2025 And 2026

Been a while since I wrote one of these. Not sure why. Could be that I haven't tackled any big, noteworthy projects lately. Could be that I don't get on social media much anymore so I'm not taking as many pics of the work I do. Could be that I do all this rehab stuff 'cause I just like doin' it, and publicizing it isn't usually something that even occurs to me to do. 

But, sometimes it's good to remind myself that I got some work done in the past year, even if none of it felt like a "big" deal. Truth is, every step in the right direction is a big deal because it gets me that much closer to the goal. 

​I started 2025, once it was warm enough to comfortably work outside, by digging a bunch of holes all over the yard.

I had found a piece of old glass while picking up dog poop, and while finding glass in the yard isn't real uncommon, I decided to make a concerted effort to see if I could find any glass that was reasonably interesting. 

Spoiler alert, I did. 

I wound up finding several medicine bottles, dishware, knobs, spark plugs, and more than 1 piece of what I'm pretty sure was a bicycle or motorcycle. 

When I'd made a big enough mess that I decided to call it quits, I shifted my attention to the basement windows I'd started the previous year. In 2024 I rebuilt 3 limestone basement window openings and built news jambs and sashes, but they needed storm windows to keep the rain out. And, they needed new brick mould, which I also built. Somehow, I got all 3 windows finished up in 2025.   

In between some of the window efforts I got a little repointing done.

One of the larger projects was rebuilding another section of parapet, which is always a bit of an adventure. I'd rebuilt 2 sections of the 3-sided bay in previous years; in 2025 I rebuilt the section closest to the porch.

Everything above the windows was SUPER saggy and crumbly when I bought the place 5 years ago. Now, it's pretty rewarding to look up at the parapet and see straight lines and some of the original detail that had been covered up by sloppy, ineffective repair jobs done forever ago. And, because they were fully rebuilt down to the windows -- not just repointed -- I know they'll be plenty solid for a long, long time. 

When the parapet was done I moved the scaffold to the other side of the porch and rebuilt a chimney. Like the parapet, the chimneys (there are 3) are all in rough shape and require full rebuilds. I had to tear out more brick than I wanted to, but I think the new chimney is a whole lot better than the previously rebuilt version. And, because I was able to sneak a stainless steel liner into it, technically, I can safely make a (small) fire in the fireplace. 

​This was what I tore out:

And this is the rebuilt version:

Like the parapets, reusing the existing brick is challenging and time consuming. The pics don't show it, but just for the record, I try to use the shittier bricks in spots most people won't ever see. So...the pics from the roof, you're seeing to worst couple of sides.

The last little project I 95% snuck in before it got too cold to work outside was upgrading the original porch door opening. Somebody covered it with plywood and stuck a chintzy little window in there, and it looked terrible. I don't have any plans to make the doorway functional, but I wanted it to at least look like a door.

Fortunately, the original jamb was still there so I didn't have to build any of it, although I did have to build a transom sash. I have no idea what the original door would have looked like -- the front door is original but mostly glass and I doubt the porch door would have been the same, and the back and basement doors are replacements -- so I copied the dimensions of the only original interior door left in the house. Minus about a coat and a half of paint, she's done.

In retrospect, maybe I got more done in 2025 than I thought or remembered. 

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And now it's 2026. What am I gonna do this year? Excellent question.

I would really, really like to rebuild the parapet between the new chimney and where I left off with the last parapet rebuild, but that's like 20 linear feet, maybe more, and 4 different wall sections. For 1 guy, knowing I'll have to rebuild about the top 3 ft of all of it, that'll take some time. And, I have to get more scaffold; I need some skinny stuff to get the section just south of the porch. 

I would really, really like to replace the garage roof, and maybe even go in the garage for the first time. That's right, I've been here since 2020 and I am yet to open the garage door, let alone step foot in the thing. But it needs a new roof, fascia, soffit, gutters, pretty much everything. Maybe even new roof joists. It's not a huge job, but tearing off the existing roof won't be fun. 

I would really, really like to finish the porch. This would include another coat of paint (with dif colors, so prob 2 coats), getting the ceiling light fixture installed, and making the space under the porch a little friendlier. 

And, I would really, really like to demo the deck. It's a total piece of shit. The stairs are rotten and legit dangerous, it looks hideous, and there are a lot of tangential jobs -- repointing stone and brick, replacing doors, etc. -- that require the deck to be gone to tackle. I'd have to build a little temp thing, just to get from the back door down to the yard so the dogs can go in and out, but otherwise, a new deck would be a project for another year.

And then there's the front of the house. It's always on my to-do list, but I never quite seem to get to it. If I could sneak in some repointing, even if it's just the limestone, that would be a huge accomplishment. 

The other thing I want to do more of, which isn't really house related other than it cuts into the time I have to work on the house on weekends, is take the dogs out on hikes. We didn't get out as much as we should have in 2025...but we still got out, and the dogs got to do plenty of swimmin' and explorin'. 

So that's 2025 and plans for 2026. Time to get to work.