Sunday, November 26, 2017

Buttoning Things Up Outside, Part 1


Fall has arrived in full force in Portland, the weather is rainy and cooler, the days are shorter and I’ve had the urge to start projects inside. But, before I talked Scott into tackling walls and ceilings in the living and dining rooms we had to button up our outdoor projects.


When we moved into the retro ranch we found the Medallion Home Live Better Electrically medallion, about 3 inches in diameter and made of brass. You can read more about it here. We wanted to find a way to display the medallion on the front of the house, but didn’t want to just screw it into the brick. Enter the Internet! Atlas Signs and Plaques fabricates custom house number plaques in many styles and finishes. I worked with them via email and over the phone to create a plaque with our address that could accommodate our fabulous medallion.







And if you remember Santa delivered the MCM goods last Christmas, but we hadn’t yet installed the doorbell or door viewer because there was painting and painting and bathrooms, etc to do. Well, we didn’t get the front door stained or painted this year, but Scott was able to tackle the patio after the bathroom project wrapped up. He two coated the patio ceiling and gave the patio walls and trim one coat. Enough for us to install the Live Better Electrically door bell by the back sliding door - yes, we have a door bell on the patio - and we also installed the door viewer in the front door (note how easily the paint pulled away around the viewer...bodes well for staining the door!)








Homes built in the 1960s in Portland aren’t known for their insulative qualities, ours not having a lick of insulation in the walls or crawlspace. And the attic insulation rates a value of about R4. But our front doors (double door entry) have a interesting metal trim that seats the doors together and inside the frame to seal out wind and cold. The fault in the system was at the threshold where the trim on the door had separated and left a gap you could literally see daylight through.


Enter Anderson Doors, a family owned company in Portland. The guy knew his stuff and knew our particular door system. He took both doors down, cleaned out all the old weatherstripping used to fill the gap, and installed the correct trim saving us the expense of a whole new threshold.





Next up pine needles, gutters and downspouts - oh my!