Hi everyone! I wanted to show you another little side project we had to tackle before winter came. Pretty much anywhere, whether “winter” means cold and snow or simply the rainy season, it usually means weather. Around here, it means cold and snow, which also means winds and everything that is outside, trying to find a way inside, i.e. critters.

As much as we love our furry friends, our home isn’t really best suited for them and us together, lol! But more than that, it’s the winds. This beautiful house has started as a very basic home, then was expanded into a grand home, but over time during the last century, additions were made at the back, one by one, room by room and these newer additions were not done at the same time and, let’s suffice it to say most likely not by engineers. But A for effort! 🙂

The drafts coming through some of these additions was amazing. You could stand at one end of the hallway and literally feel a breeze coming through, as well as windows and doors, opening and closing (trust us, not from ghosts or spirits, definitely was the wind, lol). We also felt the wind coming through the now exposed sheathing we had in the hallways (from when I removed the exterior siding on the inside hallway). So Paul knew we needed to stop and tackle that before winter, regardless of other plans.

For a quick reminder, here is a shot of the home at the time we purchased it. I’ve drawn a little arrow where the “back porch” is so you can see the area to which I’m referring.

After we first purchased it, Paul removed the back wall as a large tree limb had fallen on it and collapsed out the sides. For months, it looked like this.

The rotten floor had animals living under it but fortunately there was foundation which begins where the inside wall started and that was as far as they could crawl. For safety reasons, Paul next took out the flooring boards and it became a plain dirt floor. But it was a clean, safe dirt floor! No more rotten boards, no more “be careful, don’t forget to not step on that one” and other such sayings were no longer needed. It’s amazing how little things, small steps, small work done here or there which cleans up a spot, cover or removes old deterioration simply feels so good!

If you stood in the dirt and peered up however, you could see the rafters were exposed and that’s where the wind came howling through. We had to took a couple of days, and the two of us removed all the debris hanging, clinging, stuck and otherwise from the rafters and attached plywood. It’s not the end product or plan by any means but considering we had time constraints and other projects waiting, at least this was sealed and secure! No more wind howling into the hallway and no more animals under the porch.

This is just one of many side projects that we do and no one sees from the front of the house. Each take a week or two to complete but are necessary along the way. We are happy to report we can check this urgent issue off the list, at least for now. It’s secure until we circle back to it when it makes its way onto the actual project scheduled. A few pics below…