While I was working on the bricks below repairing the mortar, Paul was once again, working the high places. The facing boards at the top of the house needed to be prepared for gutters. Many had long since rotted, some boards completely missing near the top and of course the paint was peeling and chipped everywhere.

Once again, we picked up scaffolding and he began to work on the high places on the left side of the house (along the driveway). That particular side of the house had long since been weather beaten and looking worse for the wear. Long ago a tree had been there and its roots had begun to grow into the sewer system and breaking it apart. Poison ivy covered the ground in a thick blanket and english ivy covered the house, growing into the siding and inside the windows. See the original pics below. Notice the ivy growing UP the wall?

So the work began…

A few months ago we had someone tear out the tree stump (it had already been cut the stump remained) and shred the roots (what we could find). Poison ivy spray had been used to kill most of the growth and then it was time for the english ivy to come down. To illustrate how bad the english ivy had grown into the house, as I worked on repairing the mortar at the foundation, there were vines still clinging to the wall and feeding up into the siding. I cut, pulled and tugged each one out from under the siding, many of which were over 7 ft tall and even growing INSIDE the house, exposing itself on cracks on the inside rooms.

This past fall and spring, we spent off and on digging and chopping our way through this area (Amazon style as we went), and the side of the house began to clear. Grass seeds have now been planted and we think we can see the emergence of a true lawn!

Here are few pics of Paul’s work on the scaffolding area, once again grinding and stripping the paint all the way down to the original bare wood, then a fresh coat of primer and paint and the ole’ gal is beginning to shine again. The facing boards were replaced and caulked near the roof line and it’s getting nice and weather sealed now!

I could reach the lower back room and worked to prime and paint it after Paul sanded it down. Because we are using scaffolding to reach certain areas, we are working a small square-ish section at time, beginning to end. That’s why you are seeing blocks of completed sections on the back port. So stay tuned and the quilt work on the house will finally all connect and even grandma would be proud.

Although scaffolding would reach some of the places, due to the slope of the lawn on the side of the house, it made the height we needed to reach was even more. Therefore something else had to be used. The eternal problem solver, Paul found the solution!

Yes, he is in a bucket truck. lol.

He found a place who rented us a bucket truck and it worked! With some bricks placed just so under plywood on the left side of the sloping lawn, the truck was able to level and the bucket did the rest. It took him all the way to where he needed and he was able to reach the top peak on the left side of the house.

What’s amazing is how many people are commenting that they never knew that we had the “fish scales” shingle in the top peak on the side of the house. The feature had chipped paint for so long and was painted the same color as the rest of the house so it never stood out. We decided to keep in tone with the colors we have on the foundation and front bay windows, so the shingles in this section were painted gray. Here are the before and after.

We think it works amazingly well and has a Victorian look. Next…the right side bay window and front porch! Stay tuned for more…