First Came The Flood
This is how Clamshell Cottage looked before our adventure began.
I loved my shabby cottage, but in the harsh coastal conditions, the old wood siding was becoming a challenge to maintain. We'd always planned on replacing it, but like everything else, sometimes you need a kick in the pants to get started.
Our project started with 'the great flood of 2015'.
Last October, South Carolina had a historic flooding event. The center of the state up through Columbia, the capitol, was hit hard with roads washed away and some flood waters up to the eaves it a lot of houses. The local weatherman said it was like someone took a fire hose and shot it up through the center of the state. We actually fared much better here at Clamshell Cottage on the coast south of Charleston.
You wouldn't think so by looking at the photos below, but we only had a few inches of water come in.
Unfortunately, a neighboring lagoon that was infested with duck weed overflowed and it all ended up in our yard, before it migrated into our lagoon.
We were out of town when that happened so our wonderful friends came to our rescue and put the larger pieces of furniture up on bricks.
The flooding was fresh water due to non-stop rains, not salt water from storm surge. Wayne and I joke that that the house actually smelled fresher after it went through the 'rinse' cycle! Anyone who's been to the coast knows that funky beach smell. It comes from the moisture in the air and we learn to live with it. Our noses become attuned to it.
The water receded quickly.
But not long after the flood cleanup, we realized there were some major issues with the front porch/deck on the front the house. The 'band' where it was attached had deteriorated and the fasteners were rusted and letting go. We noticed the floor of the deck sloping slightly towards the house and with the torrential rains, the water was running down the face of the house
Wayne and I were on the deck trying to put tarps up to try to divert the water away from the house and I had just gone out back to the shed to get more wood and nails when I heard a tremendous crash.
With all the rain and flooding, the deck had collapsed. With Wayne still on it. Fortunately, the edge of the deck caught on the moulding above the front door so it wasn't the disaster it could have been.
We debated on whether we could jack it back up and reattach it, but when we called our contractor, Brian said, 'Don't. Touch. It!'
The salt air here eats metal like candy and decks here on Edisto Beach do collapse and people have gotten badly injured.
One thing that prevented our deck posts from kicking out and the deck going all the way down is the pergola we'd built on the front.
Well, the deck had to come down and so did my beautiful pergola. We have rigid building codes here on the beach and stouter support post had to be installed and the deck completely rebuilt to spec.
When I was told this all had to come down, I almost cried. It was like losing an old friend.
I was adamant that whatever we ended up with in design, the ceiling had to be waterproof because we practically spent every evening out on that porch year round
So, Brian suggested Azek PVC tongue and groove bead board for our new ceiling. I'm pretty pleased with the results.
Since we'd already made up our mind that maintenance was going to be a distant memory, he said Gosten composite carried a great tongue and groove deck board that would give us that extra water-proofing we were looking for. And it has a wonderful driftwood color and look.
Bailey was the first one out to inspect it after it was finished and gave it his seal of approval!
Our five board benches went through the flooding with no visible water marking.
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Now we're back to the controlled chaos that is normal for life at The Clam.
So, we sit back and take a breather before we are on to the next stage in our cottage redo: replacement of the old wood siding.
Until the next time ~
Well, on to the next stage. The siding was so deteriorated that there was no way to restore it.
And since the original boards were a full inch thick and 12 inches wide, we would have had to have specially milled cypress to those specs. And even if we could have found a composite siding with those dimension, it would have added up to 4 tons of weight to the cottage! Just amazing.
With the cottage being so old, we didn't think it was such a good idea to load this old girl down with all that additional weight.
So, we finally settled on Hardie 'Artisan' since it would give us a wider face and the ends are tough and groove for stability.
With my love of New England sea cottages, I'd always dream of having a fish scale detail on the dormers of the house. After finding a half round PVC louver vent on Architectural Depot with a keystone...we were in business.
Here's the end result:
I just love our contractor, Brian (shhh...don't tell my husband) but he has an uncanny ability to envision what I want regarding mouldings and the overall look of our cottage. He got up on the scaffold with the louver vent and said...'Okay...here?....no?.....there?' and I would say drop it down a couple of inches, Bri. All the window mouldings, he would lay out on a work table and position them in different styles to see what we liked best.
This man is a gem and I wish they would get a move on in cloning because we definitely need more of these!
