the U G L I E S T thing i have done to the manor yet!!!

jambaloney here!

yes i have a surprise for you all!!

 but first i take you allll the way back to december 09 and the winter prep post when i took the fornt porch off and made some barriers with windows...

 i added cloches of water in garbage bags....

here they are all sealed, with cloches and snowed in!!!

they did a great job of keeping kitchen floor warm.... i wanted to do the other half of the front, but it got cold and snowed and snowed and snowed.........

so any such nonsense stopped!!! HOWEVER  - there is a big difference when you get a week above zero and rain!!!!

a couple of days into warmer weather - you can see the melt  (and kymber getting ready to go to fourchu ;-)

and today!!!

yep almost alllllll....

gone!!!!

so back to work... a month ago i prepped for this by filling in the trench 2 feet out from the house - i wanted to use rocks so i had to make a barrier..

here is a better view...

it is made up of these - discarded lobster trap sections that i got outta, you guessed it, someone else's garbage!

here is the filled in stuff - the dirt covers the part under the overhang, the upper part of the house protrudes over the foundation by about 1 1/2 feet... and about f feet above the basement wall - lots of air get in this overhang -  pretty ugly eh... oh no, wait, there is more..

you all know i have tons of old windows - i wanted to build a window "wall" to capture heat and provide an additional wind barrier against the worst and coldest wind which is at the front of the house - yesterday was awesome so i did and MAN is it hideous!!!!

here it is in all it's glory, next to the barrier at the lower front of the house!!!

side view after plastic was added to fill the gap - this is temporary so i didn't even cut the last stud!!! it isn't ever straight, but you can see the condensation on the inside already!!

in case you missed it..... ;-)) !!!!

special added bonus - atv went to our neighbor's garage today for dry storage. it is an awesome feeling to have neighbours who are always willing to help out - thanks so much E & D!!! i have a new carb and oil filter and spark plug - i will fix it up over the next month and have it running tip-top!!

sorry i didn't answer comments on my last post - i will this post and visit your blogs!!

cheers all!

(kymber adds: IT is ugly! but there isn't much at the Manor that isn't ugly....except for my jambaloney! after he added the windows at the lower level of the house, we noticed a remarkable improvement in heat retention in the kitchen floor and we were able to keep the thermostat at a lower temperature!!! THAT is always good news! and with the new window overhang covering up the basement, the basement will also retain more heat and that, kids, is a definite score! that man is brilliant! his designs are sometimes not the prettiest - but they work! i am very proud!)