Queen Anne Gets a Paint Job, Part I

When we purchased our house in June, 2012, we knew that we'd have to get our house painted as soon as we could. Years of neglect, peeling paint, and possible citations from the City of Green Bay for lack of upkeep were all bearing down on us.

This soffit is missing quite a bit of paint.

This one is too. The water damage really affected the paint.

We were recommended Green Bay's Perfect Painter by more than just a handful of neighbors. Joel Van Stechelman has quite the reputation in Astor for painting houses, not only for his time and effort, but also for the quality and longevity of the final product. Our neighbors had their house painted nearly ten years ago, and it still looks fresh and perfect today. To be honest, I was under the impression that the home had vinyl siding on it, the paint looks so great. Calling Joel was a given.

More missing paint here.

We got Joel over to our house to take a look at the exterior. We walked around a couple of times, and he told us that he'd get us on his list.

Fast forward to September 1, 2015. Backing out of the driveway on the first day of school, ready to bring our son Jacob to his first day as a preschooler. A truck pulls up with a whole bunch of ladders. Could it be? Could it really be them?? Were my eyes deceiving me?

Sure enough! Karstin, Joel's son, and his friend Alex, were coming to set up to start painting our house. This began the journey that we will hopefully someday call our "little $20,000 house project".

Below, take a look at some pictures from before the painters arrived. Watch for updates on their progress!

Some paint is missing from this trim.

A lot of paint was peeling on this side due to a large shrub that we had to remove.

We painted over this area to protect the siding until the painters arrived.

Carport Conundrum: The Deck

After the old rubber roof was removed from the house, we were able to get the new one put on. It took the better part of a morning, but it sure turned out great.

The floor joists are in place, ready for the cedar deck boards.

The gorgeous cedar boards are ready to be put up on the deck.

The finished product!

We are looking forward to putting our patio table and chairs up here once we get our railings installed.

Carport Conundrum: The Support Columns

What a winter we had! It was so cold that even some schools got cancelled a day in advance. When things got really cold, we noticed something with our carport. The shifting in the ground caused one of the support columns for our carport to heave upwards and look like it would tip over.

Yikes! Tyler created a joist that would help support the weight on that side. Of course, he chose the coldest day to do this. When things started to warm up again, the joist wasn't needed anymore, so we took it down.

We didn't want this to happen again this coming winter, so we had Pat Drury from Drury Designs take a look. We needed to get a look at what was under the current columns to see how to proceed.

What's down there?

Earl starts the excavation.

Ah... Just as we suspected. We'll need to start over and put some footings down here.

Just like on the front, and now side of the house, we'd need new footings under these support columns as well.

Eric from Roffers Concrete Construction coordinated the formation of the footings under the carport columns.

The hole has been dug, and we're waiting for the forms.

This is what had to be cut out of the driveway to make room for the new concrete work.

Part one has been poured.

The footing is done and dry.

The reconstructed stone columns with new tops.

The reconstructed columns from another angle.

After the stone columns had a chance to set, Curt and Mark were able to put the columns back up.

Steve had to make new bases for the columns; the original ones were very damaged

Bottom - the original base for one of the pillars; top - its replacement

Once the support columns were back up, we could have the new piece of concrete poured. Watch for an update on the new concrete work, coming up soon.

Carport Conundrum: Electrical

When we bought our home, we had fun figuring out what all the light switches did. We had one that we were sure powered the light fixture under the carport. When we flicked the switch, however, nothing happened. Either 1) the bulb was dead, or 2) the switch wasn't for that light fixture.

After getting started on our restoration of the porch on the south side of our home, we knew we'd want to know that this fixture had a switch. Tyler got on a ladder and swapped out the bulbs. Sure enough, it worked! The only thing was that the wiring for this fixture ran along the outside of the house. It didn't look that great.

This conduit looks awful! Good thing we won't need it anymore.

While this was all going to be opened up, we wanted to have the wiring come through the wall, so we could get rid of the conduit.

The hole in the ceiling is just waiting for the new light fixture.

Watch for an update after we install the new light fixture!

Carport Conundrum: The Roof

While we were working on getting the carport columns redone, we wanted to redo the deck as well.

Originally the surface was an asphalt roof that had far exceeded its life. It was sloped so the water would run off the north and south sides and into rain gutters. The surface was also pretty cracked, and we were sure that water was getting inside. The wrought iron railings were also in bad shape and would never hold if someone leaned against them.

A photo taken from last year, long before we started any construction
on this side of the house.

The railings have been removed, as have the gutters and other pieces of trim.

The black rubber roof has been removed, and you can see the water damage.

New wood has been added to support the new rubber roof being put on.

The new roof is coming along!

Just about done!

The new roof is sloped so that rainwater will run off the west side only, and it will drip directly onto the grass below. We should no longer have a need for gutters on the carport. This is great news! No gutters to clean or maintain. The more low maintenance things we have with this house, the better.