No Entry

Our housemate John had created this sign to keep people off of our rickety front stairs:

Its new location, however, makes it somewhat more humorous:

Our new contractors started yesterday. They have already removed most of the front stairs (watch it on Porch Cam!). Most of the wood has been neatly stacked in the front yard:

So here's what remains, looking from the side. You can see that the old work (the porch roof) has been supported temporarily by two-by-fours:

As you can see, it's pretty amazing that the porch roof stayed up as long as it did, as it was supported only by a single two-by-six on each side! The one closest in the photograph shows signs of extreme rot.

Stairs sit on stringers. The stringers themselves need to be supported by something. While our foundation contractors poured foundations for the sides of the steps, they didn't pour anything behind the front steps for the stringers to sit upon. The current contractors have dug a big hole behind the front stair, preparing to fill it with concrete so they can extend the foundations:

Many of the new materials have already been delivered to the site. These will form the structure on which the stairs and porch will sit:

We're extremely excited about the prospect of entering our house by way of the front door in the upcoming weeks. More tomorrow.

posted by noel on 05/02/06