Kitchen Pickin

On the hot days... and we've been already having them... I still pick at the kitchen work. I've been sanding woodwork and getting a prime coat on it as well. I've been finishing up the walls too. I think I have the wall color nailed down now.


Island is finished and painted

And the sink base too

Some sanded and primed wainscoting

More Gutters and More Windows

Nothing I haven't talked about before... but that much closer to being finished with the two. The back gutter is done and turning the corner up the last side. While the scaffold was up I installed two more new Pella windows on the back wall - only 4 more windows to go!


The small front section is finished

Scaffold set up to install other half of back gutter

Gutter finished and ready for new window

My Mind Still in the Gutter

Making Screens

With the nice weather here it was time to do one more left over project for the 3rd floor... make screens for the windows. Being able to open all the windows up there is crucial to keeping the temperature tolerable, plus keep nature out, and the cats in!

I already made 2 last year so I have 3 to go. I bought materials from qualitywindowscreen and was quite happy with what they sent me. I ordered framing, corner pieces, screen material, spline material and tool for installing, plus a pin assembly which will lock the screen into the window jam.

First thing is measuring the opening and then cutting the frame pieces to size. The best way to cut them and get a good miter cut is using a plywood blade on a chop saw, but mounting the blade with the teeth in reverse. This actually gives a nice cut in aluminum. Then using the corner pieces, assemble the frame for a trial fit.



Once this is happy, diassemble and drill the holes for the locking pins. This is done with a special step bit that they suppplied. With the holes drilled, the pin and spring are inserted in the frame and then the plastic grabber piece snaps on the top of the pin. Now you have a spring loaded pin that will lock into a hole drilled in the window jamb and hold the screen in place once installed.







Next reassemble the frame, cut the screen material for the frame and using the spline tool run the spline into the channel along the frame. This actually stretches the screen material as you work your way around so it's not critical to pull on the screen as you go... just keep the material from wrinkling as you work and it will end up nice and tight.





And that's it! Install and move on to the next project!

Back Outside Again

Taking advantage of some warm weather, I finally went and finished the soffit. The only thing left is a final coat of paint on the siding and trimwork on this corner section of the house.... than I can officially call the siding project D-U-N... DONE!





I started working on the gutters too. I already had some of the hangers mounted, so I went to making up the gutter sections for the corner and installed them temporarily in place. I need to install more hangers, then I can adjust them to get the right slope for drainage. Stay tuned.

More Hall History

Here's the Wilmington warehouse for Norris's old steel company. If you click on the second pic and zoom in, on the left corner of the sign you can see "L. Norris Hall" faded on the sign and "Potts" who bought the company in the 1970's. Now it's B & B Steel located near the Wilmington port and just by coincidence across the street from one of the generation stations I work at.