Putting Shiplap on the Walls and Installing Gutters

Putting shiplap on the walls and installing gutters ended up becoming customized and creative diy projects that was learned by simply doing.

There were many projects continuing (as always!) on our little urban homestead-ish journey. We worked on sealing up outdoor window trim, harvesting vermicompost (aka~ worm poo) for the garden, and enjoyed the beauty of a winter storm (this was back in February 2022).

PUTTING OLD ORIGINAL SHIPLAP ON THE WALLS

It was a nice time to work on a project indoors. Perfect opportunity to put that newly restored old original shiplap to use!

Nate started working on the large wall that connects our living room and kitchen and also goes up to the vaulted ceiling peak. It was a big task and a lot to figure out on his own (like most projects around here).

He decided to first install a piece of the shiplap at the top (peak) of the vaulted ceiling so he measured and made a triangle cut out in one of the shiplap boards for that. Then he continued to work his way down the wall with the shiplap boards.

He later mentioned that you are actually supposed to start at the bottom and work your way up the wall. But, he was not ready to tackle the bottom portion yet and really wanted to see what it would look like to have shiplap at the peak of the vaulted ceiling.

TEMPORARILY FITTING SHIPLAP ON WALLS

I soon learned that this was just a temporary install to make sure all the shiplap fit properly. Then he would remove it to sand it and coat it with tongue oil before installing it permanently.

It seemed like a bit of an experiment that could be adjusted over time and as more progress was made to see what should be done. Again, a customized and creative diy project that we learned by simply doing it.

Nate did a great job measuring and fitting the shiplap down the wall. There was a lot to measure and configure since he was going down a vaulted ceiling wall instead of just a normal square box wall. It required much more thought and measuring it seemed.

INSTALLING GUTTERS ON THE BACK OF THE COTTAGE

We worked on installing a gutter on the back of the house. It was about rainy season so timely to handle this task to continue to keep the water away from the house.

Many of the older homes in our neighborhood do not have gutters. I suppose that gutters were not a thing back in the day. They do however have long overhanging roofs, which may help keep the water away a bit.

Some of the heritage home owners have incorporated certain style gutters to complement the preservation efforts of their home and our neighborhood.

Our gutter project was a complete diy figure it out as you go type of thing. That seems to be a recurring theme around here. We are just doing the best we can by researching and doing the work mostly by ourselves. Or Nate by himself.

We uncovered the original rafter tails at the back of the house previously, but Nate noticed as he started this project that they all came out at different lengths. They were not even, which made the start of this project a bit challenging.

He tied a string and marked about one and a half inches from the end of the wooden roof from the rafter tails. Then he drew a line down straight down with a level. He used that string to mark each of the rafter tails so he could cut them and they would be even across the whole back of the cottage.

FASCIA BOARDS INSTALLED TO HOLD THE GUTTERS

Nate put up fascia boards (2×6) to install the gutter on. It was definitely a custom job that he was trying to figure out as he was doing the work. When he installed the gutter it was hanging about two to three inches longer than the fascia board. That seemed to do the trick to keep the water away from the house.

Again, this was a complete diy build and not professional by any means. A way for us to learn how to build our own house, save money, and do it the way we want it done.

LESSONS LEARNED

This is the beauty of owning your own home, debt free. And being able to cash flow your renovations and projects without breaking the bank. We live simply and take our time with these things to be able to tackle what needs to be done and also keep our financial goals in tact. It’s definitely not the normal way to do things. But, then again, we are not your “normal” type of people as we seem to go against the grain with our unconventional lifestyle. Yet~ we love it! The freedom and simplicity of this way of living just brings us~ well, life!

Materials & Tools We Used

Nail Gun: This tool was useful to install our shiplap walls. It can be used for many different types of diy projects as well.
Cordless Drill: This tool is used for many projects and was used to install our gutters in the back of our little pine cottage.
Multi Tool: This was used to cut the drywall when we were working to install the shiplap on the walls.
Grinder: This tool was used to cut the gutters.

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man installing shiplap walls and gutters

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS

Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic cottage mostly on our own~ while working full time jobs! Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead. Read more about us here.

You can also watch a video about this here.