This old house - the saga continues

This past spring, we began one more adventure with the Old Red House. When we moved in, we fell in love with the screened-in porch on the back of the house. It overlooks the backyard and was a delightful place to spend early mornings, evenings, and mid-days when it wasn't too hot. The pitch on the roof is extremely low, and from day one (or maybe month one, year one) we struggled with a leaky roof - but hey, it was a porch.

This year, out of necessity (water flowing through the roof whenever it rained or when snow melted) we decided something had to be done. Since we enjoyed the room so much, we opted for adding windows and creating what we hope will be a three-season room. Finding a contractor seemed easy enough, he thought the job was easy enough, and then......

I don't have pictures because it is a scene I would like to forget. Steve, our contractor, got to work. He is very prompt, likes starting before 8:00 am on many days. He quickly identified two large holes in the roof when he pulled up shingles and layers of plywood covering previous problems. He then went up the hill to Town Hall to pull the permit that had been signed by us and was waiting. Low and behold, an additional license was required (it is still somewhat unclear whether our town follows different interpretations of this particular regulation, but I won't go into those details) and work was to cease until the license was obtained. Thus we spent two week with tarps on the roof, not doing a very good job of excluding water. Luckily we have two capable water-carriers in our home. Mau was convinced we were building her a jacuzzi.



This is an early picture from the inside of the room after the windows had gone in .






Given that this is an old house, and that the water had been leaking for some time, there were other surprises and small fixes that have to be done. We know from experience that there is not a level floor in the house (or a level surface in the backyard for that matter). But Steve took it in stride and admits that this job taught him patience and how to figure things out. I have a new window over my workbench in the barn - think new window planter that can be viewed from the porch and water from inside out.



And, here is where we are today. Three more rows of tiles, grout, and a new door and we're done! I think we'll take a break from home improvements for awhile and just enjoy the space we have.