The Crypt

Last weekend I began work on The Crypt. Every year I enclose part of the front porch to make crypt. I am getting a late start on this project this year. We are having gutters put on our house and I could not start until they were finished.

Normally I frame out the space with 2x2's and cover the frame with sheets of thin plywood. This would take most of a day and maybe more.

This is a picture of part of the frame from a few years ago.

Partial frame.

This year I am making some changes to speed up the process. I have permanently attached a frame of 1x2' directly to the sheets of plywood. Not having to build a frame for the sheets of plywood each year should speed up the process. This also makes nice and sturdy panels. The wind and the rain this time of  year can get rough on the sheets of plywood. I anchor these panel's to the corner post of the porch and to each other.

See our new gutters and down spout. I will try to cover the down spout with black cloth to hide it.

Three panel's from the outside

Three panel's from the inside

Four panel's from the inside

Part of doorway panel

When two panels meet without a corner post to support them, I do something like in this photo. See red circle.

This year the project still took a long time because I spent a lot of time triming the sheets of plywood and attaching the frame pieces to the plywood. But next year it should go much quicker.

Next I will need to finish the doorway, paint all the new wood, add some exterior molding I made to hide the gaps to the top of the panels, and wire the inside of the crypt for electricity. Then I can begin decorating the inside of the crypt.