there's the new sliding door to the deck for which there's a longish story involved, but I'll try to boil it down. It was before I arrived, but the store sent a door which opened the wrong way—right to left instead of left to right—and Dan had installed it anyway since he didn't realize it mattered to Dave. Besides, he had to fill in the gaping hole in the side of the apartment. Once he found out Dave wanted it corrected a week or two later it was arranged that the store would send another door. Dan carefully removed the first one and we used the lift to get it down to the ground and around front for pickup. Then the second door was delivered and the wrong one was taken away. Right after the delivery guys left, though, Dan realized the new door was the exact same as the one they just pulled out of the driveway with. A frustrated call to the store prompted a third delivery later in the afternoon, this time with the correct left-to-right door, which Dan then re-installed. For what it's worth I ended up staining the door and most of the window trim pieces throughout the apartment...