I was asked to work on this is a house by one of the nicest couples I have met to date: Michael & Meri Lenio. They found me doing a search for this web site and contacted me in late March of 2008 to solve their soffit, fascia, and gutter woes. A set of aluminum gutters had been installed a few years before over this rotten wood that was pulling loose of the house and looked bad. They were also having basement flooding problems and needed this fixed and I happen to get it done just before the rains came this Fall.

I offered them several different options to find one that would fit their budget and give them the look they wanted. Many of the outer tongue-&-grove boards originally used for the soffit were rotten and the nails holding them in place were so rusted that they were loose and sagging and warped.

I could either replace the worst of these boards and then need to strip off the multiple layers of flaking paint off the rest or just replace all of them. Either way it would have been very costly. I suggested they could have me reattach these soffit boards with 2.5" long deck screws and cover them from underneath with smooth hardwood plywood for a lot less. They chose that option and were very pleased with the results.

I replaced all the 1x4 fascia boards with 2x4s primed and painted to match and attached them with 3.5" long deck screws. A contractor had installed these aluminum soffit vents not very long ago, but he had only cut a set of 3 round holes only 2" wide for each vent that was 7" x 16". That allowed for only about 9 cubic inches of displacement, so I cut the holes open much larger to 6" x 13" for 78 cubic inches of displacement for over 8 times the venting capability.

Then I had to match the rectangular holes in the new soffit wood panels and reattach the vent covers with stainless steel screws for a cleaner look.

This client also opted for the steel leaf screens, in stead of the flimsy copper screens and a set of copper tulip style rain-cups for the front drainage to get the downspouts off these nice columns.

Here is the work station I set up under the carport to get out of the hot Sun.

Worked to clear out the back storm drain - $50
72.25' of 2x4 primed and painted fascia boards replaced - $563.50
115.5 sq' of hardwood plywood soffit w/12 intake roof vents - $725.25
99.56' of 20oz copper gutters & DS w/o removal - $1,511.23
6 special ends to seal and mitered end-caps - $300
18' of 32oz copper Tulip style rain-cups - $330
78.88' of hinged leaf screens - $197.20
3 larger no-clog outlets - $195
1 leaf-catcher - $65
Rebuilt back support of the carport and added from bracing - $1,000
26' of aluminum and copper flashing on carport roof - 191.25
96.5' of 20oz copper rake edge board covers - $1,045.42
6 copper covers for the ends of the eaves - $210

$6,383.85 Grand Total

The final adjusted cost for the gutter work was $267.40 less than the original bid even w/rain-cups

$6,491.25 Paid (with tips)

These clients were unusually nice and also offered to share pizza one night. We had spent a good deal of time talking off topic and also enjoyed this New Years Eve together at another former clients home in Tigard.

From: mmlenio@comcast.n*t
Subject: Lenio - SE 20th
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2008

Hi David,
We can't thank you enough for all of the work that you did on our house. We are so lucky to have found someone with your honesty, integrity, talent, artistry and eye for detail. We are very happy with our new gutters, fascia, soffits, and carport. We're enjoying watching water flow through our rain cups, and we have received many compliments from friends, neighbors, and people passing by. You really put a lot of yourself into this project, and our house is a much better place because of you. For that, we will be ever grateful.

We definitely would like you to come back and complete the additional fascia work that we discussed. What is your availability in the coming months? We would be able to send a deposit to you in early October.

Attached are a few pictures we thought you might like.

Thanks again for everything, and we look forward to working with you again.

Sincerely,
Meri and Mike Lenio

Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2008

Hi David,
Thank you once again for completing the additional work on our house. You were so kind to fit our extra project into your busy schedule. All of the points and angles that you created look great - even better than we imagined. You have added so much architectural appeal to our house - only you could have done that. We've also noticed that the view from our front porch is now more open and airy.

On a side note, the downspout reconnection was a success, as we do not have water in our basement, even after the rainy weekend.

We'll touch base with you in the coming months to start planning our deck. Good luck with all of your future projects.

Sincerely,Meri
 and Mike Lenio

I happen to notice that the rear beam of the carport was incredibly rotten and there was very little keeping their carport from falling over, which would have brought down their neighbor's carport as well, since it was attached and had no sideways support.

