A Fresh New Look.

The home improvement projects never seem to cease here on Bush Street. This past weekend we summoned family and friends to assist us in re-siding the house. We decided to make it extra challenging and do it on a record breaker hot weekend, with rain in the forecast! Thank you to everyone who sacrificed a day off to help us tackle this huge project. In addition to re-siding the house, we removed the old pitiful insulation and hired a team to blow-in cellulose insulation. This should make our heating bill a little more friendly this winter, and keep our little family snug and warm. To remove the old insulation, the guys pulled off the exterior slat boards, pulled out the insulation, then nailed the boards back up. In the meanwhile, you could see the interior plaster walls! It was weird to see our house so exposed. Speaking of exposed, we were nervous Friday night as we listened to the rain pound our house, which already had some siding removed. We had our doubts the weather would hold off enough to let us get this big project completed. There was so much in the setup: rent scaffolding, rent dumpster, coordinate help and gather tools and materials. If we weren't able to work as planned, I don't know what we would have done! Well mother nature looked out for us, as Saturday came and went without any showers. Sunday though, whew what a scorcher! I really felt bad for everyone working so hard in 95 degree heat. I encouraged everyone to drink water, take breaks and passed out Popsicles. Christopher was a champ, sleeping through men hammering on the wall just outside his crib. The inside of our house was so loud, while as many as eight to ten hammers pounded at one time. In the end, we completed the insulating, the house wrap and 3/4 of the siding. We should complete the job this upcoming weekend. So far, it looks great. Again to our crew: thank you, thank you, thank you!

Good-bye old!

Friday night Ryan begins removing the old siding on the back wall.

Early Saturday, we continue removing the insulation. See the interior wall? Yikes! Mom was clean up crew. I don't know what we would have done without her.

Half way done removing the insulation...phew! The hose running past Kevin's feet was connected to a shop-vac that blew in the insulation through two inch holes drilled through each board.

Jason helping getting the job done.

Sunday morning, we continued to wrap the house with fan-fold, which protects the house from wind and weather exposure. Mom was as good as two men this weekend, this is no surprise.

Finally! We begin cutting siding and nailing it up.

Not too tight, it needs to bend with heat exposure.

This is the foreman on the job, Donnie. He is a friend of Ryan's from the bass club. Without him, this project would have been impossible. Here, he is leveling up the starter strip.

Here is the house 3/4 the way done. Next weekend we will finish the trim, soffits, spouts and shutters. The weekend after that we replace all the windows. Then I can get started painting the front door, pick out light fixtures, and of course, the landscaping!