Filling in the hole, Assessing the damage

An aquaintance of ours, an older gentleman who'd seen more than one person's share of grief, used to often say "it's never so bad it couldn't be worse".  Today's headline reminds me of that.  It sounds bad.  But really, things aren't so terrible.

Filling the hole:  The time has finally come to backfill around the basement.  There is no longer a gaping hole in the lawn, and we can walk right up to the house.  It just got WAY easier to put tools and building supplies on the floor!!

 

Assessing the damage:  Not quite as happy a story here.  It is now time to give serious attention to the 64 timbers under the tarp where water-damage has occurred:  but not just water damage.  Originally (in January) the plan was to put straw bales on the tarp so the wind wouldn't tear it up, and it would stay in place to provide reliable shade for the timbers so they wouldn't discolor in the sun. 

That still seems like a good plan, but in hindsight, we can figure out what happened.  There came an unexpected monsoon season, the straw molded to black from the inside of the bale, and the rain carried the black onto the timbers.  By the time we saw any evidence the bales were molding, the damage was done. 

We learned this past weekend that pressure washing won't fix the problem.  But even if you know what to look for, sanding them down to the wood (80,120 & 220grit) and re-varnishing them (2 coats) is erasing 99% of the damage.  It just takes time, and sets back the whole schedule by 5-10 days and will cost another $300+ in varnish.  Dennis is still optomistic that last 1/3 of the timbers to go under that tarp haven't suffered and won't need refinishing.  Here's more proof we balance each other:  I'm much less optomistic.  Hope he's right, though.

We keep seeing flecks of the "silver lining" in this.  It gives us one more chance to admire the beauty of the raw wood.  It also answers the question of how to address the color variation due to a running change the varnish/stain manufacturer made in their formula.  It will all be the same now!