{Our Home on March 24 of 2013}

It is about time to show you the before and after of our home. First today the 'before' pictures of how our home looked on March 24, and even a little longer than that, till early May. But with our vacation on the island of Curaçao from April 19 (when we flew to Miami) till April 30, we had lots of things to do. Also because of the fact that the trees were not yet loaded with lush leaves was another reason for this date. At the moment it is so green and so lush from the daily tropical thunderstorms. It feels like we're back in the wet monsoon of Indonesia...

You can see that the house needed to be pressure washed as it had mildew all over...

The roof looked really ugly and we decided to replace it with a 'GREEN' roof. NO, not green in color but meaning Eco Friendly! And saving us money on our monthly utility bill.

The shape of our home is like a T, with the bottom of its T ending at the driveway...

In November this home will be 23 years old...

This March 24-view even looks strange to me now, compared to the lush green view of today!

Our winter went away rather late this year. Not that it was bad but late frost did kill our Japanese magnolia blossoms and lots more that got browned.

Here you also can see the little roof area above the bay window in our kitchen.

Now walking towards the driveway where you also can see the balcony with its wooden balusters.

Two of our once 3 Italian cypress... We lost one to the heat and drought of last years.

Now we almost drown!

The balcony on the corner above that vine rack (the huge clematis also succumbed to the drought...) was literally rotting away. So much maintenance and husband Pieter did patch it up many times with the Wood Epox from Abatron. We no longer wanted to support that company...

Now we've come full circle.

It was a major decision for:

•  Adding a new roof
• Taking down the rails and balusters
• Pressure washing the entire house
• Having the entire exterior repainted
• Taking off the loose tiles on the balcony and putting new ones
• Replacing the balcony's rails and balusters with polyurethane ones that never will rot again!

Quite a task did lie ahead of us... mainly for husband Pieter.

All the window boxes had to come off for thorough cleaning with pressure wash behind them.

Gutters needed to be updated... Because of the aging shingles on the roof, the sand that washed down did clog up our gutters when we had heavy rains. Roof water just spilling over, did cause some flooding in our basement area. Shingles are made of fiberglass-based asphalt and there are some sand-sized minerals in it. Over the years this wears off.

But after all has been done, it will look nice again!

The gazebo looked even worse... the roof almost black!

Ugly...

So we did take out lots of our saving money. Interest is not high nowadays; less than 1% so we guessed by going GREEN, we would have more return on investment by lowering our monthly utility bill for the rest of our life...

What do you think?

Related link:

{Our Home of almost 20 years} | previous post by me showing our home in 1994 still beautiful

{237th Independence Day for the United States of America - GOD BLESS AMERICA}

Wishing all readers in the United States of America a very happy 4th of July as we celebrate our nation's 237th Independence Day! Sharing some photos with you, taken on the 4th of July of 2012. Our home looks different this year but you will get to see that later. Don't forget to watch the 1940 video below with Kate Smith singing: GOD BLESS AMERICA

Flying the Georgia State flag and the United States flag in front of our home.

Happy 4th of July!

The link below will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of 'GOD BLESS AMERICA'. But before you watch, you should also know the story of the song.

The song was originally written by Irving Berlin in 1918 while he served in the U.S. Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York. It was later rewritten in 1938 as a peace song with 'some alterations to reflect the different state of the world' during a time when Nazi Germany was threatening war with Europe.

'God Bless America' was originally introduced and performed live on Armistice Day, November 11, 1938 by Kate Smith on her radio program. It became an immediate hit resulting in popular demand for the sheet music. Afterwards, Berlin established the God Bless America Fund where proceeds from royalties were donated to the Boy and Girl Scouts of America. Read more about it: Kate Smith and her God Bless America, Land That I Love and also about her Awards received as she was honored by every President. Read more here: Kate Smith, just scroll down...

NOW HERE IS HOW 'GOD BLESS AMERICA' SHOULD BE SUNG!

