Roof Painting - Southern Facade

Byrd and Jay got an early start on the southern facing roof this past weekend.  The roof had been primed shortly after the commencement of the Blacksmith Shed restoration efforts.  We had been anxiously awaiting the proper seasoning period to pass beforing jumping back up on the roof and applying the top coat.  It appears that the time has finally arrived and as you can see, Jay made quick work of things under the watchful eye of straw boss Byrd.

Most of the roof is completed at this point as they are working from right to left in the camera view.

Hitting the rake board blind!

Touch up out on the eves.

Good view of the rest of the siding repairs on southern facade.

     

Forgotten Siding Pictures

Sorry the siding documentation posts are a little out of order but I had forgotten about some of these pictures until I came across them today.  These are pictures of the siding during the deconstruction phase.  The Blacksmith Shed looks so different now so it is pretty cool to take a look back.  Enjoy.

The top courses of siding were left on till the last minute to protect the cellulose insulation that we had blown into the bunkroom attic.

Excellent picture of downbracing as well as the newly installed door with its heart pine threshold.

'Merica.

Shadows in the run-in room.

Close up of the door to the back field.

The finished siding!

Another Siding Post...

Here is another before and after series of pictures highlighting the siding repairs.  These are oblique shots showing the bunk room door and windows and the run-in area door and windows below.  Enjoy!

In the beginnning...

Still looking rough but better...

Prettiest girl at the dance!

Building Envelope Tighten Up!

From the beginnning it had been determined that a twofold approach would be undertaken in restoring the Blacksmith Shed.  Our aim was to focus on sealing the building's envelope while entertaining "catalyst" projects as we progressed.  This approach was developed in an effort to maximize enthusiasm while steadfastly completing important project benchmarks. 

To date we've maintained a pretty good balance of completing both fun tasks as well as necessary ones.  There remained, however, one glaring deficiency in our envelope sealing efforts; the siding.  The west side of the blacksmith shed was in a state that could only be described as that of a "particularly scandalous condition."  Clearing this hurdle posed quite a conundrum in regards to the opportunity cost of our limited work weekends; especially in light of crowded social and family schedules.  The best approach seemed to be outsourcing this portion of the project.  Enter Greg.

Greg is a barn restorationist who has worked on other barns and outbuildings throughout the Virginia Piedmont as well as in the Northern Neck.  We showed him the project and he and his crew felt that they were up for the task.  The plan was to remove what was left of the siding on the most-troubled, west side and reside this entire elevation with new rough sawn material.  The removed siding would then be reused on the remaining three sides as allowable; supplementing with the new rough sawn stock as needed.  Greg did an excellent job and it appears that the Blacksmith Shed has really turned a corner in the overall project scope.  What follows are exterior "before and after" photos showing the siding repairs on the west side of the Blacksmith Shed:   

Before...

Siding partially removed - check out the downbracing in the framing!

Yellah Gold... New rough sawn yellow pine siding to match exisitng.  We'll let the seasons run their course and once the new wood greys we'll apply a sealer to all the siding to encourage longevity.

Another "before" of the same elevation....

After!

Wednesday Zen 7

"The world is always changing; sometimes we need to look to the past to see what stays the same."

-Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Trailer (as seen in the preview to the Descendents [it was Carter's turn to pick the movie])

Wood Stove Restoration 3

I took the reading room woodstove out to the Blacksmith Shed and reassembled it.  It had been in the shop for repairs and paintwork.  It looks awfully nice now that it is back in place and sporting a new paint job.  We still need to install the thimble into the chimney and work out the stove pipe from the stove to the thimble.  I imagine that we will put an in-line damper in this section of stove pipe as well;  this thimble is actually higher up the chimney than the one for the big stove in the run-in area.  The shed is really starting to come together and it will be exciting to get this little project wrapped up.  What follows are pictures of the reassembled stove:

All the refurbished parts back on site.

We got all the legs back on including the one with the repair.

The reading room woodstove is all put together now - ready for stove pipe and a fire!

Wood Stove Restoration 2

I just realized after reading my “Wood Stove Restoration 1” piece that I may have overused exclamation points in my description.  I apologize for the outpouring of enthusiasm but the fact is that wood stoves excite me.  The idea of standing next to a warm, crackling fire inside while it’s cold/windy/rainy outside seems topnotch; especially after returning from an evening hunt. 

The wood stove that I am currently restoring is going to go into the reading room as I stated in the prior post.  It will be interesting to see how both stoves add to the spaces in which they are being used; they are vastly different in many ways.  It’s the hope that the big double-banger barrel stove that is located in the run-in area will do the bulk of the heating for the run-in area as well as for the bunk room.  The bunk room floor vents will hopefully assist in facilitating this process. 

The reading room is a one story add-on to the original Blacksmith Shed structure that now contains the only access to the bunk room.  This access is a small set of stairs.  I doubt that the reading room woodstove will heat the bunk room.  It should, however, provide a comfortable ambiance if one decides to retreat from the late night fatuities of the run-in area but wants to chill out for a bit prior to hitting the sack.  Perhaps this room will become a place to enjoy a tall glass of bourbon and a few passages from a good book.  It’s also been suggested that this room would be a good location to keep a hunting journal/guest log.  However it works out, we are hoping that both stoves will share the commonality of being functional once I get this one reinstalled.  Here are some pics of the paintwork on the reading room woodstove: 

I took the stove down to as many parts and pieces as I could without going crazy.  The first few pieces closest to the camera lens have the final coat of paint while the ones farther back just have the rust converter applied.

This is the main body of the reading room woodstove.  I have applied the rust converter and am allowing it to dry in the sunlight.

This picture is of the painted body of the woodstove.  The piece to the left of the stove is the thimble which will replace the existing one which is broken.  This is the piece that receives the stove pipe on one side and is mortared into the chimney on the other.

Wood Stove Restoration 1

I just got started on restoring the woodstove that goes in the reading room of the Blacksmith Shed.  This woodstove belongs to Gordo and was used by him when he was used to guide hunts at a nearby hunting peserve.  The stove will work great as a space heater for the reading room and there is already a stone hearth in place to set it on.  As a bonus, this stove has two cook hatches!  This stove actually may end up being a better cookstove than the beast that we have in the run-in portion of the Shed. 

One of the legs was broke on the stove but fortunately we were able to find both pieces on site.  I got a friend to make the repair so after a little elbow grease and paint the woodstove should be good as new!  Here are a few pics of the start of the restoration process:

Here's the woodstove stripped down from most of its parts and pieces.  It apparenly served as a home to a family of mice during years of nonuse at the blacksmith shed.

I'm hitting the parts and pieces with a wire brush and sand paper to prep for rust conversion and paint.  I'll wipe everything down with acetone prior to applying the rust converter.

 

Here you can see the stove leg that had to be repaired.

This piece is labeled "HOT when in use."  Good information.