Progress is off to a crawl start on siding... but the big sale is coming!

I wish I had a ton to update since the last post over a month ago. But I don't. I'll start off with the miscellaneous things that I can remember we've done. I should keep a diary, just so I can keep track of things for the next post. Maybe next month. (Yeah, right... add it to the list)

First off, we did end up putting up the screens for the windows upstairs to test the fit. Shawn think they should be fine, but I'm not convinced they will not get full of dust and become yucky. We should put them away, but I doubt that we will. The good news is that only the basement bar/kitchen screens were the wrong size. It is still on my to-do list to get the correct sized ones, so there's another thing on list.

The other thing that happened is that we finally got the electrical inspection. Good news is there were no issues, though the inspector did state his reservations about the basement ceiling not being covered. But that's acceptable by code, and we're good to do. So then of course, the electrician's bill arrived shortly after that, and even though we had saved up the money for it, and we were ready, it is always painful to part with such a sum that could buy a new vehicle. And that's for half the house. And to think that we got another small vehicle sized electrical check to go in the future. *sigh*

Still on an electrical subject, Shawn got a splitter for the phone lines, and here you can see him as he starts on connecting the phones to all of the rooms in the basement. We have six lines, one to each room, though we're not sure that we need all of them. At least we had the means to pay this electrician for his labor. :)

On a more exciting note we have a date set for our garage sale! And our daycare provider has graciously invited us to have it at her house in town, so we're excited (more like I'm excited) because the traffic will definitely be better, so hopefully that will mean plenty or treasure hunters willing to pay for our junk. It is scheduled for mid-June and I'm happy to report that the old house treasure is officially sorted into keep and sell piles.

Here are a couple of pictures that depict that oh-so dreaded task. The stuff that was upstairs that fit through the window made the journey to the outside, where we sorted into trash, burn, keep and sell piles.

Here is another picture that shows the monstrous undertaking.
All in all it wasn't too terrible, just odious. It took about three full weekends, and a couple of evenings. Of course, we could not have done it without some help keeping an eye on the kids while we were in the old house. Grandparents spent some more quality time with the kids, and we took advantage of their help again.

And next picture you can see what will hopefully give us a small refund. Even if it doesn't, all of the stuff you see here will have a one way trip into town. All of these precious items will become someone's treasures either through our garage sale, or from the goodwill because nothing will be coming back!

Our old bedroom is full of the keepsakes, but now that the major sorting is done, I want to do second opinion and thin the keep pile some more. Really, we need none of it. It's been six months since we've moved out and I have not had the need to use any of these things. Realistically I know we won't get rid of all of it, but I'm optimistic that we can part with a few more things. Probably in the next couple of weeks before the sale, we'll start sorting the sale pile, cleaning some items and pricing things to get ready for the big day!

The big focus has been on getting the old house sorted. But in between here and there when it was not raining, Shawn began to pick up where he left off on siding. So now the main focus will once again be siding. Shawn began by building the cornice returns, or whatever they are called, in the soffit and fascia of the front gable.

The birdhouse return is another silly name for it, and it is the white triangle thing you can see at the corner of the roof in the picture above. We did a lot of driving around to take a look at how most houses have these done. It was very hard to find some sort of guidance about these on the internet. So Shawn took a stab at it, and it turned out really nice and professional looking. You can also see in the picture where he had begun to cover the soffit up the top on the opposite side.

This picture shows both corner returns finished, and the front gable soffit and fascia is all installed. You can also see the poor shape that our Tyvek house wrap is in. It is to be expected since it is not meant to be left exposed for two years. We will be tearing it off and replacing it. You can see a hole above the window where Shawn noticed a bulge. We had birds making nests up at the top of the wall, and their butt was positioned just right so that some of their droppings slipped behind the tyvek and had been collecting there for a year or two. Gross. So needless to say, there will be some cleanup and repair that will need to be done before we cover that up with siding. Hopefully this next weekend we will start some of that. But overall, the Tyvek has done its task of protecting the wall behind it, despite the abuse and neglect it has received. So we will just move on, but we'll make sure we do a great job of preparing the wall before siding goes up. At least is it great to know that protected and done right, that Tyvek will do its job.

Also, in preparation for the siding job to come up, Shawn began to paint the trim boards so that those are ready to go.

This past weekend my in-laws came down to help us once again. My mother-in-law, Pam, watched the kiddos, while I was at the old house finishing up with the sorting. And Shawn's dad has been working on making us some laundry cabinetry. So he brought what he had built in his shop at home, and Shawn helped him to get it installed.

 You can see how great my laundry area is starting to look! Most of the lumber for the drawers and trim is from Derald's pile of maple wood he got from Shawn's grandpa Harley (Pam's dad) from a tree that fell in a storm several years ago. We bought some of the hardware, and other things, but Derald has been very kind in making this for us. As you can see, there are two drawers, and they pull out the full length, so I have access to the very back of the drawers. Nice! We are still deciding on the door, whether to make it one single door that will pull out both drawers at the same time, or have two individual drawers. I mean to go to some stores to take a look at some cabinets and decide. So maybe sometime this week or the next we can get to that. Once we do decide which route to go, Derald will make the door and come back and install it. You can see that the drawers are a little darker than the top. That is because they have a coat of varnish on them already. We sill have to varnish the rest of the cabinets, and I think we should get to that as soon as we can, because I do not want anything to stain the bare wood. Probably not this weekend, but hopefully the next.

If you want more details on the cabinet, visit my Father-in-laws blog. If the cabinet is not on yet it should be soon.
Derald's blog - washerdryer nook

So once again I'm shooting for a post mid to late June. By then the sale will be over, and hopefully the siding work will be fully underway! Until next month!