Dan Antion

What the??? – #1LinerWeds

“OK, this is better. Stop messing with my deck.”

Several of my Maddie’s regular followers have mentioned that progress on the area outside my workshop Maddie’s deck has been in a holding pattern. This is true. I had planned to take enough vacation days to give myself several long weekends to finish that project. Then July happened. The Hartford area experienced the hottest July on record, with 19 days over 90°f (32°c) and almost as many days where the heat index (how yucky it feels to be outside) was over 110°f (43°c). Those are not good days for construction activity.

Last Friday and Saturday, the temps dropped into the mid-80s and I decided it was time to get that project back on track.

The remaining tasks include: installing vinyl siding on the back wall. Installing vinyl soffit on the ceiling. Wrapping the support beam in some permanent material that I never have to paint. Installing vinyl soffit in the overhead area outside the support beam. Building a wide stair, and installing composite decking.

The decking will be the last thing that I do, because I am planning to use the same material on the step at the side entrance to the garage and in rebuilding both sets of stairs onto our back porch. I hope to be able to order all of it at the same time.

The first task was to move the barn-style door to my workshop up and out. You see, the previous siding was T1-11, a plywood product that serves as sheathing and siding. The vinyl siding I’m installing is applied to the T1-11, and the channel around the siding is about ¾” thick. That means, for the door to slide over the siding, it has to be moved out about 1 ¼”. The door hangs from a steel track, so this isn’t a hard thing to do. However, things had to be cut, sized, leveled and nailed. Dust had to be made. Tools had to be brought out. Ladders were required. A mess was made!

Then, Maddie had to be taken outside for dog stuff.

“What did you do to my deck? Who told you you could do this? Where am I supposed to sit?”

I assured her I would fix it before 5:00.

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

Yesterday’s poll indicated a strong preference for larger images, stacked in line. I don’t think this will work in all cases, but it can work today. I put the Maddie images on top. For those of you interested in the D-I-Y aspects, you can continue to scan down.

“What is the door doing here? This is where my cushion goes.”
“OK, the door is out of the way, but why is there a ladder here?”
“What have you done? There’s no room for me to sit. I don’t like this.”
“OK, it looks like you cleaned up pretty well.”
“I think you dripped sweat on my deck. Are you planning to power wash this place?”
“OK, this is better. Stop messing with my deck.”
There used to be a small roof over the track. I removed that when I extended the roof over the workshop (creating Maddie’s deck).
This door is very heavy – I’ll explain that someday on a Thursday – so I just scooched it over so I could work behind it.
To get the desired thickness, I used a 1/2″ layer of plywood and I covered that with a 3/4″ thick layer of PVC trim.
The PVC trim brings the thickness out to 1 1/4″ and will never require paint.
The door has to be raised, so it will slide over the surface of the new decking.
I love my ‘Helping Hands.’ Right now, they are the only thing holding the track in place. The adjustments can be fine enough to level the track.
My work was done, but some serious cleanup was required.
The door is plumb. The track is level, and it slides.

88 comments

  1. My oh my, the way you talk. Sounds like a foreign language to me but I know you did a great job and Maddie looks satisfied. Now relax! I see those peanuts in your hand. 😉Stay cool, Dan!

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  2. I love your barn door. There are several places I can think of where I’d LOVE to have one too!

    I can appreciate Maddie’s alarm that things have changed. I laughed at the caption about having to power wash the sweat off the deck 😆

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    • Thanks Joanne. I have to give that door a facelift and then share its story for Thursday Doors one day. That was a family project.

      I couldn’t figure out what Maddie was sniffing, but it was hot, and I was sweating.

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  4. Nice one-liner Maddie! I know how we humans can be…never taking our feline kids into consideration, messing up the sitting places. I’m glad dad got your space back in order.

    Dan, nice photos, good work, and I hope the severe heat stays away so you can finish the job. Happy Wednesday!

    PS: Computer still not working :-(

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    • Thanks Mary. Maddie has become very possessive of this space. I sense that we will be fighting over it in the future, as I do have plans to use it for projects,

      Sorry about the computer :-(

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  6. And, here I was taking a blogging break this week, but Maddie and your porch project couldn’t be ignored. :-) It’s looking good, and you certainly know how to do it right. I’m thinking Maddie needs her own ‘talking’ post. This was good for all of us Maddie fans. :-)

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    • This was the longest I’ve ever gone without sharing photos of a D-I-Y project, Judy. This happened last Friday and I wanted to use it for #1LinerWeds.

      Maddie has taken a deep interest in this project. If the weather holds, I’ll be working out there tomorrow, Friday and Saturday. She’s not going to be happy. She really doesn’t care about the work I still have to do.She’s like: “the plywood is fine. Stop working and sit!”

