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Repairing the Porch, Day Six

Phase Three is complete! Woo hoo! The joists are up and reinforced and solid. They will unquestionably support the new porch floor. I’m so happy! When we first pulled off the old boards, I was worried because they looked kind of rough. As it turns out, they are mostly really solid. There was a little rot in some places, but it was easily addressed and reinforced. Plus, we’ve put in a whole new set of joists that the new floor will be attached to.

It was careful work.  The joists had to be centered and flush with the surrounding joists.

It was careful work. The joists had to be centered and flush with the surrounding joists.

For lunch, we went to Subway. Brent discovered an amazing potato chip. I told him that on a less-eventful day, that would totally be a Bradaptation post. He said I should take a picture of it anyway.

It's perfectly round!

It’s perfectly round!

As we continued to work into the afternoon, I got a text from Beth. She sent me her current view:

Looks pretty nice

Looks pretty nice

She is in Belize making presentations to Belizean teachers. Yesterday was her “fun day”. Yay! I sent a picture to Beth of my view:

Less glamorous, but very interesting.

Less glamorous, but very interesting.

I have really enjoyed this porch project. I have learned a TON of stuff, and found out how little I really know about construction. I would see a problem, and think I could just fix it by screwing this one thing to another thing, but then Karl would show us how to really do it, and it would be amazing.

One thing we’ve all had a laugh about is the diagonal joist at the corner of my porch. It has a lot of splices in it. We have made it the most solid thing on the whole porch, and I have every confidence it will outlast everything else, but it’s still funny. Behold Frankenjoist:

Ugly and strong.

Ugly and strong.

Karl has put wood putty across the top to strengthen and waterproof it, so it’s hard to see all the splices. Here is a closeup:

Six boards, plus a shim.

Six boards, plus a shim.

Today we will begin putting the flooring down. Brent can only work until 1pm, so we’re really racing against the clock now.

7 Comments

  1. Carol

    “Frankenjoist” – brilliant!

    Hoping Karl can stick with you once you put Brent on his plane back to Nebraska, as it sounds like Karl knows how to get this job to a good finish, too. Be careful this morning – today is supposed to be crazy hot and humid and that can sneak up on a body (cite frog in kettle).

    Pleasant journey home, Brent. Oh, and too bad for you, Beth, suffering in a foreign country like that 😉 .

    • Beth

      Yea…in my defense, the previous six-day view has been much different! 😉

  2. Beth

    Yay for amazing progress! Awesome!

  3. Lauren

    Wow! I am very impressed with all that you got done so far. Here’s to a very, very productive morning. Great job, team!

  4. Deborah

    I am officially jealous of Beth. 🙂

    Your work on the porch is amazing! Well done!

  5. Lloyd

    You should induct Karl as an honorary member of The Royuk boys before Brent leaves.

  6. Debbie

    I love frankinjoist! That’s awesome. And your matching toe view pics! Lol. What a big big job! You’ll have to sleep for two weeks straight to recover….on your new porch! Carry on with lots of water for the body!

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