Low Rent Renaissance

Friday I replaced another window in our vintage mobile home, then replaced a headlight in our '98 New Beetle. Both were merciless chores that ate the day away. It's no wonder they charge so much to replace a headlight at the dealership. I worked the weekend, then on Monday finally had an opportunity to put some time on the gazebo. It was 60 beautiful degrees out there. I mixed two batches of papercrete using the tow mixer, making a tiny dent in the mountain of trash paper I've collected lately, and added layers to the inside and outside of this first section of the gazebo. I wanted to work one section as opposed to giving the entire structure a coat to be sure the fence, chicken wire, and hardware cloth armature is sturdy enough to support the papercrete. This fence wire--a generous gift from a neighbor--is incredibly flimsy, and even with a couple layers of it the armature was somewhat flexible. I sturdied the bottom wall using pvc pipe for studs (no rebar handy) but, desp

As stated in my last post, I had issues with the section of latex-cement skirting I'd done along the front walk. Unlike the first section I'd completed, it was simply uneven and otherwise flawed and unattractive. Just not a good job. The first step toward repairing it was to replace the papercrete vents with "cleaner" looking vents cut from plywood. The second was to mix a thicker than usual batch of latex-cement and use it like stucco, spreading it to create a rough, random facade over the previously smooth finish. It camouflaged the obvious flaws, and I love the new finish so much I plan to go over all the skirting with latex-cement "stucco." I was going to use a wallpaper smoother as a trowel, but wound up using discarded cds. I went through four of them on this 25 foot section, but they worked really well, and at least I got additional use out of them before they made it to the landfill.