Once we got the back sealed up, Lawrence came and added the shingles to the sides of the porch. In the "Let's Make the Whole House Match" department, we were getting closer to .1000. Bricks? Check. Scallops? Check! That leaves just beadboard and columns to go.Once the scallops were in place, Lawrence and I took on a few tasks:
1) Putting the wiring in place to eventually power a ceiling fan and light
2) Installing a brace to hold the future ceiling fan, and
3) Enclosing the ceiling in plywood, a surface that would eventually get covered in beadboard.
It sounds easy. The first item on the list I was the most concerned about. After putting in the outdoor outlet some years back, and then adding two more indoors since, I know what a pain-in-the-*ss job wiring is. When we started, I steeled myself for a lengthy and difficult process.
It only took a little more than 30 minutes, most of which was spent drilling a hole above the door, near where the existing light fixture is mounted. Once the hole was drilled through, Lawrence started to fish around inside it. Then he began to laugh. He had successfully thread the wire through. Two minutes later, the wire was pulled across to the center of the ceiling. Voila!
We were going to attempt Job 2 when Lawrence said we had to finish Job 3 first. So, that's what we set about doing. The first sheet of plywood was murder. WHAT IN THE HELL WERE WE THINKING?! Hoisting a full sheet of 3/4-inch plywood over one's head, balanced in part by a 76-year-old man who isn't any bigger than me and then, attempting to wrest it into place in a manner slightly resembling level ... let's just say it wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done. Then I remembered: Lawrence and I had talked about this. We knew we weren't going to make it through the project THIS way. Since we were going to put beadboard over it anyway, we cut the panels in half.
What a difference! Still heavy. Still labor intensive. But infinitely better. And we managed to get it finished, too. With that task complete, Lawrence put up the flashing. Hey, it's starting to look a lot less like the Beverly Hillbillies! Maybe something really will come of all this.
Next stop: beadboard.
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