It has been a long time since I have talked to you. Every time I sit down to do this I find three things I have to get done first. So today I have decided I will show you one room only and all I have done to it and then get to all the other things I have to do. Then tomorrow I’ll try and get back and show you another room.
As you know I am living alone here and can not do any work on improving my house. I can keep it once it is done but right now I needs up grading from top to bottom. First I needed a new roof as I had a few leaks, which is not different from all the older homes here so I was lucky to have Scott Collins and his father in law Will to do my work for me. He is very knowledgable on all areas so once I got the place livable we decided the roof needed to be done first. This is the men working on my roof. I have one of the biggest places in the park so it was a big big job. I have the roof for the house plus the add on car port and the screened in porch. Both of these had leaks where they joined the house so first they had to put down a large 26 inch wide flashing and seal that good then put the new roof on the house. Just so you don’t think I really needed a new roof, let me show you the rest of the neighborhood from above. You an see most of them need a new roof. There is a couple that have had some patching done and one with new shingles. I elected not to use that method as you lose some shingles every time a tropical storm come through and you can depend on at least one of those coming every year. You can see first they have to power clean the roof so that the new sealer will adhere to the roof and not just peel off. I won’t bore you with the details of that job, just let me say it was done very well and will last a long time.
They power washed the whole house and fixed the skirting around the house to keep out all the wild animals that live behind me in the preserve. Then they helped me put in my garden. I am not showing that first as I am still working on that. I have changed it several times already and as soon as I have it all set I’ll send pictures of that.
I am still changing things inside the house and getting everything in good repair and arranged just as I want it. I am not worried about making my house beautiful, I just want it to work best for me and will show you one room at a time later.
Right now I will show you my new car port. What can you do with a large car port when you don’t drive and don’t have a car? Most of the houses around have a car port that fits one car comfortable and most have a small patio at the end of their car port and park their car out in the dive way. I thought of that for my car port but I had a beautiful screened in porch so didn’t really need a patio and I already had a small patio behind the porch. However out there all you can see is the preserve. It is a pretty view but it really cuts me off from the neighborhood and Otis likes to watch what is going on in the neighborhood. He loves it when I will go over to John’s house and visit in his patio at the end of his car port. He can’t see anything on my porch so I decided I would make a patio there. I got most of the things I need to turn this into a patio from Amazon. Scott power washed the floor and then painted it. Will cut the hedge down about three feet for me to let in some light for the new patio and the house making it less of a cave. And here is the results. That is Otis on the loveseat but he is so black he is hard to see. He loves it as he can see the whole neighborhood now and any of our friends that go out for a walk can stop in and visit with us. Otis loves it. I have a gate now at the end of the carport and a small fence around the whole place so he can come out with me and not have to be tied. Now instead of just the trees behind the house this is his view. without the car in the drive he gets an even better view of the whole street. I still have a little more to add in the back. A second rug is arriving today and a small refrigerator will be here next week. Scott put in an outside plug for that and I just got a stand for my brooms, rakes and other tools so now my whole car port is a patio and we eat most of our meals out there and do all our visiting out there.
Monday Scott and Will will be back to power wash my laundry room which is in the back of the carport. That room houses the washer and drier and a wash tub with water. It is also where you keep the garbage cans so the raccoons don’t get into them but when I moved in that room stank to high heaven as they had left garbage in there for weeks at a time and in this heat that is awful. I got it cleaned up as best I could and got my washer and drier hooked up which was no small feat. George replaced the broken pipes in the room so Jetson’s could hook up my machine but the drain was not hooked up to the sewer so Scott came a dug down and found what was wrong and fixed that. Now that works well but it still stinks in there when it gets hot. The ceiling is all mold and the floor is gross so Monday Scott and Will will take everything out of there and power wash the whole room then paint the floor and return everything I want back into the room. I have already thrown out a bunch of junk from there and there is still more to go, mostly wood. Then that area will be done and I can slow down. Most of the other things I can do myself, it just takes time.
I still have room for three cars in my drive way. I have one of the longest drive ways in the park and if I need more room I can always move things aside, open the dog gate and I can put two or three cars in the patio area. But most of the time it will be a patio. I still can not sit out there when a wild storm comes as it does rain in when the wind blows hard. Then all I do is put my cushions in the big storage box I got for them and go inside until the rain stops.
Time now for me to get my lunch as Patty will be here after lunch to take me down to the store to get my flue shot and pick up a few items I will need this week. Lastly here is the hedge along the side of the car port and if you go back and look at the first picture you can see the laundry room in the lack.
Have a great day.