Related links:

{4th of July Speech given by my husband Pieter} | previous post by me
{Happy 236th Birthday USA!} | previous post by me
{The Dutch 1st to Salute to the Flag of The United States in 1776} | previous post by me
{Dutch - American Heritage Day: November 16 since 1991} | previous post by me about official Proclamation by President George Bush

{Saving Energy and Our Attic}

With our low economy, we have to look UP for saving some money! Better insulating our attic as best as we can. That's exactly what we did; investing in the attic, in order to create a more energy efficient home and lowering our Carbon Footprint!

 On Monday, March 18, husband Pieter started with building a floor in our attic. That served two purposes: making it possible to walk on; without falling through the ceilings and also making it more energy efficient. We already did have Eco friendly white cellulose on our attic as an insulation.

Remember that in my post about {Our Hallway} I left the following note under the last photo: Looking up to the ceiling where a foldout staircase leads to the attic.

THAT will be another project...

Okay, here you will see what this was all about.

Behind the light you see the cord for pulling out the fold down staircase that leads up to the attic.

In the hallway you see two sheathing boards, that Pieter had cut in half at Home Depot in order to fit them through the opening, up to the attic.

Two by two, brought in through the front door; the shortest distance from the little trailer, behind our Toyota RAV4.

Wearing gloves, I did hand them up to Pieter, who grabbed them from the attic, reaching down.

Many Sheathing plates we handled...

Lots of dust we 'ate' for weeks!

For those of you, not familiar with the construction way in Georgia, USA as well as in many other states, this is under the roof. A very sturdy construction of solid red cedar beams. 

Pieter designed our home and he instructed the contractor to use more beams than usual, to protect the roof against tornados and hurricanes.

 

They just nailed plaster boards onto these red cedar wood beams and you could not WALK on them; only on the sections where the cedar wood beam is underneath!

So husband Pieter worked for weeks in order to hand cut those sheathing boards. 

Using no nails but screws as to not damage the ceilings and creating lots of dust downstairs...

Many trips up and down the foldout staircase!

Here you also see the outlet and switch that Pieter first installed in order to have working light up there!

Pieter also installed a railing on the pull out staircase!

Pieter did compact and egalize the Eco friendly white cellulose to work it neatly under those sheathing boards.

Literally 'cutting corners'; many corners that is! Using a mask for the bulk of the dust but no matter how, you still 'eat lots of dust'...

Pieter did tighten up all those red cedar beams, many of which were rather loose.

He used screws for doing so.

Heavy duty time for his equipment...

He also had to crawl underneath those air-conditioning ducts... 

Pieter did not go all the way under the shallow part of the roof but he did place an upright plank to keep the insulation material neatly behind.

All the above photos I've taken on March 29, and this one is taken on April 9, when he was about done with this mega job. It took longer than estimated due to so many different corners to be cut out.

This is the short end of the 'T' section, looking towards our front porch.

That pipe is from the ventilation hood above my cooktop in the kitchen...

Now looking the other way of the short end of the 'T' towards our gazebo.

On the sides under the shallow parts of the roof there are the open cellulose insulation material 'beds' with only a plank in front to keep the material from spilling over.

Now we are under the long side of the 'T' section (shape of our home), facing the driveway.

This attic fan, Pieter installed already two years ago in 2011. You can read my previous post below: {Going GREEN with Attic Fan}

Stepping back for a better over view.

Now the attic looks neat and ready even for storage if necessary!

Turning around towards the bay window area (in the back).

It was quite a job to manage working around all those wires that are all over the attic like spaghetti...

Stepping back towards the driveway side and you can see again the opening down with the foldout staircase.

Quite a difference or not?

You see the tile floor in our hallway  down the staircase opening...

There is also a light switch next to the staircase (r) and it is a hotel switch so it turns off automatically.

View from the other side towards the foldout staircase.

Pieter has changed the outlet and switch and installed better permanent light in all areas.

We were so glad to get rid of all the saw dust and I just managed to do a thorough cleaning down stairs, right before we left for our vacation in Curaçao! 

That was mission accomplished; quite a nasty job!

For sure such a floor makes a difference in insulation as well and it certainly will pay off.

Quite an accomplishment for my Pieter, right before his 84th Birthday...

Related link:

{Going GREEN with Attic Fan} | previous post by me