Found more siding

I hit craigslist and found some siding for the removing over in RoundRock. Beautiful location on the creek ( its full!). One side of the house and some really wide soffets. It turned out there was some insulation in the walls. That will go into the attic to keep Liz and the cats warmer this winter. The color is a bit darker then the house but it won't be directly visible unless you are looking down from the Cox's house. Anyway I worked from 1830 to nearly 2200 last night.

When I walked this morning, it was spitting almost rain.

Too hot

started at 0500 and even gave Madison the pug a circuit around the mountain. He doesn't normally get out for a large walk in the summer. Spent a few minutes on the deck trying to make shade out of the old metal from the storage shed. I cleaned a few more vinyl pieces, two corners and the last 4 vinyl siding. I will remount the chainlink posts out a bit so it won't interfere with the siding. The west side should be ready for siding tomorrow. Its 103 and a high wind, and at noon I gave up and went in to the house and made a meal. I am being decadent and cranked the temp to 82, at least I am getting some laundry and cleanup done. Maybe I will head out again at 6:30pm tighten down the last screws in the ridge vents.

New clothes for the shed

Well the vinyl siding is cleaning up nicely with a scrub brush and lots of irrigation water. I have added soffet vents on both sides and a large triangle on the north gable. I have enough siding to do one side and maybe the north face in pieces. I still need to cut out the bottom 6 " of paneling all around base as its gotten minor water damage. Everything was properly painted except the bottom cut edge by the ground and being masonite it absorbed some water over its 10 years at the Dell Diamond ( tha)ts a baseball stadium,

Todays project is to work on the chain link fences on either side of the shed and maybe even hang the gate on the west side of the house. If you ever work on a fence by the aluminum wires to hang it on the cross bars much easier then the galvanized wire I am using.

Shed is ventilated

I cleaned up some leaves around Josie's house and she asked if I could move the pile of old scraps from the vinyl siding about 10 years ago. I started cleaning up of the leaves and seperating out the parts and pieces of vinyl. It came out a full pickup full, kinda dirty from the composting oak leaves but I now have enough vinyl soffet to add to the house soffets. Its an older style but it won't show on the north side of the house. Its much easier then drilling the 180 holes per piece of soffet.

I cleaned put pieces of channel and then cut the soffet pieces. It only took 2 12 foot pieces of soffet and 8 pieces of channel . I had to remove the old unvented masonite soffet but it looks great with new vinyl and I won't paint it in my lifetime. I added a single vent in the north gable of the roof. I still might do a cupola or a pair of roof vents if it stays too hot to store the furniture. Nothing on the southface, will probably use some bat insulation to insulate the door as it is the main heat spot. Actually the east wall is pretty hot especially as the sun bounces off the future water cistern pad.

194.5 two mornings now, got in all my morning walks.

