Butt(s), Jack, and Post

The hardest part of renovation is all the decisions that you need to make after hours of googling contradicting information on a subject which you have no base knowledge.  Then everything spirals out of control as one thing leads to another.  This weekend was a classic example.

The Butt(s)

There are hornets nests between our gutters and the house.  We're all about safety here, but the saw did not perform well as a nest knocker-downer.  However, while we were up there, we noticed that the spikes holding the gutters up were loose.

And then there were gutters like this.

We had to borrow a ladder and haul it in our undersized car with creative finangling. We drove slow.  After dropping the ladder off at Milly, we drove 30m to the closest Home Depot, where we wandered for over an hour looking at gutters, gutter sealers, gutter screws, gutter spikes, and appliances.  Might as well when you're there already!

This is DH's butt.  I stared up into its magnificence for two hours while he repaired and recaulked some of the gutters.

Featuring more action from behind!  Also, we choose to go with screws instead of spikes for the replacement.

Still had to hammer the originals in!  The echo sounds like rifle shots in our neighborhood.

Then came the scraping with the shovel we bought to bury ...waste while camping.  Seemed appropriate.

"Like horse poop!" exclaimed DH.  The Home Depot bucket was heavy and that load was what we scraped from the gutter over the porch only!  (We started really late after all that ladder and Home Depot delay and had to quit due to the lack of light during our sunny northern winters).

Didn't want to waste the rich compost, so I decided to spread it near the evergreens around our property.  Unfortunately it was already dark and there were protruding branches that formed a protective barricade, so I just dumped it around, kinda near...?  I dumped it on the grass.

The gutters are still a work in process.

The Jack

Our staircase is sagging.  (Ignore the junk in the background, picture was taken during the house inspection.  I kinda wanted to keep the antique washer...)  The inspector advised us to get a lally column and tighten it up every week.

This is a jack post, which in certain parts of the USA is colloquially known as a lally column!  They don't have a cement core, are not grounded in cement, and the connection for the telescoping tubes seem flaky.  We bought it anyway to avoid having to drill into our cement basement!

This is an existing lally columns in our basement with a 2x4 on top for added height...  It's not screwed into the beam.

Our super sturdy 6x6 base!

Careful leveling with a super handy post leveler and a wrench for gently nudging the post in the right direction.

We too have decided to use a 2x4 on the top just like the pros!

And there it is in all its glory, next to the shaky wooden frame currently supporting the bottom of the stairs.  We used a super scientific method of installation known as "stop turning the screw when you hear the wood creaking."

The Post

I spent an inordinate amount of time researching mailboxes, mailbox posts, mailbox post lumber, mailbox installation, and mailbox preservation?  We ended up with a pressure treated 4x4. Pressure treated wood is a process that forces chemical preservatives deep into the wood - wear gloves and do not burn the sawdust!

There are different grades of pressure treated wood - ours was US4A, rated for general use and ground contact. We used Thompson's WaterSeal aerosol to protect the wood above ground. (This was most likely not the correct sealer to use, but it was $5 and I've been wanting to use a spray can. I've had a deprived childhood.)

We dug a hole 26" deep so that the bottom of the mailbox would be between 41"-45" off the ground.  It was mostly DH flexing his muscle.

I had to contort my body in order to lift the dirt out with the post digger.

We attached the new lumber to the mailbox.

We placed the post in the ground and then used a boot-dirt-shovel method, patent pending.  No cement, based on the advice of some random person on the internet.  Someone on the internet with an easier method is always right.

Booyah!  First project 100% completed!  This was the highlight of our weekend.  I am expecting our mailbox to be bursting with junk mail after its five day break. 

Though I am happy that we were able to finish repairing the mailbox, I think I need to get my priorities straight... that post was most likely not worth the time I spent agonizing over cedar vs pressure treated lumber, or what type of coating we needed to buy, etc.

But hey, it's a darn nice looking post.

Task: Putting Up Posts and Cleaning Out the Poop
Saturday: 5 hours getting lost at Home Depot, drilling holes, digging holes, and then taking a magical walking journey across our property in search of rusted wire tree protectors.  There were a lot and we felt it was imperative to go sightseeing.
Sunday: 5 hours loading up the ladder, more wandering at Home Depot, cleaning [1/5 of our] gutters, putting up the two posts.
Total Hours: 10 hours
Total To Date: 31.5 hours