I have studied for weeks and weeks. Literally the whole summer. I had to remove the back lean-to and literally it was leaned against the home and putting terrible pressure on the back wall. The lean-to was collapsing from rot, but only the bottom half. The top half was still solid and attached to the wall with spikes. As the lean-to sank, the pressure on the wall increased and before much longer the wall would support the whole lean-to or what is left of it. The wall could not take that and with no one around, by next spring the whole rear wall of the home would be on the ground with most likely the whole home…
I had to remove the lean-to but remove the pressure from the home first and with some beams and a single hacksaw blade, I pulled the lean-to away from the wall. I had to cut twelve spikes as big as your finger around and used a crowbar to separate the lean-to from the wall enough to cut all the spikes. This was after I braced the lean-to up as self-supporting. To pry the spikes out, meant to tear the wall down and that I did not care to do. I am living here, you know…
Even yet, with all the planning, the lean-to was so weak, that I ended up supporting the damn thing myself, as the middle roof beam was so rotten it exploded as I finished the last cut spike…
I got out from under the old roof by bracing a thin stick within reach and the stick broke just as I jumped out. Then the lean-to fell against the house. I then started to panic and grabbed my hatchet that I had bought for this purpose and proceeded to cut the roof in half like a psycho bear and shoved the pieces to the ground. This was the panic part of the whole issue. I am going to have to sharpen that hatchet, for I cut several nails in half and there went that blade. Though it cut like a knife through butter for the most part, well that is, until the end of my excursion…
At some places on that roof, there was twelve layers of black tar paper, some with asphalt shingle grit and it was heavy. The rest of the roof area, is an old chicken coop and that will be much easier to remove. For some reason they supported the wall there and it is a whole bunch more solid at that point. In the next few weeks, I will remove the wood I tore down and the chicken coop. I then will soak the wall with termite killer and the ground, then I need to figure out the best mud to fill the missing mud packing (chinking) between the logs. Then as I am mudding, I need to try to repair any serious damage and I need to install two beams on the outside to match the inside already there and run four huge bolts through the wall, to bolt them tight together.I got that idea from Sveta’s father in-law. He is the one who saved this home the first time and I refuse to allow his work to crumble…
Then next year, I will rebuild the chicken coop and a lean-to, but along the back fence line, away from the village home…
Now since I have had six heart attacks and I am wore out, I am going to read a book, that same book I talked about in an earlier post. Time to rest, until tomorrow…
But I had fun! 😉
Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…