With a Little Help from My Friends. (Or a Lot.)

Growing up, I never really learned a lot of manly basics. Sure, I know how to tie on a fishing lure, and I can handle most basic plumbing with my eyes closed. But my family was never really big on working on cars, building stuff, etc. That education never really stops, living in Wading River. This weekend, I needed to take care of the front stoop, which the butthead contractor never finished before walking off the job.

First we had to demolish the old front stoop. Craig came over and brought all his tools, and I chipped all the old brick off the old stoop while Craig worked on prepping the sill under the front door. There was a lot of termite damage, so we had to cut out sections and nail up new boards and a ledger board so we had something to nail the new front deck to.

Craig and I got a bunch of stuff from Thurber Lumber and built out the stoop portion, using 2x6s and Trex decking. Unfortunately, we couldn't place the columns we wanted to put in because we needed someone to put in the aluminum flashing under the roof (the part the contractor DID build). There's also some electric work that needs to be done first. But we did get the stoop done.

Then there's the stairs leading up to the stoop. Danny came over on Sunday and we sunk two concrete pillars for the stairs to rest on. They were tough because we had to dig 2' deep pits, set tubes into them for the concrete, and make sure the tops of the tubes lined up with where the stairs are. Everything had to be perfectly level, so we measured everything out and had levels on top of everything. At some point, I need to dig two more pits and put two more concrete pillars in for the other two stair stringers.

The point is that I don't have the first idea about what to do. No idea how to get started, and I have no idea about the tricks of the trade. Thankfully, I have friends who are generous with their time and can help me get out of jams like this.

So thanks to Craig and Dan for sharing their time and their expertise this weekend.