My Hubby the Handyman

We are constantly renovating our house and at the moment we are getting the fascias painted and the gutters replaced. One of the fascias was in really bad condition. Pitty I didn't take a before photo. The corner was badly weathered, split and permanently bowed. The corner was mismatched and in a real shambles.

The painter could not repair it, so it was up to the Campbell DIY team to sort it out. Blair, forever the optimist, was sure we could not do it and if we did it would be a complete stuff up. However I am up for a challenge so that means he has to be too. So yesterday, Saturday, we went up to Bunnings with all the children in 35 degree heat just to spice things up a bit. Thank goodness it is the christmas season so Bunnings had a facepainting workshop to help keep the kids amused.

We found fascia fitting and a huge piece of wood (3.6m long) to do the job. We tied the plank to the roof racks, which is the first time we have ever used them since buying the car a few years ago, and managed to get home without any major disasters. After being home for a few hours and recovering from the heat I thought it was about time to tackle the fascia by pulling it down. Blair looked rather comfy on the couch with the newspaper so I went to do the job myself.

After a few blows with the hammer I realised that being a woman can be so frustrating sometimes. The thing was not budging. Blair came out after all the noise I was making and mumbling under his breath he had a go. After getting a crow bar and large screw driver we started to see some progress and finally that thing came off. Then we discovered it had a long groove in it where the eve fits in. Crap, we are going to need a plunge router. I have never used one but I was determined for Blair to learn how. I did a ring around of all my handy friends and found one. Yay! That was the easy part, now I just have to convince Blair he can do it!

We had a quick lesson on 'you-tube' to give us the low down and we were away. Just a little measure here and secure a guide there, presto we are ready to go. It was slow and very noisey. The router bit fell out at one stage and we thought we had broken the thing. Crap! I wanted to just hammer the bit back in but Blair was all carefull and stuff. Back to 'You-tube' again on 'How to change a router bit", and we were off again. It seemed to make a lot more smoke this time. I was worried it was going to catch fire but there were only a few scorch marks. Blair cut the ends on a 45degree angle with our circular saw with ease and now it was time to put it up. I pre sunk the nails so not as much hammering was need while trying to hold a huge plank in place. That was my weak contribution.

It was not perfect but it was not bad. All in all a good days work. It cost us $20 for the wood and that is a bargain. Now what else can I get Blair to do? Hmmmmm :)