Love Your Neighbor - Part Six

My, My!  She makes it look roomy UNDER there, doesn't she?

It was suggested that some dirt be added to the areas under the porch near the foundation and around the posts so Dawn got busy and went and bought some dirt.  She started putting it under the porch and I arrived to find her ...

LIKE THIS...

Wow!! Trust me ... this is quite impressive!

Next on the "to-do's" for the porch was THE LAST PIECE of composite decking ... custom fitted, of course ... 

When working with materials and dimensions from A LONG TIME AGO as is the case with the Old, Old Porch Project, replacing and rebuilding (within the city's approved dimensions that had to remain EXACTLY the same as they were before), challenges are pretty non-stop because things just aren't what they used to be.

For example: did you know that a 2x4 ISN'T actually 2 inches by 4 inches??

A LONG time ago, it was true to size ... but NOT ANYMORE friends, due to modern technology and what is said to be greater efficiency.

So, in nearly everything that has had to do with this porch project has had to be "customized" to account for modern technology and greater efficiency.

Here, Brian manually cut out a notch the entire length of the composite decking after having to rip it to the actual size needed to complete the porch.  Had he not ripped it, the board would have stuck out way too far.  But because it had to be ripped, the notching had to be re-created.  

I think he's pretty slick!!

Oh, by the way, here's our portable/travelling tool box.  

Nice, huh?

It fit like a glove ...

Oh, such a proud moment!!  

The LAST piece of composite decking in place!

And then the customization continued.  

Just look!!

The railings are on their way up!!

 In order to get the lengths to fit accordingly, Brian had to drill and file and finagle the pieces to make them fit properly.  

Doesn't it look super??

But ... YAY!! ... one step closer to completion!!

Next up were the stair rails.

EEK!!

This was yet another challenge ... and I think we all got to see a side of my husband that doesn't come out very often.

It all started out okay ...

... but things ended up being tricky, confusing, and furstrating.

Of course, manual manipulation had to be employed.

Tension started to mount as things did not progress as quickly, easily, or cooperatively as we would want.

There were things we needed to do that the tools just weren't really capable of doing.

I will tell you ... that day didn't end well.

BUT God ...

... so the next day ...

I was a little nervous about how things would go ... okay, maybe we all were.  Brian had mentioned how he had been thinking about it, he was sorry for his frustration, and he thought he had an idea about how it should go.

Then I blurted out, "Did you pray about it?"

YIKES!!  Now I was really nervous.

Then he just stopped and said, "would you pray now?"

HUH?😮

Well, okay then ... 

... so I did pray for the project and for God's hands to take over the task that needed to be done.

And do you know what???

It worked!

No issues!

There were no struggles or awkward coercing.

Oh HAPPY Day!

Thank-You, LORD!!

Brian was so happy he thought maybe he should test out the durability and slide down the rail ... just kidding!!!

It was so great that the last of the railings was completed so quickly.  That allowed us to move on to the next step, which was trimming in the beams of the supporting structure.  

This part was going to be a piece of cake ... I mean, really, ... just cut the wood to length and then screw it in place, right??

Just look at that smile on my face!

However, I'm not smiling here, am I?

This was actually a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and I gave it my best shot what with straddling not one, but TWO ladders at the same time, while trying to put a screw into a little piece of wood. I'm fairly certain the angle had something to do with the difficulty ...  

... however, I decided that Andrew was more suited for that job and that I would be his assistant.

Andrew did a much better job than me ... 

And where things got a little tricky, old Stretch Armstrong moved in for the Assist!!

Yep, they got it!!

Doesn't that look so nice???

HOORAY for a SUCCESSFUL and Productive day!!!

We're winding down now but there's still a few things to do.  We hope you are getting as excited as we are to see it completely finished.