One I would like to share with you involved renovations my siblings and I have done on our mothers house in downtown Nipigon. The house is a rather old structure that was built at a time heating costs were not of much concern and construction methods were not up to the standards they are today. Plus normal wear and tear have taken their toll!
You may recall from the “A busy Summer'” post from last year that we put up foam board insulation followed by vinyl siding on 3 sides of my mothers place last year. Well, the roof did not have much life left in it so the plan this year was to finish the insulation and siding and replace the roof. In addition, as the building had a false front we decided to remove it and establish a more conventional profile along with eave extensions on the sides and front to better control rain run-off. Here is a picture of the front of the building after the old siding had been removed:
Here is my sister, Nancy, doing what she does best: supervising:
And my brother Stephen trimming the roof panels to fit (the house is not a conventional rectangle but a trapezoid to fit the irregular lot it is located on!):
My brother David and I laying down the roofing panels, including making cut-outs to accommodate plumbing vents as seen here. The previous roof was asphalt shingles. While more expensive based on raw materials cost steel roofing goes down so much faster and is a lot easier on the back! It took us approximately 5 hours to cover the roof, and then an hour or so later it began to rain! It all worked out perfectly!
And here is the semi-finished product. All that is left to do is to put up the vinyl siding on the front. It took us 5 days altogether to get to this stage, not counting the initial work my son Jordan did, in tearing down the old siding. That also included ripping out the old picture window and reframing the opening for a brand new casement window. The previous window did not open at all and so airflow through the building during hot summer days previously had been a problem. No longer is that the case!
And a special thank you to my brother-in-law, Hans, who took all of these pictures. And I must also give him credit for the comments he added to give them that special touch!
It took a while to finally finish; as they say, the devil is in the details! But here are a couple of pictures from when the reno was almost complete. The only additional changes were mounting an outside light over the door and changing the screen door to a white one that is in much better shape.
And here is our family as these days opportunities are few and far between for all of us to be in the same place at the same time. In this case we all came together to help our mother be as comfortable as possible. She celebrated her 81st birthday this past April.
For those of you who have not met all of us: Front row, left to right – David, our mother Sally (Edna), and Joanna, and Back row, again left to right – Stephen (London, ON), myself and Nancy (Victoria, B.C.).
