Minor works (for some)

The thing about shacks is that there is always something to be done. Always the grass to be cut, but also those small maintenance jobs that are a breeze for some people (a pleasure, even), but that for me are a challenge.

The new deck goes over the downstairs door, and we needed to have some shelter there to make a dry doorstep and to keep the ready-use wood supply dry. The old deck had a sheet of cement board and so it seemed sensible to replace it. After some measuring and drawing we went into Stubbs Hardware in Wynyard and tried to convey to the man there what we were planning. That was surprisingly difficult until we produced a sketch, then he sold us two sheets of cement sheet, the necessary fixers and the strip to join them together. The first thing I discovered was that cement sheet is very heavy, and the second was that my measurements of the inside of the car were only just right. But with help from the shop man and with the driver's seat well forward, we got them home.

Threatening cement sheet, waiting to be fixed up

I had a restless night wondering how we were going to manage to hold those sheets up and fix them in place, but somewhere in the small hours I decided that the easiest thing would be to cut them in half. When we looked at the area again we decided that we didn't really need to protect quite so much, so one sheet was duly sawn in half, giving two pieces that we could just about manage. We also thought it important to have some slope on the sheet so that rainwater would drain away from the house and not soak into the deck joists. I was going to use stacks of washers between the sheet and the joists to achieve this (are you paying attention?), but how to get them in place, especially in the middle of the sheet? Jeannie had a brainwave: stick them together and them stick them to the sheet, over pre-drilled holes!

Jeannie's invention

Halfway there. It's hard, working above your head

And, mirabile dictu, it all worked! Another wrinkle was the outside light, which Craig the builder had moved from its old position, but it was quite easy to cut a hole for it in the sheet with the jigsaw. We still have a spare sheet which we can use to extend the protected area if we want.

Finished job

The hole for the light.

So professional.

And finally, a couple of shots of the old wood cutter and a critter from the woodpile. The four skinks that came out of another log had already made their escape.

The axeman of Morton Street

Slightly stunned log froggie

Beautiful evening too.