Goodbye, 2009 … hello, new dining/kitchen flooring!

Here’s the old (and very ugly) linoleum flooring in the dining and kitchen area.

Getting started …

In process …

I had to take a picture of how many nails the previous owner used to fasten this piece of molding because I knew nobody would believe me. It’s a slight case of overkill!

After a full day … finished!

As a bonus … Dad found this creepy clown lurking under the fridge. I have no clue where this came from as I have moved the fridge on several occasions to clean and have never seen it before. I can’t wait to terrorize Sherry with it. She hates clown.

Dr. Phibes and Co. will be happy …

So, now you can finally see the new mantle that is officially in place.

Here’s the old one … brown and beveled.

Here’s the black paint and a big ass chunk of pine (kindly provided free of charge by my co-worker).

Add some clear sealer and … voila!

Yup. I got a wild hair and, thanks to Jim (my co-worker), I acquired a nice thick piece of pine and am making myself a new fireplace mantle.

Pics soon …

The railing is now up. When just a couple of very minor thing are done the deck rebuilding will be officially done. Whoo!

Saturday was a nice hot day for working on the deck. Michael came over and my Dad was there … so we fixed the supports, cut boards and nailed ’em into place. It took most of the day as we were taking some liberal rest breaks in the shade on my Mimosa tree.

All that’s left now is to put up new railing in the corner and the building will be done!

Here some pictures just to bore you …

The supports were put into place …

Then the boards for the floor …

It was crafty of Michael to work in the shade while Dad baked in the sun and heat.

Michael hammers and nails.
(Insert alternative dirty caption here.)

And here’s me putting the last nail of the day in.

I started taking the deck apart last night. What fun! (Pssst … that was sarcasm.)

As you can see, five braces are gonna have to be replace along with the supports underneath. There are still seven boards that need to be removed plus parts of the railing. I have to run to Lowe’s after work and pick up nails and screws. I totally forgot to do that the other night.

Tomorrow it will all go back together (hopefully). MGW should be coming by to help so that should be fun.

And here are some semi-arty burn photos …

Here we go. The last thing I wanted to spend time doing this summer was rebuilding part of the back deck. But, it’s gotta be done. Last night Dad and I rolled out to Lowe’s and picked up 16 pieces of 2″ x 6″ x 8′ and 16 pieces of 2″ x 6″ x 10′ lumber. Tonight the burnt of boards are gonna get ripped out and the debris from the fire cleaned up. Looks like Saturday (weather permitting) is gonna be the day that we start (re)building.

As fstclss mentioned, the “what if’s” are still going pretty strong through my head. Folks have been asking how close the fire got to the house and I now have an official answer … 30″ … which is right at 2-1/2′. It might sound like a good distance. Well … it isn’t.