It has been awhile since I posted a DIY Monday just for the fact that I have had almost no motivation to get crafty, but the opportunity for a post came up this weekend when my dad and I started the process of remodeling our back porch. I know this isn't your normal DIY project but I think it counts since we could have hired a crew but instead we did it ourselves.
My parents goal for the back porch was to tear off the roof and walls and transform it into 2 sections. The first section on the right side of the house is going to be a guest bedroom/office, and the section on the left is going to be a mudroom with plenty of storage options. Now before I tell you of the process we went through to tear it down, I should probably tell you about the porch. Our back porch was pretty interesting. It had a plain cement floor and a leaky roof, and the walls consisted of cement blocks on the bottom and windows on the top. It sounds like a lot but it only took the weekend to tear it off, which was really nice.
Dad and I started the tear down process Saturday morning at 8 o'clock, and by that evening the roof and windowed walls were gone. Sunday afternoon my dad chiseled down the cement blocks and today my little sister and I were given the grand job of carting the blocks to the dumpster we rented.
It was a pretty big job and we only got halfway through (now we get to build!) but I'm impressed with the amount of work we accomplished in the weekend. In the picture below you can see our patio and the concrete floor of the back porch, as well as that HUGE chimney that we have to dismantle (hehe, dismantle... chimney's have mantels... okay, lame joke) and the rest of the cement wreckage behind the hot tub. The porch walls ran even with the chimney and than a step down is our patio that will most likely stay there.
1. ALWAYS wear safety glasses - even though I didn't doesn't mean you shouldn't.
2. WEAR sturdy leather gloves - dad and I were dealing with nails, old rotted wood and cement blocks so make sure you protect your hands!
3. DON'T step on nails sticking up from boards - I was wearing my old Puma tennis shoes and they are not sturdy in a construction sight because I accidentally stepped on 3 nails that were sticking up. By some small miracle they went through my shoes but missed my feet all 3 times. This leads to my fourth piece of advice.
4. ALWAYS wear sturdy shoes! Those old tennis shoes look protective but nails and shards of glass and brick slide right through the soles and attack your feet!! Protect the feet!
5. ALWAYS drink lots of water - It was about 85 and humid here in MO but dad and I took a water break every 45 minutes to stay hydrated.
6. Remember, you may be working hard and every bone on your body hurts and you are covered in dirt and you stepped on nails, but try to keep the mood light between you and your fellow workers - dad and I constantly joked around and made names for ourselves. For example, he was 'He Man!' a.k.a. he who has muscles and can tear down everything and anything, therefore making me look like a weakling (I am, but still.) And dad called me 'She-ra! Queen of the Amazon People!' a.k.a. she who tries hard but always relies on 'He-Man.' We might have sounded silly but the joking and laughing did help pass the time.
That's all I have to say about this awkward DIY Monday; I'll try to come up with something a little more crafty next time.
Have a great DIY Monday!
SEB
:)
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