TA-DA! Three sides re-painted.

The next side of the house is (technically) finished. Just some touch-ups and such.

The siding transplant was a success -- in that I didn't screw much up. Now, a break for a long hot summer. Might start repairing the gaping holes I made in interior walls in the laundry room.

Operation Siding Transplant: Update

I began Operation Siding Transplant last week. So far, so good. So good, that in fact, I decided to add Operation Insulation, MacGyver style.

A couple of nights ago, I started peeling away some damaged siding, and I dutifully began fitting the donor siding in the empty space. Thankfully, they fit, but I didn't nail them in just yet.

I was thinking, Hey, while I've got the outside cavity open, why don't I look at the options of adding insulation? A couple of minutes on the Internets, and I had a plan.

The next morning I called the insulation company I used to blanket my attic. The salesman said they didn't do retrofit work, but explained how to get it done.

First, I peeled away a few more boards of siding to reveal some of the framing toward the top and the bottom.

Next, I unfurled the insulation (kraft paper backed, 23 inches wide, and 3 1/2 in depth) and began cutting to size. I got the right size by fishing my measuring tape into the cavity. After cutting the insulation to match the cavity, I slowly stuffed it in. On the full lengths, I stuffed them in increments, so I didn't have too long of a piece to navigate through the hole.

I'm about finished -- still have to stuff the space above the windows and figure out how to get into spaces that now are obstructed by pipes (such as a kitchen vent), but I'm pretty confident I can finish this up, button up the holes with the donor siding, then prime and paint. And voila, I will have three sides of my house painted.

Some tips:

-- I'm in the South, but the insulation folks recommended that I buy insulation with a vapor barrier, and face that toward the interior walls.

-- I hope the wood studs don't sweat and cause condensation within the cavity.

-- Don't work on insulation when it's 90 degrees out. Oy.

-- Take a break, so you don't make mistakes out of sheer exhaustion.

And the color is (drum roll...)

...Indigo Batik from Sherwin-Williams.

It makes me swoon.

A friend agrees, saying it's a good color for a South Carolina home. And, "it's got enough juju to scare away the haints."

Fine by me.

And, drum roll.... This is part of the north side of my house. Shot during the Southern Great Storm of 2010, which blew 8 inches through South Carolina in one day. (And melted in 36 hours). I peeked inside a wall inside my laundry room, which has the original siding in older colors, and found that this dark blue might have been the original color of the house. Good color karma.

i likee.

From fixer upper to historic

When does an old home transition from vintage to historic?

I pondered that as I learned the neighborhood association is chronicling a history of the older homes, and mine is among them.

My house was built in 1939. It sat in the middle of bunch of farmland owned by the same family that built my house. My neighbor, who is 95 years old, is the original owner of the house. I learned my house had a tin roof.

So, for the first time, I told someone I lived in an historic home. And I closely examined whether I was restoring it or rehabbing it. I'm not tearing down any walls, nor messing with the floors or the layout. I added a railing on the front porch, which takes a bit away from its Lowcountry charm. But the roof lines are more cottage/arts and crafts anyway.

I live in an historic home. How about that?