The Backdoor Redux
I cannot speak for other families, but for mine, if someone was visiting who was a dear friend or relative, they always used the back door to enter the home. When I was a little girl, I remember grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and close friends all coming to the back door. As a matter of fact, this was so evident in my home growing up, that if there ever was a knock on the front door, I would feel a wave of slight apprehension wondering what stranger waited on the other side. Usually it was just the mail carrier or UPS.
It was obvious that no such visitors had come to this old house in a long while. I make that assumption simply because the backdoor had not been framed out and the short steps placed at the back door were a health hazard. We knew that we were going to fix the back entry, we just weren't quite sure how we were going to go about it. Enter my brother-in-law, Danny Davis.
Now a little bit of background here. I spent my Spring Break, not on some beach in Florida, but in the snow working on my Kentucky home. My brother-in-law and sister had offered to come up and help us with some of the work and we gladly accepted. Danny is a master builder who has a mind for construction that I could never, in a million years understand. (That's why I am the one writing the blog while everyone else does the heavy lifting involved in the refurbishment.) Danny came and helped us extend wood flooring, re-design thresholds, and hang sheetrock. While my sister Debra, helped me scrape windows and repaint widow frames and trim with oil-based paint. And while I am on the topic of oil-based paint, let me just say, it is not easy. It is like painting with Elmer's Glue...two coats. Well, Danny and Debra flew up on Monday and had to be home by Thursday, so they had to catch an 8:30"ish" flight out of Nashville on Wednesday night.
Wednesday, after working on the house, we took a break and went to the L & R Soda Fountain in Elkton. Side note, if you are ever in Elkton, stop by this place, they have the best chicken salad and ice cream sodas around. While sitting in a booth taking a breath after eating our lunch, Anthony mentioned the back door to which Danny replied that they could put a deck up and have it finished in a couple of hours. Skeptical? We were too, until Danny picked up a napkin and began drawing dimensions. The he made a shopping list and Anthony and my father-in-law, Roger, went to pick up supplies from Haley Hardware. Haley's Do It Best, by the way, has been almost the sole supplier for everything we've needed for the house. The Haley's have been like family to the Sweeney's for decades and a wonderful resource. So, while Roger and Anthony went to get supplies, we finished off lunch with an ice cream sundae and soda. It was fabulous.
Once we were back at the house, work on the deck started. It was at 1:41 pm when the picture below was taken. We had to leave the house by 5:00pm to make sure that they could get packed, dressed, and on the road in time to catch their flight. And so this seemingly impossible task began.
Danny would mark wood using a speed square, at 45 degree angles and cut the wood using a hand held skill saw. I am not sure how he did it, but it was like the blue print for the deck was in his head. After an hour or two, definite progress had been made.
Lo and behold, by 4:44pm we had a new entry way. 3 hours and 3 minutes from when the wood was delivered to me standing on the deck. Actually, they tell me it is really too small to be a deck, that it is more of a landing. Either way, it was a a very impressive feat that was pulled of by my miracle worker brother-in-law, and very talented and capable husband and father-in-law.
As you can see in the picture above, there was a small gap between the top and second step. However, Anthony and Roger were more than capable of finishing the job.
And "ta-da" a new deck? Landing? Porch? Who cares! On our next visit, over Summer, we will stain the wood giving it a chance to dry out, as well as add handrails. So to end the tale of the house without a back entry fit for close family and friends, had a happy ending. Now they will have a lovely entrance worthy of their visit to my home.
And as for those lonely pair of steps that use to be the only way in or out, they found a new home as well...waste not, want not.