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      • Thank you for the chuckle. I can imagine her thinking exactly that plus ‘what’s with this guy, he keeps working where I want to sit.’ :-) Hope the weather holds out for you, and it looks like it will after that atrocious rain yesterday. I don’t know about any of your other readers, but I LOVE your DIY projects because I not only learn something but you are such a craftsman that the end result is always great looking. Tell Maddie to have some patience. :-)

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        • Thanks Judy. I have been at the point for many years, where I want to do things for the last time. I want these outdoor projects to be able to stand the test of time, face New England’s heat, rain and winter, without my having to constantly fix things.

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  11. Maddie–nice catch on having the human power washing the sweat! I mean, absolutely, right?! And I am so glad you did not mistake that little green pad for a cushion. Hold your ground, girl.

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    • Thanks Gwen. I have to give the door a facelift when this is done. Maddie seems to have noticed that I took 1 1/4″ away from “her deck” – I keep putting that in quotes, as if it’s a thing that has not yet been decided.

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  14. Woohoo!! Maddie’s Deck is almost to the finish line. Great job Dan. I didn’t see an Inspector’s Hat on Maddie, but she certainly takes her job as Inspector seriously!

    Your captions to the photos are hysterical. But seriously Dan, you really need to power wash the sweat off!

    You do realize that come winter you’re going to have to snowblow a path from the house to Maddie’s Deck because that’s where she’s going to take you! Lol.
    🐾Ginger 🐾

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    • Thanks Ginger. I have a lot of work left to do, but I will be working in between the morning sit and the afternoon sit, because that seems to be required.

      I had been thinking that we could store stuff on the deck in the winter. Really, that was a plan. I guess I’ll be keeping that path clear.

      I think she’s going to have to deal with the sweat (more to come, I’m sure) until the new decking is down. That can be power washed.

      This project has gone off the rails in so many ways…sigh.

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  15. I see you’ve been busy, but mission accomplished – the door slides. That’s the part I figure I would mess up were I doing it.

    The photos with the captions below provide a nice narrative flow.

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  16. Dan – if we were having a beer admiring your work, and we would, I would recommend you hurry up and finish the project before you retire. Retire and run out of time to work on things like projects. You would look askance and comment that retirement should provide more time for projects not less. And this would lead to several more beers and deep philosophical discussion. If for no other reason than to distract me from the re-sheathing project for the shed doors here. And a long list of reasons for the delay…

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  18. Hi Dan – I think I just ask your title back at you … what the??? So pleased you have someone intelligent master minding your projects … Maddy knows exactly what’s required! However well done on finishing your door with its sliding track … looks good too – we had bad head … but I’m sure London was worse! In a few months we’ll be ruing the passing of summer! Cheers Hilary

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    • Thanks Hilary. It’s true, in a few months, I’ll be complaining about bundling up to sit with Maddie. She’s going to remind us that she has a winter vest. She loves to sit in the winter.

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  26. Tah-dah! It looks wonderful, Dan. If someone asked me to explain what you did, I’d have to just smile and nod. 🙂 Actually, I was wondering how your project was going, so the post is very timely. Thank you! And a big hug for Maddie.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Jennie. This is one of those projects that takes all day and when it’s done, there’s very little evidence of the work that went into it. The next step (already underway) will be more obvious and, hopefully, easier to understand. Although, never underestimate my ability to over-complicate it.

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      • Why is this so hard? Silly question, I’m sure. You have explained it so many times to your readers. When I add photos from my media library, they’re not small in my blog posts, correct? I just don’t want this to be difficult for you. You do enough wonderful things for your readers.

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    • Thanks Janis. Maddie doesn’t deal well with change. Although this deck was never meant to be a “deck,” she has adopted it as her place and has made it part of her (now) immutable routine.

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  36. Very nice! I know Maddie likes her sits, but it’s nice when projects move forward. I have not even finished my back hallway… A project that I began in… 2014? You know what needs to be done? That last coat of paint. Can you imagine? You won’t see me showing people how spectacularly well I have procrastinated. I question whether my paint has globbed up.
    Anyway, I love your door — you must be so proud, and Maddie relieved :)

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks. I can beat your paintcrastination. We have a spot on our wall where we tested a paint color. It’s been so long ago that 1) the paint globbed 2) the store went out of business 3) the manufacturer changed all their color names.

      The sliding door on the workshop needs to get new trim and new shingles, and then it will be ready for a Thursday Doors feature spot. I made the door almost 20 years ago and it has a very nice history.

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