Not so level-headed

Been celebrating my 50th birthday over the last couple of weeks -- I call it Betseyfest -- so I haven't been as diligent about projects.

My brother and sister visited prior to my birthday. Part of their gift was to help me with one little project -- installing new closet doors.

Sliding doors, from Lowe's, check.

Tools, check.

Level framed opening? Not so check.

My brother was determined to make it work. So out came the shims. A few (six, seven, who's counting?) shims later, we leveled the top frame. He fudged the bottom by cutting it at a small angle, and I provided the know-how to plug the bottom of the hollow doors (thank you, DIY Network!).

I just need to put a piece of wood to cover the framing, but it looks pretty good.

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.

Carpenter bees!

Spring is in full force here. Azaleas blooming, hosta shoots peeking, and bees buzzing. Unfortunately, the bees are of the carpenter kind.

I learned this after two random observations: a bee staying put near my hydrangeas, even though they weren't blooming yet. And little piles of sawdust under my railing.

I was enchanted by watching the bee just hover near the bush, but then I began to suspect it was protecting something -- especially when other bees would come near. It's a hive, I thought, built under the siding that's curled away from the building, damaged from all the Southern sun.

A consultation later at work, followed by some Internet research, revealed the world of carpenter bees. They burrow into exposed wood, use the sawdust for nests, and thrive inside a round hole that they create.

I found a perfectly round hole, but I also suspect they just had an open door -- or siding -- policy. I'm sanding and prepping the siding, exposing patches of bare wood. And the railings? I don't know how they did it, but they're hollowing out the bottom of the rails.

I reluctantly bought some insecticide (I believe we use way too many toxic chemicals in this world) and shot it through any opening I can find. The bees should be gone in two days. Or onto another part of my house.

To prevent them, I'll have to paint and caulk and replace some of the siding boards. They don't like painted wood. I'm on that, as soon at the pine pollen stops dusting everything in sight.

Operation siding

Success. Figured out how saw works, cut, pulled and extracted seven boards. All while wearing my pajamas.

Now I can come back and add insulation and look for some wallboard so I can hang organizers.

Siding transplant

The exterior painting job is moving along -- as long as my latest scheme will work.

I am transplanting siding.

The south side of the house has some really warped boards -- split and pulling away from the frame.

This is a 1939 house with its original siding, so I can't get any boards with that profile without paying for custom work. That's when I realized I might have some pristine siding tucked away somewhere else.

My enclosed back porch has the "donor" siding.

I pulled off some crappy paneling off one wall the other evening and found it in excellent condition. Now I have to figure out how to extract it.

It's old, dry and nailed firmly into the wall. I started to tug at it, and some of the wood split.

Here's my plan: With a skinny and flexible saw, I'll get under the reveal, cut the nails, then use either a reciprocating saw (something I've never used before) or a hand saw to cut away swaths of siding. I need to have long enough planks to replace about four or five areas on the south side and more on the equally weather-worn west side.

But this opens another DIY can of worms. I'll be pulling apart the back porch walls. I can use this opportunity to install insulation (glory be!) and put up proper drywall. That also means moving the laundry unit, displacing my tool storage and potentially finding more problems in those old walls.

Any advice on siding transplants?

The DIY Winter Olympics schedule

Today

Preliminaries in exterior painting (taped delay due to inclement weather)

Live streaming: Lowe's slalom (clearance bins obstacle course)

Nordic snowblowing large hill event (15km)

Pairs raking (long program)

Halfpipe plumbing

Roof jumping

Winter view

I grew up in Chicago, and experienced many a big snowfall. But, in the South, a storm yielding 8 inches is akin to a blizzard. And it made everyone about 15 percent more happy. Our newspaper Web site got more than 400 photos from readers -- all frolicking in the snow -- and it was delightful. Pardon me if I sigh a bit over our winter, which lasted all of 36 hours.

Here's my contribution: