A neighbor was doing some remodeling and threw out a few boards for the landfill truck. I asked If I could have these boards. I had a little project for them. These boards were mainly 1×8 pine. A little tablesaw work, a box of screws that were leftover from another job, and a quart of primer.
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Nice work.... be sure to show your neighbor what came of the boards.
Before you show him what you really did with them, tell him that they were rare Snuffalopagus Pine boards and you sold them on Craigs list for $10 a foot.
pine railings
My folks saw this railing and thought I had BOUGHT the thing at the local Menards store! "Ah, no, I made that" All for the cost of a quart can of primer, from WalMart! The only challenge was in how to "meet" that "wrought iron" corner post. Each "section" took about an afternoon to build, in the rain. When it had dried out, two coats of Kilz white primer did the rest.
Look close..
in the "finished" picture. You might see a wood screen door I built as well. It was from old pine floor boards. Cleaned up, the T&Gs removed. Screen kits for the opening at the top, plywood at the bottom. Been there about three years now. It got a fresh coat of paint when the railing got one. I just like re-claimed wood.
Salvage wood projects
This is a great example of taking a little extra time, doing the work yourself, saving some money and getting a great result.
We are working on restoring a small 1890 Victorian in the Northern California coastal community of Eureka. Eureka is an old mill, timber and fishing town on the northwest corner of California. This town has loads of Victorian -- most of them have their porches removed and replaced without much attention to the original styles.
After the January 2010 North Coast earthquake a new foundation was installed, replacing the post and pier that had slipped off during the big shake. We took advantage of the foundation contractor to remove the massive concrete steps and porch.
The new poach kept the original roof and porch post, after a little rot was cut out and replaced. The project was designed and built by Dane Cowen from Ferndale – just down the road from Eureka. Dane turned new redwood balusters to match some of the design elements of from the porch post and my wife and I took care of the painting and installing the skirting. The skirting around the porch was salvaged 1X3 T&G redwood from the foundation work – we trimmed of the rot, sanded and primed the old growth redwood skirting from the house. More pictures... Eurekavic.blogspot.com.
The California north coast is pretty wet, we are waiting for a few clear days to finish the painting. I'll post the finished job.
Looks good. I assume
Looks good.
I assume ground freezing isn't an issue. in many areas you couldn't get away with 2" surface pads with a downspout dumping water all over the place.
Good point on the downspouts --- We do all the work to salvage siding and then dump water all over the place... The north coast is wet, but not cold -- a very few of mild freezing.... As soon as the rain stops I'll be out adding extensions on the downspouts.