As mentioned in the last blog post, we have moved our attention to the back porch.  Our new (old) house, aka the "project", is now about two-thirds of the way done.  While it was our intention to rehab the inside of the house before turning to the  back porch, we have shifted our focus because of the removal of a window and the expansion of that hole into the shape of a door. In other words, we are putting in a door that will lead directly from our bedroom to the porch.  Because we have this hole, we have to get the porch done sooner than expected.

As of today, all of the new siding has been put up on the walls, both inside and out.  From there, the new (exterior) siding was painted.  We chose northern view, a gray, to match the vinyl siding of the house.  The interior siding will be stained with a semi-transparent cedar stain, too.

We then focused on the "windows" of the back porch.  Two of the "windows" were actually doors, but Rob took them out. He then built new walls on the lower section, sided them, and then re-built the frames for the screened "windows".* 

The rest of the screened "windows" frames were removed.  From there, we ripped out all the old screens.  To say the least, they were rotten. Once the screens were removed from the frames, they were sanded smooth with a belt sander. I have to admit that I have never used any power tools before, and this was my first experience doing so. Once they were sanded, the windows were primed by Rob in anticipation of painting them white and re-screening them in the near future.   

With the re-screening of the window frames, there will be miters to cut, and then the window frames will be replaced in the porch.  We have also purchased a new door for the porch.  We have upgraded to a storm door; formerly, the door was just a pine screen door. By choosing a storm door, we will be able to use the porch for, hopefully, three seasons. That, too, will be installed in the near future (probably tomorrow).   For me, replacing the screens and cutting the miters for the frames will be new experiences, too.  A real test!

* these windows were all different sizes and handmade by the previous owner; while they appear to have not been repaired since they were first built approximately forty years ago, they are in, surprisingly, good shape and need some TLC to bring them back