Going Postal

     We have a lovely home that is over a hundred years old and literally falling apart at our feet!  I love the history, character, and charm of our home...but the constant upkeep, not so much.  I know what you're thinking, any type of home has upkeep.  Yes I know.  But let me tell you, when something breaks in our home, we can't go out to the box stores and easily find a replacement.  They don't make crown molding like ours.  We don't have standard sized windows.  Basements sink after a hundred years, especially if your basement is made of limestone!  Yes, I love my house home, but oh man, I can't keep up with it sometimes! 

     Our front porch is the newest problem.  I love having a front porch, but the posts were starting to rot.  I went out to some lumber yards and guess what?  They don't make posts like ours!  Sure they look similar, but are not the same length or width.  Ahhhhhh.  So my handy Dad came up with a solution and saved the day!  Thanks Dad.
     Instead of replacing the entire post, we (and I do mean we) are going to cut off the bottom section and replace it.  The top of the post and the porch flooring are in great condition.  It is only the bottom part that is bad. 
     I purchased some 2x4's and had them up on the porch to help support the posts.  I was a little paranoid that they'd crumble and the entire roof would come crashing down.  It wasn't going to happen, but I just couldn't get that terrible vision out of my head!  Unfortunately, the 2x4's were too tall to support the posts.  So they needed to be measured, cut, and then placed against the posts.  Do you know how long they sat on the porch waiting for someone (meaning my husband) to cut them?  Three weeks!
     I finally had enough and dragged them down into the garage and got out the circular saw.  Once Ryan saw my with the power tools, he got out there right away.  I guess there's something about a woman doing man's work that irked him.  I was just tired of playing the waiting game and wanted to get the porch finished.

I LOVE our Craftsman saw.  It even has a handy laser!

     Only then, did he help me measure and cut the wood.  I did all of the cutting with his supervision of course!  But now that I'm comfortable using the circular saw, there's no stopping me.  I am a woman on a mission and I want our house to look GOOD!  I don't want to be known as "that house."

Yea, that's me.  In all of my glory...
clean & org disorganized garage!

      Once we got the support wood up, I felt a little better.  Our house was still looking a little trashy, but there wasn't anything I could do about that.  I had bought the replacement wood, we had a circular saw, a hand saw, wood glue, a level, a hammer, nails...but no ambitious husband and a wife that was in uncharted territory.  That's when my Dad saved the day AGAIN!
     We asked my Mom and Dad to stop over to help us unload some railroad ties (a whole other project and insane story!)  They got there and we decided (thanks to some encouraging words) that we didn't need the railroad ties and should take them back.  My Dad looked at our porch progress and shook his head!  That's when he dragged out the tools and walked Ryan through the project.

     They cut our the bad section of the posts and cut new sections.  This time the post sections would go under the porch floor to the cement.  This would help level out the porch.  (Remember when I talked out our house being over 100, well with age thinks sink & sag...just like us!)  Anyways, they then lifted the porch roof, using my handy 2x4's, and slid the new pieces of post into place.  They used wood glue to add some strength.

     Now the rest us up to us.  We need to use wood filler and fill in all of the gaps.  Nail the sections to the porch roof.  Use caulk to seal up the connecting pieces, to help prevent anymore damage.  Sand down the new post section, so it looks similar to the top.  And paint it.  We have purchased all of the materials needed, and it has been two weeks.  Sounds familiar doesn't it!