Let Us Fix Your Fort

Fort \noun\: A strong or fortified place.

Service. Helping others. It’s what drove me for over 36 years as a Paramedic / Firefighter.

I’ve grown up around the trades my entire life. As I discovered the power of tools and creating something from nothing, or better yet, fixing something beloved - I was hooked. The insatiable curiosity that is inherent in so many first responders had me doing everything from roofing as a teenager to installing a fish screen in the depths of the Columbia River, and everything in between, for the next 4 decades.

Helping people to be happy and comfortable in that beloved place they call home. To be protected in those places of memories, family gatherings, and tranquility - their forts - is what drives me and this company; Fort Dalles Contracting & Home Repair.

Through communication, collaboration, and exploring the “Art Of The Possible”, let me know how we can we help you fix your fort?

541-980-0148

Joel@fixyourfort.com

OR CCB #243599

The Mail Vault - Trash Bin Screen - Address Project

I wanted something that would keep mail and packages secured. We also had a real problem with the wind blowing our recycling and garbage bins around. Also, as a first responder, it was important that we had a large, well identified address, visible from multiple directions.

While most garbage screens need the owner to move their garbage bins out of the screen area and into the street for collection access, this screen only requires that you open the “gate” which is the large address and name panel that you see in the picture.

The mail vault was sourced at a box store and then I welded together a frame around it. This gave me the infrastructure I needed for the stonework and remaining side and gate supports.

This entire structure is bolted to two cement pads.

I really loved working with all three mediums; wood, metal, and stone.

Gate Opened & Bins Are Ready For Collection

East View

West View

Solar Lights

The backside of the screen allows you to check for mail and packages safely, away from the street. It also allows easy access to the garbage and recycling bins. The sloped roof design not only sheds rain and snow, but it allows a nice storage area for gardening tools, gloves, and other items.

The Wood Wood Family Cabin In The Woods

A lifelong, dear friend of ours commissioned me to help make the large shed they had placed on their remote property more comfortable as an extra living space.

This project was an exercise in great collaboration and communication. While our friend did not know the names of everything, I was able to decipher her vision through a series of telephone and video calls.

While there were hiccups, our friend, Mrs. Wood - therefore it is the Wood Wood Cabin Project - is an amazing go getter with boundless energy. Even though we were smack dab in the middle of a pandemic and lived about 200 miles apart - she hit every box store in her area to source the blue pine we settled on for the interior.

No contractor is perfect, the last perfect one died about 2,000 years ago. But, what makes a contractor better is to be able to communicate and engage with their client effectively. This collaboration becomes a force magnifier which makes the project better than either party could have envisioned on their own.

A perfect example of harmonious collaboration was the beams. This shed design used unsightly cross members near the ceiling to make for a stronger structural design. My clients had not thought about ways to mitigate this visual anomaly. I was able to set aside boards with the most visually stunning patterns. When it came time, I utilized those boards to box in those cross members. Instead of unsightly beams, they now have a design focal point that really sets off their Wood Wood Cabin in the Woods.

The Wood Wood Family Cabin did not meet their expectations - it exceeded them, in spades! So much so, they hosted an open house about a month after completion.

A Blank Canvas

Truck - trailer - tools on the job

coming together

some after shots

boxing in the beams

covering up the electrical & plumbing

the yellow door

What do you do when your son inadvertently sends a rock into your glass door while weed eating? Well, you use that as an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of your spouse.

My wife has always wanted a yellow door on her house. The problem is that yellow is pretty much the worst color you can paint any exterior structure. It just fades too quickly. I thought the guy at Sherwin Williams was going to cry when I explained what my wife wanted.

This project was also complicated by the fact that this particular door style and sidelight were no longer manufactured. Also, because of the pandemic, sourcing doors was no easy task. So, time to completely customize the project.

We located a door that was readily available from a very distant box store.

I reached back into my library of projects I have seen done over the last 40 years and remembered an individual had used automotive paint to highlight his front door.

One small can of automotive paint and an HVLP sprayer later, I had a beautiful yellow door with a nice metallic sheen.

It’s purple on the other side. These are not my colors folks. They are the choice of my most important client - my wife. And you know what, they actually work - which is why I am not in charge of color.

Not having a sidelight for the new door also gave us the opportunity to re-frame the door and incorporate more stone on our 1950’s vintage home.