The first step was power-washing the entire house, then they scraped every last piece of siding. It took one day of power washing, three days of repair and scraping, and three days of priming and then painting the two coats. It also rained a few days here and there so they were off working on other projects until the weather cleared. Also, they stopped painting to repair the carport roof leaks. The carport repairs took two full days. All in all the painting and carport repairs took about twelve days. They did an awesome job.
When I bought the house I factored the carport repair and painting into my budget, and it looks really good, but holy crap, I am bleeding money!! So let's hope this is the last big repair for a while because my savings account needs time to recover! Spending money on a new house can be tough, both mentally and on your wallet, but I've learned that it's so worth it to do the big projects early on so that way you can enjoy the benefits right from the start. One of my biggest house regrets happens when I wait too long to do a project, and then only do it before moving so someone else gets to enjoy the benefits instead of me! It’s so funny how when you’re selling you’re like 'my house has never looked better – and, I’m leaving…'
Choosing paint colors for an exterior is extremely challenging. I ended up choosing Benjamin Moore's Galveston Gray, and a crisp white for the trim. I couldn't be happier! I have received many compliments, and I feel confident I made the perfect choice, which is such a relief after spending so much money. :)
Before
After
Doesn't it look like a totally different house?
And look at the awesome new house numbers!
Before
After
Before
Doesn't it look like a totally different house?
And look at the awesome new house numbers!
After
Before
After
Before
After
Not a significant change to the back, but it does look better. I should explain that the white behind the carport is actually vinyl siding, and there is wood behind it but I don't know what kind of shape it's in underneath, and the siding is in good condition so I thought why bother. Plus, the whole carport storage thing might be torn down if I decide to move forward with building a garage in the backyard.
Before
After
Even though I hated to spend the money, it made sense to fix the carport roof repairs now before painting it. The homemade plastic skylights were leaking so badly. The plastic they used for the skylights is the same used for covering window wells in below ground basements, and the plastic covers were not even screwed down or caulked. Also, when the holes were cut in the carport ceiling to make the faux skylights, they built up the roof in that area which subsequently changed the pitch of the roof and water from rain and melting snow was pooling there. And we know when there is pooling of water, you eventually get wood rot. Several beams and boards had to be replaced. While I miss the tiny bit of light coming into the dining room and kitchen, it was not worth the cost of putting in actual skylights, so away they go.
My daughter climbing on the wood for the repairs.
Before
From last winter...yes, those are icicles!
After
After careful consideration I decided to keep the original front door. I like the midcentury style and it fits the house. The door itself was in good shape – it’s solid, heavy wood. The only thing that I didn't like was the hardware. There was a regular knob and no separate deadbolt. When we were on vacation a while back the place we were staying had a keypad, I liked the idea of not handing out keys (although the unit I bought has the option of using your key.
I’m the most excited about the new front door color.
Before
I decided to paint the door yellow.
I love it, 365 days of sunshiny happiness everytime I walk in the door!
I need to replace the glass
It's just too bad the front door can't be seen from the street.
And I don't want to forget to mention the new light fixture!
After
After
No comments:
Post a Comment