Fix-It Frank

It's been months since I posted anything. Not that I couldn't have. There's been plenty of work to keep me busy. But this past week was especially notable because I had to fix a floor in an enclosed sun room porch. It took three days.

Admittedly, the floor was pretty bouncy. Not like one of those inflatable castles, but 'tis enough, t'will serve. The inspector who cited it was going to write it up as an emergency. Some fast talking and a bit of misdirection got us out of that bind.

So, anyway, in the last week of April I sucked it up and got to work. First task was to take up the tongue & groove floorboards. Take them up, without demolishing them. That was kind of slow going, because they were nailed in place. Four or five in it became obvious why the floor was so bouncy. Whoever built it used 2 x 6s. Twelve feet long, with no cross bracing or other support.

Ten floorboards in, it became clear the builders had thrown all the debris from the old porch underneath. It was a mess. My plan was to brace up the floor with a support beam, but there was no chance of that without getting some of the debris out.

Somehow I got down to the ground. There was one small benefit to having that that junk under the floor: some of the material was still usable. Some leftover 2 x 6 short ends became a support beam, and two 6x6 posts became support pillars. The floor is good and firm now. Half of it anyway. If someone else wants to tackle other half they're welcome to it.

Handyman tip: you can turn a corded circular saw into a cordless saw simply by letting the cord stray into the path of a moving blade. All it takes is a moment of careless inattention and the saw will do the rest.

So, back in June I had a small emergency: fixing a damaged exterior basement door.