Waiting for the Shed

Last two days have been wait time for the shed. No word yet on exactly when it will be delivered. Robert pointed out the was some fire damage in his shed. The wood look black and charred but it does not rub off and there is some white powdery stuff near it. Its only up in to soffet area around the ends of the rafters. I did not notice any similar damage in mine, but its not here yet and I did not have a ladder to check things. Maybe it will come tomorrow.
I had noticed all the sheds were without any real ventilation other then garage doors. Chris's the largest one had a small air conditioner poked thru the wall. It has barnacle like mold on the edge of the soffet for nearly 2 feet. I internet-checked up on moisture and mildew and finally found some information on mildew and prevention and repair. Looks like we will need some bleach water and maybe some paint and ofcourse adding some ventilation. I already have some soffet vents and two ridge vents to put in before I even think about windows. Actually we may never put windows but maybe a cupola which would give us both skylight and ventilation. If it just for storage windows will just be one more place for water to come in. I probably need to check my attic ridge vent next am up there and make sure there is no mildew evidence. Now I am certain that I will put that tar paper under the building as a vapor barrier to prevent any water from venting up from the ground. Its not as nice as a waterproofed basement but we don't get that much rain here anyway. If we poured footings those would be waterproofed. The water might stand on the tar paper but probably not for long. Water seeping up from the ground is more likely.
Air conditioner just turned on and its set for 80 F, will reset to 81. Attic is 113 F and its 1847hrs with a hot wind blowing across the property. Outside temperature is 100 F. We will have clouds again tonight so I may not head up to see check the attic vents from the inside. I might crawl thru the Pyracantha one day and check the other attic. Yuck, I better be very bored before I do that. Anway the picture is of the rolled up devil weed that I need to cart away tomorrow and hopefully get ready for the shed. The vicuna flowers above the water cooler are surviving but the sun has bleached out most of the color I checked and they used to get very little afternoon sun. Not many choices in that location just sun or more sun. At least the watering is automatic.
The picture is of the area where the shed will go and the low piles of devil weed were 5 times higher before I figured how to roll them into tight bundles. They actually stick to each other and make it pretty simple.
Some discussion about hooking up the chain link fence after the shed is in. I had thought of just putting it inside the fence and forgetting about digging holes for two endposts ( they are different from between posts). Another approach is to attach bolts to the side of the house and just bring the fence up to house. Robert is in favor of getting complete endposts and hardware, digging holes and cementing them in place, then getting a come-along and stringing each side. I will look into both methods, my approach is definitely cheaper and faster though I will have to add two timbers(4by 4s) to the garage corners to be sure its strong enough. I will price the eye bolts to put thru the walls. Looks like I get a trip to Home Depot or Tractor supply for those items. Lowe's does not carry that stuff. I probably need to check on the side gate and see if I need stuff to finish that. I know I will need a couple posts for that.
I finally got some other flowers in the garden area too.

Clearing more trees and devil vine

got a huge pile of devil vine. I cut one huge limb off the oak tree near the shed location and it would not fall as it was still attached by the vines. Finally hacked enough away to get it down. Chris gets the little branches for his smoker, Robert the larger limbs for his winter chinenea. Took the leaves to the goats. Picked up some vicunas flowers from Josie as a trade for cleaning some leaves and put them atop the water barrel. Its automatically watered by a wick extending down into the rainbarrel. Finally have some flowers in the garden. The red and purple ones should bloom but I never had time to check after 1000 hrs. The front door is now sealed a bit better fixed the threshold and has greg's oval window in it. Its caulked and nearly ready for paint. Added another soffet.
here is a link to some photos.
gotta get up early, am going out for 3 hours of volunteer time at Balcones Wild Life. My reward for working hard. Will leave after breakfast and watering maybe about 0600. Gotta get off the mountain and do something......
nite.

Robert's Shed is on the slab.

Karen and Robert had a fajita party with all those in town and then about 1600 hrs the Shed came up. Robert had to cut back the oaks a bit to get the shed into the spur. After backing the trailer up Sam got out his remote and we watched 2 men, a amazing hydralic trailer some pvc pipe ( for rollers) and two small hand jacks swivel the shed 90 degrees into position. Actually there was a small 4 man push at one point. The shed sits on the slab with 6 feet of clearance on the east and south sides for a nice deck. There is still some repair work required but its enclosed. The chicken coop is on temporary hold.
I am wetting down the new fill and gonna stomp on it abit. Mushu is enjoying sitting in the window and feeling the breeze and listening to the birds. Bebee spent an hour next to me while I read. Micka likes to sleep on the dining room table when I am at the computer. Its the appeal of the ceiling fan 3 feet overhead
I have a few more branches to cut and then take the green branches down the hill to the goats. I am also adding soffet vents by removing the panels and drilling vent holes by hand. It takes time but its easier then trying to vinyl soffet delivered in Texas. takes about 45 minutes a panel, most of the time is consumer in drilling the little holes. I am really quick on the rest of the process, though I have not gone up to the second floor North side.