Braun's Construction Work

Not long after we arrived at our campground and got all set up, Denny received a call from his sister Connie who was checking to see that we made it safely.  She suggested we come over to see her new house (and get our "honey do" list), so we did.  It's a cute hacienda-style home, a good size for a single gal and very attractive, but at 30 years old there's always things that need to be done.  

Originally Connie's plan was to remove a few bad boards from the overhead trellis that formed a roof for her patio.  However, a closer inspection showed that we needed to remove all the boards, lattice work and sunscreen that provided shade and cover and replace the whole top section.  And so that's what we've been doing this week. 

You can see the dry rot on the boards.

Half the boards have been removed.  We had to leave the other half to support the framework.

Denny installed a few of the new boards we cut, primed and painted so he could take down the rest of the old boards.

All the old boards and lattice have been removed and more of the new boards have been installed.

While Denny was removing the old roof boards, Connie and I were painting the new ones.  Denny had to fabricate a pair of sawhorses for us out of the old timbers so we wouldn't have to bend over to paint.  We have a regular assembly line going; prime boards, allow them to dry, 2 coats of brown, prime the next set while Denny is installing the newly painted brown boards. 

All of that came to a screeching halt this weekend when the snows came and the temperatures dropped.  Connie's garage is unheated and even though I brought over our space heater, it was too cold to paint.  So we're taking a break this weekend and will start again tomorrow.  In addition to the roof, Denny has also managed to put up new towel bars in the bathroom, leaving me a new job to paint the wall repair he had to make when he discovered a hole behind the old towel bar.  So one job done, a new one created.  Checked off the list is the recalcitrant patio screen door which now slides smoothly (and Denny fixed the patio screen door to the atrium which had the same problem--2 for the price of 1), new carriage bolts in the gate making it more secure and sturdy in addition to adding more screws on the other side to secure that side.  Still to go are painting the shed door (I've got that scraped and primed), paint the overhead wooden beams in the atrium (scraped and primed) and fabricate a new sunscreen covered lattice top for the atrium, and finish the patio roof with the boards, lattice and sunscreen.  

And people wonder why we bought a new fifth wheel and aren't settling down in a house again.  Hmmph.