vetteboy79
It's bent. #ttb
Lol.
Small history: the original bit of the house was built in 1920, and at some point in its history was the general store for this area. You can probably guess by looking at the outside where the additions are, and I can tell you for sure after redoing the subfloor and adding a half-bath, that it was added on to in the haphazard way that most things were done 100 years ago.
So the wall is staying
A little backstory, on how things got here:
When I first moved in, before I did the asphalt driveway and got rid of a bunch of shit in the yard area:
Previous owner had all this shit along the front that I have no knowledge or motivation to take care of. Fuck rose bushes.
I let it go for a while, not realizing that all these bushes and vines grow equally above and below ground...the bucket on my tractor barely had enough ass to pull the root balls up.
After one afternoon...
Anyone here ever dealt with Tree of Heaven? Because I had to dig out a few of those as well. Fuck those too.
So with that said - yes the porch wall will be getting treatment, I think this:
And will be getting landscaped with a mulch bed and something low-maintenance, junipers or some kinda little pine thing. I want to deal with it maybe once a year and aside from refreshing the mulch, the plants can just sit. I'm still stomping out random daffodils from the previous owner that reappear randomly every season, even after I dug up and sifted all the dirt, and the azaleas, hydrangea, and rose bushes can again go fuck themselves.
The columns have proven to be a nightmare, but I think I finally found somewhere that can order them for me, and have them within this decade. I have samples for the faux-wood top rail (will be a mahogany-ish thing) and am waiting for the stone samples to show up before I order all of that. I don't want to leave the temporary supports up any longer than I need to so once I know the lead time on the top rail and columns I'll start removing the existing stuff.
edit to add: current picture on pg 3
Small history: the original bit of the house was built in 1920, and at some point in its history was the general store for this area. You can probably guess by looking at the outside where the additions are, and I can tell you for sure after redoing the subfloor and adding a half-bath, that it was added on to in the haphazard way that most things were done 100 years ago.
So the wall is staying
- Don't feel like demo'ing and getting rid of that much masonry
- The return where it meets the house is tied in with rebar and the siding, sheathing, etc is all done around it. Yes I can handle all that, no I don't really want to.
- As mentioned, house is on a busy street and it's a nice privacy thing for packages etc, my UPS and USPS people are well-trained to throw things over the wall, and it does do a bit for noise reduction with open windows. I like sitting out there and also it's nice for leaving implements, i.e. working on the lawn/dirt and having the shovel & rake there rather than going back and forth to the garage. Or the pile of 2x8 temporary supports I've had sitting for months before I actually got around to starting this thing.
- If it had an open approach to the front door I'd be more inclined to consider it, but 'here's a nice open porch that you still have to walk all the way around' seems kinda dumb, and I'm not getting rid of the dogwood and/or making a sidewalk to do that. As-is the actual 'front door' serves very little purpose except for making the census people walk further.
A little backstory, on how things got here:
When I first moved in, before I did the asphalt driveway and got rid of a bunch of shit in the yard area:
Previous owner had all this shit along the front that I have no knowledge or motivation to take care of. Fuck rose bushes.
I let it go for a while, not realizing that all these bushes and vines grow equally above and below ground...the bucket on my tractor barely had enough ass to pull the root balls up.
After one afternoon...
Anyone here ever dealt with Tree of Heaven? Because I had to dig out a few of those as well. Fuck those too.
So with that said - yes the porch wall will be getting treatment, I think this:
And will be getting landscaped with a mulch bed and something low-maintenance, junipers or some kinda little pine thing. I want to deal with it maybe once a year and aside from refreshing the mulch, the plants can just sit. I'm still stomping out random daffodils from the previous owner that reappear randomly every season, even after I dug up and sifted all the dirt, and the azaleas, hydrangea, and rose bushes can again go fuck themselves.
The columns have proven to be a nightmare, but I think I finally found somewhere that can order them for me, and have them within this decade. I have samples for the faux-wood top rail (will be a mahogany-ish thing) and am waiting for the stone samples to show up before I order all of that. I don't want to leave the temporary supports up any longer than I need to so once I know the lead time on the top rail and columns I'll start removing the existing stuff.
edit to add: current picture on pg 3
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