Tiiiin roof rusted! Can anyone tell me what kind of gutter this is exactly? I've been told it's a yankee gutter a french gutter a box gutter ( I dont' think so ) or should I just call it a built in gutter? I'd like to try and fix the soffit as best I can so that a roofer can line them with EPDM rubber roofing. I want to fix the pitch by replacing the supports underneath which are all rotted and cause the foof to lay flat instead of a v shaped pattern. If anyone knows of something better than the rubber roofing please let me know.

I got $80.00 for the aluminum siding on the back of the house which I used to buy more metal. This time round downspouts. Luckily they sell these at Home Depot. I'm going to try and use this copper paint on them. If anyone has used this stuff please let me know. To add the downspouts I'll need to add this 3" Round Aluminum Downspout Tube -High Gloss White. Then I'll need about 14 of these 3" Round Copper Downpipe Brackets. Copper really adds up.

The shingles are exposed, and they look to be in great shape for some reason. I'm going to try and salvage the shingles that are on there instead of replacing them with new ones, which is what most people have told me I should do. Guess I'll have to see how it turns out. I'll have to replace some of the shingles obviously around the bathroom window where the plywood is. I've also decided to build a platform to work on. Standing on a sloped roof while working on that soffit just doesn't work for me.

Horrible Aluminum siding on the Soffit is being removed. I'm going to need a new roof. I thought it would be best to fix the rotting soffit and replace some of the rotted wood holding it up. Also a good time to add some downspouts. This house only has 3 and it's definitely not enough. I'm going to use a gravelstop dripedge.

Before & After! I just took the siding off the top and the shakes don't look half bad. The soffit is a whole other story-quite a bit of rot.

Well....I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We just submitted an outline for the new front porch and the rear addition. We decided to make it just a little bit bigger than what we first wanted. Unfortunately, I think we will need a variance for the front and the back since my neighbors property line is only 3 ft. away. The top pic. shows how the house once looked. The bottom shows how we would like it to look now. We opted for an open porch. We plan on closing in the deck on the back, and just putting up screen. I guess we'll see what the future holds.

Here is our original front door back in it's original place. I think it turned out great. It took a whole lot of cleaning and a new coat of shellac. Unfortunately, most of the woodwork in the house has satin poly on it. That's why the door looks shiny in this pic. Whithout the camera flash, it's hard to really tell the difference. I have to trim the bootom of the door so that it shuts properly again. Question is, should I replace the existing metal threshold with a new wood one? What should I install on the bottom of my door to keep out the drafts? I was thinking about spring bronze like I used on the windows, but I was wondering if there is a better method or product. BTW-someday this will again be a front door. We plan to replace the front porch that used to exist where the closet is shown on the othere side of the door. We end up losing the closet, but I think we will benefit more with a front porch.

I've been looking for this doorknob. I've seen it on e-bay a couple of times, but I haven't been able to find it in good condition. Most of the oringinal doorknobs were replaced with ugly brass ones. I'm not sure why. The oringinals are beautiful and function very well. If any of you come across this doorknob, I would be eternally greatful if you let me know!

So the squirrel adventures continue. Saturday night we awoke to a weird chirping noise that we attributed to the radiators (finally broke down and turned on the heat). An hour or so later we were up again roused scampering sounds that we swore were coming from under the bed. On went the lights, but nothing to be seen--went back to bed thinking that now we have squirrels living in the walls. Sunday morning I take the kids to soccer and my wife discovers a baby squirrel hiding in the front hall closet; we found its brother (sister?) peeking out from behind a backpack about an hour later. Both are in the capable hands of our local (well not really so local--took an hour to get there) wildlife rehab center who will no doubt release them to go live in someone else's attic.

So having no time to work on any new projects this weekend (too busy cleaning up squirrel sh**) I thought I'd post a few pics of what has been done:

GOT EM'. Well, 2 months later and practically a whole jar of peanut butter later I finally caught that squirrel. I borrowed another trap that seemed to have a better tripping mechanism. I put the peanut butter on the top and bottom of the tray that sets off the trap. I have to say, even thought I hated this squirrel for chewing away at my house I did feel bad for it. I put a blanket over the cage and set it free in the woods about 5 miles away. Some people say 6 miles is best, but he would have to cross an overpass to get to Highland Park. He seemed pretty mad at me. Lots of growling. Good luck Chippy! ...........................Yeh, I named him Chippy so what!

If you already have not done so, you have to check out the Sears Home Archive. So many of the homes listed are here in Highland Park. The one that looks closest to mine is The Fullerton. Although everything isn't quite the same, but close enough. This front porch looks like it might look nice on my home. What do you think?

Oooo so nice- All was going fine until I saw the hacked off ends of the sill. Could you imagine putting up this crappy aluminum siding and cutting off a perfectly good sill? B.T.W the squirrel is still winning and probably quite fat and happy with all of the food I have been giving him in the trap. Tonight I will try a new one. The trap mechanism seems to work better. If this doesn't work I'll call the pros.

Saying "I hate squirrels" would be mean, so I'll just say I dislike them greatly. Trapping the squirrel in my attic has been quite difficult. It's been there for at least two months now. I know when she sees me she thinks "Here comes that nice man that feeds me the peanut butter!" I read that it is against the law to release the squirrel in a park. Why would you release it in your own yard? I plan to release it accross the river. That is if I ever get the thing.

While going through all the useless files on my computer I came accross these pics from Aladdin. The colors on the chart are still so nice for today. We painted our entrance close to the color green shown here. Our staircase is very similar, except that this house appears a bit larger.

Have you ever pondered-" Gee with all of this extra time I have, I sure wish I had plans to re-create the wood storm windows that I once had on my house." Well wait no more!

Now is the time to think about those old, cold, drafty windows. If you have windows that are in need of a little weatherproofing , you may want to think about V-Bronze.
I'ts also known as spring bronze. The pic to the left describes how it is done. It's not hard to do. A little boring maybe, but not hard. I recommend a nice vodka martini while working. Just don't hit your thumb with the hammer.

Step 2

Step 3

Even though the siding isn't ripped off and the new front porch put on and all the windows fixed, it doesn't mean we can't start thinking about color. I saw this house in Princeton last year and I like it for now. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to change my mind. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the color choice for the front porch. Gotta love those copper downspouts. Something similar here.

Wouldn't it be nice. With all of those damn acorns falling I'd love to have a roof over my car. Did you know that acorns can put lots of small dents all over your car? I think the squirrels are hurling them downward to gain more speed. I threw this carport on in Photoshop to see if I like it. I do, but sadly it's too close to the neighbors property line.