A Carport Gets A New Home

I thought bartering was an old fashioned term that didn't happen much in this day and age.  I was wrong, it recently happened to us.  In a previous blog I wrote about our youngest daughter buying an old farmhouse in need of an update.  They didn't want to own two homes, so they are quickly getting the farmhouse ready to move in and at the same time getting the other house on the market.  They had a carport that they wanted to take down before listing.  It was agreed that we would take the carport in return for work on the farmhouse.  Truth be known, we would have done it for free. My husband fixed and replaced drywall, taped it and got it ready to paint. 

Before we could begin the dismantling, we had to prepare our space.  It doesn't really match the rustic setting we have, so one stipulation was that I couldn't see it from my kitchen window.  We chose a place for it.  First we had to bring in someone to clear the area and level the space.

Here is where more bartering comes in.  We needed some gravel brought in.  The person who did the Bobcat work saw that we had a nice long extension ladder.  We hadn't used it for a long time because it was very heavy.  So we traded him gravel for the ladder.

After the gravel is spread out,

 the supports and the base had to be leveled.

Now it is time to take down the carport.  It was easier said than done for me.  Every piece had to be unscrewed and marked so it could go back up in the same configuration.

First the roof panels had to come off.

Then the framework came down.

Many hours later, we loaded the pieces on to our truck and headed home.  After a couple days of rain delays, we were ready to put humpty dumpty back together again.

And so we begin

UGG!

Framework is nearly complete.  Notice our resident supervisor.

Now the roof goes on.

Some of the pieces didn't fit well.

It was kind of a struggle to put this thing back together.  We had to hit all the same screw holes.  I laughed when I saw my husband using this strapping and a stick to align the holes.  As he twisted the strapping, it shortened and moved the braces into position.   He told me he learned how to do this from an Owen Wilson movie.  I guess some of the mindless movies he watches actually served a purpose.

We are almost done.

All finished except for a few finishing touches and a little extra gravel.

 
We do have some gravel leftover.  I wonder what we can barter for that.  This canopy or carport will be a nice cover for some of our things, but it isn't very pretty and I'm glad I can't see it from the kitchen window.