New Lid and the Old Place

It's not like I'm stalking our previous house or anything, but even four years after moving I still look out at the old place whenever I'm on that side of town. I had been paying a little more attention this summer after Brian, one of the current owners, said they would be putting a new roof on. He mentioned it would be made of metal shingles. So last month when I went by and saw it was covered in a grid of lathe boards I knew I needed to get a picture. I drove around to the back alley and shot this view from the rear:


What makes me feel really old, is that we put the red roof on in 1996! I hired the job out and am glad I did. I know my limits and laying new shingles is beyond my abilities. It seemed like a bear of a job, since it included a tear off of three old layers of shingles. About 9 months after we re-roofed we got hit by a major hailstorm. Our insurance ended up paying us $4,000 which was nearly 2/3 of cost of the new one.

I went by the house this week and here is how it looks now:


I like the look. The sign out front says that they are stone covered metal shingles, to me it looks very much like Ludowici tiles. Maybe in 15 years we will do the same on Foxcroft but in a green similar to what we already have?

I am so comforted by the fact that our old place is in such capable hands. Brian and Sarah have done a wonderful job of making improvements, and the fact that it is still a single family home is icing on the cake. I must also say that those pictures of the back also show that my paint job, 1998 on the rear side and 1999 on the north still look darn good!

Road Trip 2009

As mentioned before, I did finish my shingles and then took down the scaffolding for winter. Here are the new shingles above the window:


As soon as I took everything down I got a call that my new dining room storms and screens were ready. I had ordered these about a month ago from Adams Architectural. I had Adams build windows for the new gable we put in upstairs, and they also did the wooden storms and screen that we have on second floor. We then used them to build storms and screens for the back of the house. I really am impressed with their work. When I called to order three more, I was surprised to learn they had moved from near Davenport (an hour away) to Dubuque (an hour and 45 minutes away)

Friday I drove to Dubuque to get my three storms and three screens. Adams new location is in the warehouse district of Dubuque, and very picturesque area:


I went in to say "hello" and then got sent out to drive to the loading dock:


In five minutes I was loaded up:


But I wasn't ready to go home yet, because on the other side of the block where Adams is located is The Restoration Warehouse (formerly Mid-America Salvage) which is the place I got our flooring and bookcases.

I spent an hour looking around and am interested in what looked like a grill from an old service elevator that would make some nice fencing back by the fish pond. I hope they email me a price as the piece wasn't marked.

So added to my winter project list will be painting the storms and screens so they can be hung in the spring.