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After the home inspection, we got good news and bad news. Frankly, I was stunned there was any good news. The “bones” were in great shape. The rest of the body parts left a lot to be desired, but at least we had good bones.
But there were two hazards that needed immediate attention. A badly built, fifty-year-old carport was leaning into my neighbor's back yard. It was only a matter of time before it would crash into her flower bed.
On the other side of the house, the masonry chimney (which was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake) was in danger of coming down onto the neighboring driveway. The six feet of chimney above the roofline was most hazardous.
So Phase One (of about 300) of demolition began. I'm a big believer in recycling, and I love the challenge of turning trash into treasure. There are many projects one can do with a pile of bricks or a stack of boards. But this property is not large, so I want to transform recycled materials into functional works of art.
The carport boards became a nine-foot-tall gate that straddles the driveway. It's a very large gate, so I built it to look like two doors.
The door handles are a table leg cut in two, with dowels and a little spray paint. Because it's purely decorative, there's no need to waste money on the real thing.
The bricks from the damaged chimney became a banco (built-in seating) in the back yard.
I covered the banco with stucco and paint, but left a couple of chimney bricks exposed. They gave the bench an Old World look, and reminded me of the origin of the banco. But they are also a visual distraction, so I'll probably stucco over them in the end.
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