I worked my mielie off today
The side of the house I was working on was a lot more rotten than first suspected. When we started taking off the old siding (cement-fibre type boards) we found that there were actually 4 layers of siding that had been added over the last 99 years. The original siding was a wooden siding, that was good in places, but in others it had been badly eaten up by termites. Over this someone had added a "waterproof" layer of bitumenised cardboard. Over this someone else had added a layer of very brittle cement type tiles. Then someone else had installed a layer of "Hardy Backer" fibre-cement boards in a ship-lap fashion.
We wanted to try and reuse as many of the Hardy Backer boards as we could, as they are really good and they last well too. Because of this they are pretty expensive too... So getting that top layer off was a bitch. The second layer came off easily, we just bashed them to bits and they fell off. Then we ripped off the old bitumenised layer of cardboard. The original wooden siding was the hardest to get off. Because of the later layers added this layer was full of nails, many more than needed, and trying to pry the boards off was hard work.
But we finally got the last bits off around 1pm, then we started making the new vertical risers (I dunno what the technical term for them are
) that sit above the double 2" x 12" beams that act as a lintel above the screen frame. I made new ones throughout, and removed all but the middle one. This one was still good, no rot or termite damage, so I just elected to add a pressure treated 2 x 4 to either side to make it a whole lot stronger.
From the pics you will note that my colleague has already doubled-up each of the existing roof beams. Some of them were rotten or damaged by termites. (the termites have since been eradicated). I also elected to double-up two other vertical beams as well.
Then we put on a layer of roof-sheeting OSB, and covered that with a layer of self adhesive plastic rubber sheeting to ensure that no water could get in behind the Hardy Backer boards again. Then we started adding new sheets of Hardy Backer from the bottom in a ship-lap fashion.
By the time we had done the 4th row of Hardy Backer we had run out of screws, and to be honest I had run out of steam too.
It was very hot today, and also pretty humid, and the majority of the work was in the direct sun. So I called it a day, and arranged that I would be back at 8am tomorrow.
And when I say "we", I actually meant "I". My colleague is a lady, and is a great help, but I did all of the heavy work.
Topic: Life in America - I made the move. (Read 1258795 times)
