Fixing a problem

THE PROBLEM: Most people probably would not have noticed that the porch of this house had, over the years, sagged and pulled away from the house. Previous owners had simply filled the gap with aluminum flashing, boards, and incredibly wide snakes of caulk! After all of the work and expense of re-finishing the rails and floor as well as the tedious work of putting new siding in the little triangular spaces of clapboard, Russ was not willing to let the porch just continue to sag. This photo is an attempt to show the gap. Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking the picture until Russ had already brought it in fairly close to the house- especially close compared to what it had been! THE SOLUTION: Russ gained access to the inside of the porch roof so he could get to the rafters and the front of the house. He carefully cut a hole into the ceiling of the porch roof.
He cut several pieces of angle iron and drilled holes in them. Then, using expansion bolts, he attached the rafters to the bricks on the front of the house and slowly turned the nuts on the bolts until the roof was again touching the front of the house. I'm pleased with how well the flash worked on the picture below because it is really dark up in that space! People have said that "Russ can do anything". It's nearly true. He can figure out how to do just about anything given enough time and, occasionally, some encouragement when he suffers serious doubts or gets impatient that things take too long or his first solution doesn't work. Good job, Russ!