The Wall

When we moved across province a few years ago we wanted to downsize from our house, but weren't quite ready for an apartment so a townhouse seemed to be the perfect answer for us. We wanted one small enough to be easy to take care of but large enough to give us breathing space and a bit of a garden. We found the perfect one for us, but it had one major drawback. One wall of our glassed in porch was open to the neighbour's porch! Seeing as we live so close together in a townhouse, I didn't like that at all. I wanted to be able to go out there in my housecoat in the early mornings or in my jammies in the evenings and have some privacy. So last year we decided to close in the wall between the two porches.

There was already a nice white railing between the two porches so we thought we could nail up some paneling, put in some insulation for soundproofing and voila - the job was done. Well, it was fine last year, but one day this spring I looked out the kitchen window and wondered why the bamboo curtains I had hanging out there were crooked. I took a closer look and discovered that the paneling behind the curtain was all warped and was coming down. Groan. Who knew that you had to give paneling room to expand and shrink on the wall. Because the porch isn't heated the temperature changes over the winter caused the paneling to expand and buckle, and the whole wall came down. Sigh.

I wasnt' about to do without my wall though, so I asked a kind neighbour if he would help us repair the mess. He kindly agreed and last week the work began. First of all the old paneling had to come down and more support beams put up.
Then the old paneling had to be cut an inch sorter than the wall so it could shrink and expand without buckling. Instead of using quarter round along the floor, we used a baseboard high enough to hide the one inch gap between it and the floor.
New insulation was stuffed in the wall for soundproofing and the paneling was nailed back up.
It was a bit warped, but extra nails and a piece of wainscoting helped to flatten it out nicely and secure it firmly to the studs. Al seems pleased with the progress anyway.
Al had all the right tools to make the job easier, and that helped quite a lot. We have an old fashioned hammer, but this one on a compressor shot the nails in silently and with ease. Amazing!
Ahh, the wall is done and the workmen look happy don't they? Good job guys!
My cozy and private summer room is all ready and waiting for me now. Yahoo!
Thanks for all the hard work guys. I love it!