RedneckModern

Rain, Rain

The first few rains of the season remind us of how spoiled we are in the summer in regards to roof maintenance.

We have few/no trees over our house (save the eucalyptus to the left and the neighbor's sequoia a distance away) and all of our downspouts were clogged and a good 100gals of water was being held on the roof..

I've found that the ball-shaped covers/traps just trap the debris a bit higher up the line, but does make for easier cleaning as opposed to a stop happening down in the throat of the downspout, but with our new rain chains, I'm thinking they're gonna be more trouble than they're worth and we'd be best off without them -- we'll see. Fortunately, unclogging them is as easy is poking a stick up into the hole and letting a whole bunch of crap fall over you. Fortunately, too, I'm presently dressed for the task, so it could be worse...

Anyway, check the roof.

Question: Fountain Grass / Man Down

This year is our first real landscaping adventure. We've grown things, but not to the degree we're currently tending... so, naturally questions abound.

This one's about grasses. Our purple fountain grass -- creating a border along the fence -- took a hard beating in the rain last night. It's been falling over to some degree, but now, I think it might be down for the count.

What to do? Trim it back to the base to let it grow next season? Fortunately, most of the other grasses remained standing.

Summer Landscaping...

The finishing of the "sitting wall" (skinned with Eichler siding and capped with block caps) and some new hope for the Kwanzan Cherry... and for God's sake... enough of the figs! (a few dozen are wonderful, a few hundred are a yard full of rotting fruit)...

Let it Rain

We got rain chains.

Admittedly, the idea of cutting downspouts was less than appealing, so these were a great, period-appropriate solution.

Let's see how they do in the rain, though... Fingers crossed.

The Hole in the House

One of the things we love about our house is the hole in the middle of it.

Seriously, the atrium is one of those essential Eichler characteristics and we're quite happy we've been able to revert ours to the original intent/design (after being covered for years). We're still working on some sun-control in the office, but otherwise, the open space -- even in the rain -- is wonderful.

The work out there is drawing to a close, too... final plantings (although lots of grow-in needed), irrigation, painting, trim work and even the purchase of a table help to make it a finished space. (plantings: "Heavy Metal" Switchgrass, Japanese Aralia and Oshio Beni maple)

Oddly enough, our search for a nice modern outdoor table landed us at Ikea. While there's lots of great modern designs, budget and availability were key. We found a dining room table made of aluminum and glass that we love. Granted, it'd be better if it were white powdercoated (rather than black) and had a wood or plastic top (rather than tempered glass), but those can be future 'hacks'. Presently, it's a great rust-free (although not dust free) and super affordable way to enjoy the space.

Bondo!

We've a lot of trashed trim around the house (the previous owners were wheelchair/walker-bound -- so there's lots of road-rash)... and I've discovered that Bondo is the best way to fix it (in this case a mangled window sill).

Side Yard

The last of the landscaping is finished with the completion of the side yard.

Jaime once again stepped in to help and he and his crew did a much better job than I could have alone -- a very wise delegation of tasks. They took the time to level and grade the area when I would have gotten hot and frustrated and given up. I's amazing what a transformation the entire yard has seen over the past two years.

We have some of the 1X1 blocks left (about 100), so let us know if you're interested in picking them up.

 

Eichler Siding for Sale

We have four sheets of 4X8 Breckenridge 5/8-in Eichler siding for sale plus a smaller sheet 40X80 (a bit cut from the side and top).

$75 each for the full sizes and $50 for the smaller one.

We're in Concord and i have a truck and can help with transport (cost of gas?)... These have been stored flat and are in perfect shape. Let me know via email (link in top corner)

Garage Doors

One of the last items on the exterior is the rehabbing of the garage doors. Previously, we'd considered rebuilding the doors with the siding we'd purchased from Eichler Siding. While this might still be an option, it's a mighty undertaking: (1) they're crazy heavy, (2) they work well and (3) they've been in place for 40 years... and it might be one of those "if it ain't broke" situations... so for now, we're trying to save the existing doors even though the siding isn't a perfect match smoothness-wise. But that's what we're now trying to remedy.

Thanks to Jacob and TJ for scraping a good bit of the paint off of the doors -- a much needed first step. Then, re-grooving the lost grooves was in order. The old grooves were more shallow and had already lost a good bit of depth from layers of paint. I tried several methods: scraping, solvent, Dremel...

The Dremel tool wandered too much and caused more damage than otherwise. Had I set up a track to guide it, it'd be ideal (straight, uniform depth, even width), but there are a lot of grooves to be setting up a track for each groove would be too time consuming (might as well rebuild the doors with clean siding).

Nothing has worked quite as well as the Rockwell SoniCrafter which was a gift from Casie's dad. Similar to a Fein MultiMaster, it vibrates at a high velocity for cutting, sawing, grinding, etc. and using the grout removal attachment, I'm able to get into the grooves and clear them out. It's a slow process, but it seems to be working.

Hopefully by day's end, we'll have matching garage doors.

Oh, and the handle-hardware: who know it was wrought-iron looking? An odd craftsman touch, methinks.

Blinds.com Savings

As you can tell from the past couple of posts, I'm a fan of the Phifer Solar Shades from Blinds.com... a few hiccups with the last order, but the staff was wonderful in sorting them out.

So... I just got this and thought I'd share...

Save 20% on Phifer solar shades during the month of July! Solar shades have the ability to cut glare which makes them ideal for media rooms, studies, or any sun-facing room where sun control is desired.

Use code: solar20 at checkout.

I also got a paper-coupon in the mail valid for a bit longer...

20% off of Phifer Solar Shades / code#: PHIF-TRYEG (good thru Aug 10th)

Now that the summer's heating up, it's a good time to get shades on you windows. It helped ours tremendously.