I showed the client when they returned fro work that evening and demonstrated by easily pushing the corner of my clip board several inches up into the middle of this large 4x10 beam from underneath. You can see daylight through the middle of this support beam through the rotted cracks.

It was this rusty back gutter that had little to no bottom left and had been dribbling rain water on the outside of this beam, causing it to get soaking wet and decomposed the wood fibers inside to where you can crumble the wood with your bare hands.

Underneath this beam was the only sideways support this set of 2 carports had, so a strong wind could literally knock it over and seriously damage their car.

I got their authorization to fix this problem and got on it the very next day. I got a set of 2x10s to replace it with larger 4x6 beams to hold them up with a taller 2x8 to use as the fascia board. I them added a 15" wide aluminum drip edge flashing and a 6" wide copper flange to divert the rain water well off the new boards.

The first thing I did was to add these 4x4 cross beams in the front attached with large 8" long 1/2" lag screws to make sure the structure did not collapse while I was tearing out the back beams that were so rotten.

They were so pleased with my work they called me back to cover the side and front rake edge boards as well with copper. I scrambled after hours to get this done soon after the gutters, so I could get this good photo opportunity to get these house shots before the gutters tarnished. I was there working until dark making several trips to complete. They are thinking about having me rebuild their back deck as well, but that will have to wait for my schedule to clear. Here is the final shots of their house I got:

From: mmlenio@comcast.net
Subject: Happy Holidays!
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008

Hi David,
We just had to send some snowy rain chain pics to you - we're having so much fun watching them change every day.

Wishing you, Tia, and your whole family a very happy holiday season!
Meri and Mike Lenio

In early 2011 some tweeker had stolen some of their rain-cup out front. I suggested they have me run a 3/16" stainless steel cable up through the middle of the new set of rain-cups as a theft deterrent.

As you can see here the gutters have tarnished nicely over the last couple years. I drove a pair of 8' long steel grounding rods in the dirt below to anchor the cables to with a pair of cable clamps.

They were very pleased with this added security for a better piece of mind, and have contracted with me to build them a deck out back as well. More photos to follow.

Mike and Meri Lenio arranged for us to return 3 years later to rebuild their back deck with something a little nicer and larger that was not painted wood. You can click on each of these photos to see them much larger. I had designed each detail with the client's input:

$16,821.06 for parts and 6 weeks labor

They had their fence replaced by another Contractor, and spent weeks treating it themselves with brushes, so they were now ready for a low maintenance back patio. I suggested we build them an ipe hardwood deck with a lower step around it off to the back yard. They also decided they wanted a fancy pergola over the new patio as well. We treated everything with a 50/50 mix of tung oil and Thompson's Weather Seal, in stead of just thinning the tung oil with mineral spirits. This should give them better UV protection, so it will not gray so fast and retain this nice warm wood look.

To see all 37 photos and details for this project you can go to this web page:
http://copper-by-design.com/cw/Lenio2.html

From: "Meri and Mike" <mmlenio@comcast.n*t>
Subject: Thank You!
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011

Hi David,
Thank you for our new deck, pergola, steps and patio. Based on our 100% positive experience working with you in the past, we had every confidence that you would use your exceptional talent and artistry to create something beautiful as well as functional. Even with our confidence and high expectations, we remain blown away by the end result. It is more beautiful than we had ever imagined. In addition, thank you so much for convincing us to move our shed. It really improved the aesthetics of our yard as well as the overall deck size and layout. One of our favorite things about working with you is that you care enough to take the time to think about the optimal approach.

We sincerely appreciate the long hours, thought, creativity, and artistry that you put into this project. It is a reflection of your superior work ethic and attention to detail. Thank you for the many extra courtesies; your kindness and thoughtfulness are greatly appreciated. You are truly an inspiration.

Please let Chris and Benjamin know that we appreciate all of their hard work and long hours. We’re sure they are still recovering from moving all of the gravel and bricks. They are nice additions to your team. It was fun to hear all of the laughter coming out of our back yard.

We remain ever grateful to you for all for all of the work you have done on our home. We look forward to enjoying the deck for years to come. Attached, please find a few pictures we thought you might like. Best Regards,

Meri and Mike