The Duck has a new Face!

The Duck has a new smiling face now.....much better than that raggedy, snaggle tooth face that it did have.

It needs a bit of caulk and paint.....but we are getting there.

You know old houses....things aren't square or plumb or previous owners 'upgraded' or 'improved' stuff till it all was just a mess. these two guys worked all day Saturday for 2 doors.

I wound up with a large opening after they tore out all the crap and started from scratch.

It took a bit more than they bargained for but it is pretty and i feel more secure. here is the back door that opens into the future dining room.

And on Sunday they came back and got the garage door installed.

It still needs a piece of flashing at the top. not sure what i will do with the ugly on the siding around the door. first i guess i'll see if it washes off. if not, perhaps i could just paint over it. i plan on painting it all anyway. this garage had an old hollow inside door on it. i believe I could have kicked it in. now it is a secure steel door that functions properly and looks good.

They also got 2 of the bedroom windows installed, too. pictures just don't come out well when you are trying to get a pic towards the light. but the windows go up....and stay up....without a stick to hold them up. LOL  and there are SCREENS....woopee!!   and they are on the side where i have neighbors so i hope they like them, too. hahahahahaha

So, half of my doors and windows are installed. i still have 1 door and 4 windows to go for this round. but the guys have regular day jobs during the week, so the remainder will be finished the next time i get down there....probably 2 or 3 weeks. i am so excited that we got this far.

I am going to a couple of book sales next weekend with my sister so i may go on down there and do a bit of caulking and painting and clean up a bit more.

I pulled hundreds and hundreds of nails again when i was there. and brought home a truck load of wood slats to throw in the burn pile. i am giving some consideration to getting a small dumpster again to get rid of all of the debris.....instead of hauling it home a truckload at a time. but...i am going to have even more trash.

Yesterday while looking at the front entryway.....it used to be the outside of the house before they closed it in. under the paneling there is now red shingles....that old stuff from the 50s that everyone had on their house. (look at the second pic where the guys are)  i pulled some of it off and found wooden siding under it. i am going to clear the rest of that off in the entryway and leave the wood siding exposed....will probably paint it later. i like it much better.

Also, in putting in the front door.....we discovered MORE carpet under the plywood that is on the floor. so that has to come up, too. i just keep pulling up more and more crap. i'll probably end up with about 100 square feet MORE of house by the time i am through. LOL   several inches at a time. So far, off that front porch area i have pulled up...carpet...carpet pad....and now plywood...and MORE carpet.  it seems to be deck boards under that.

Oh...i learned something saturday, too. you know that piece of rubbery stuff that is the insulation strip on a door......it is what the door closes onto. whenever i paint a door....i always try to keep the paint off of that part....it never works....so i wind up painting it, too. then the paint just flakes off of it and looks bad. well......you can pull that part out......paint the door.....and then stick it back. who knew......not me....thanks, Tom, for the tip.    never too old to learn.

What did you learn today?