New Skin for an Old Garage

Winter has finally arrived and disrupted my garage re-siding project. Why I think I can complete these kind of projects this time of year eludes me. Anyway, the original high density fiber board, stuff that I call mush board since it turns to oatmeal when it gets wet, is being covered with reclaimed, vintage cedar clapboard. Good friend John Erikson salvaged the cedar and we worked out a labor-for-wood barter arrangement. A win-win.

There are many benefits to using salvaged lumber such as this: it's old growth so the wood is remarkably stable; no knots; super long pieces thanks to John's careful removal; and it didn't go to the landfill. Using it does require some patience to even up ends and fill old nail holes. Still, I wouldn't have it any other way.

This project got a late start in October and I'm amazed I made as much progress as I did considering it's now mid-November and winter has finally arrived in earnest. Putting up the clapboards doesn't take long. It's all the front end prep that sometimes feels like pushing a string. In this case I had to fashion up new door and window casings. We went with wide, flat stock to match the arts and crafts look of the house. Once the new casings were up and painted, we decided to add similar treatments to the corners to bring the whole thing into balance. More days. But the results are terrific. The clapboards have a 4-1/4" face to the weather to match the singles and cedar on the house.

The before and in-progress/after shots tell more of the story. Yes. The overhead doors look hideous. I know. And once I get the siding done, my plan is to rebuild the doors replacing the blank panels with tongue-and-groove bead board while attending to the weathered bottom rails. Meanwhile, I bought some "needs work" vintage arts and crafts outdoor sconces that I will restore and mount in place of the industrial light fixtures in the pictures.

To keep the general momentum going I'm planning to set up a workplace in the basement where I can prep and paint the clapboards. Then when (if?) we get a reasonable window of dry and relatively windless weather -- anything above 35 F -- I'll take the boards outside where I can cut and nail them up. The fine finishing work may have to wait until...

Garage south face before

Southwest corner with experimental cedar shingles above

Garage south face almost finished (doors to be done later)

New casings and corners!

These little lights. Let them shine, let them shine, let them shine!

A long time, ok, check that. Several years ago, I rescued two disused lanterns from dark and dusty corners of the UCC Vermillion church. These original soldiers (c. late 1920s) had been replaced by modern outdoor fixtures that give off the ubiquitous dreadful orange, almost radioactive-like glow so common among municipal streetlights.

Once I started into the triage phase, it was quickly apparent that I wasn't going to be able to preserve the patina while successfully removing the exterior paint splatter and other environmental indignities. One of them had suffered considerable abuse that included seemingly random holes drilled into the copper, some sort of grinder or file bruises, and a number of clumsy cold solder joints. Besides, getting to bare, shiny copper was the only way to ensure good solder repairs. The remedy called for taking the entire finish all the way down to bare copper and allowing the patina process to emerge naturally over time.

The before photo shows one of the fixtures (with bulb) and its decrepit wiring still in tact. The other one has a length of new wire temporarily fitted just to give me a sense of possibility. It took almost two years of casual pursuit to find glass that was a suitable match to the original.

As of today, one fixture is finished and ready for another century of service back at the UCC. The other one isn't far behind. Who doesn't love happy endings that make for new beginnings?

Two original UCC Vermillion copper lanterns before restoration 

The same two lanterns almost ready to go back "home" at UCC

New Old Cast Iron Framing Vise

Pictures of before and after my restoration of a loverly Stanley 400 framing vise bought on eBay.  I built the portable base to allow it to swivel and tilt as designed.

Stanley 400 "before" restoration

Same Stanley 400 "after" elbow grease restoration!

New Kitchen Faucet

The water here in Vermillion is so hard it's been described as liquid rock. Hard rock, perhaps. It's hard on faucets certainly. So, I managed to get around to replacing our kitchen faucet with a fancy, schmancy model we found on close out. We're still trying to get used to having so much pressure. Pix are before and after.

My New Old Table Saw

Once again, I neglected to pick up the camera as the first tool for the project.  Thus, I have no before shots of a 1970s-era Delta/Rockwell Contractor's Table Saw that I rescued last year.  It was destined for the scrap yard.  After countless hours of tearing it down, cleaning, polishing, painting and with less than $100 in new parts, the most expensive of which was the new 60 tooth blade, it's good as new.  Cuts wood as if it was warm butter.  The motor is super quiet -- as table saw motors go.

If you're interested in seeing other restoration projects I'm involved with, head over to The Vermillion Guild's blog.

To give a sense of its condition when it arrived, here's a shot of the rusty table.

Here's the restored c. 1974 Delta/Rockwell Contractor's Saw.

Replacing cast iron

Finally managed to put my courage to the sticking place and replace the 100 year-old cast iron sanitary lines for the first floor bathroom. Only took three solid days.  Top picture is before; bottom, though different perspective, is after. 

The impetus for replacing the cast iron was that it was rusting from the inside out.  You know it's time when a finger can be poked through the wall of the pipe.  The bizarre copper supply lines are more evidence that the plumbing in this house was done by an electrician and that a plumber muddled through the electrical work.  More on the electric down the path.

Nigel and a Sudden Turn

Monday evening, Liane was cleaning Nigel up after a muddy neighborhood walkabout. While she was sitting with him on her lap, without warning, he turned in an instant and bit her on the face. She was bleeding badly from two cuts around her mouth. With compress in place I piled her into the car and made off for the local ER. It's only a few blocks away but, as we left the house, I rang the Vermillion PD asking them to phone ahead so someone would meet us at the door.

An examination revealed that she sustained a deep laceration on her upper lip and that she had a loss of tissue on her lower lip. In plain terms Nigel managed to get a chunk out of the lower lip. The local doctor applied a numbing agent, a clean compress and did the right thing by sending us off to the Sanford Sioux Falls ER to be seen by a specialist. Before we left, he alerted them to our arrival and organized a plastic surgeon to be on hand. It takes about an hour to get up there. We arrived around 11-something. The surgeon, Dr. Daniel Kwan, examined Liane, discussed options and prepped for surgery. They rolled her away at roughly 1:30 AM. Ninety minutes later, Dr. Kwan was debriefing me in a consulting room. Everything went fine. He did some amazing knitting. On the agonizingly long drive up there, I was dubious about the prospects of anything other than disfigurement. But Dr. Kwan managed to align everything and get it all closed back up. Science meets art.

As for Nigel, as I write this, he is in a mandated ten-day quarantine period at our regular animal hospital in Sioux City where he will, alas, be euthanized. It brings us such overwhelming sadness that it came to this. Intellectually, we know that we are doing the right thing. All too long we ignored the warning signs of his unpredictable, aggressive and sometimes violent behavior. But emotionally it's hard to disconnect. When he was sweet, which was most of the time, he was really sweet. He and Liane had a very special bond. So for him to turn on her is really a challenge to understand. And we will likely never fully understand it.

Nigel turned five on Monday. He had a good life during his brief time in our family and we will miss him for the joys he brought to us. Liane will recover from this trauma, both physical and emotional. The remarkably talented plastic surgeon will help with the physical scars. The emotional scars will take much longer to heal.

Special thanks to Dr. Mortinsen at the Sanford Vermillion ER, Officer Kevin Malloy of the VPD, the fabulous and attentive nurses and other staff at Sanford Sioux Falls, and, of course, Dr. Kwan. Thanks also to Dr. Saulsbury, Casey and Samantha at the Siouxland Animal Hospital as well as to all of Liane's co-workers, our terrific neighbors and other friends in the community and to our extended family of friends around the country and across the globe who have expressed concern.