OCTOBER 30, 2008
THE INSANITY OF REMODELING
A HOUSE AND A BRAIN
IT'S ROTTEN! IT'S ROTTEN!
This seems to be the battlecry of the carpenter who is remodeling my house. Have mercy on a woman with that sound in her ears every 10 minutes it seems like!
If you have been with me a while you know that I have yet to move into my Moms house, even though she has been gone for three years this Nov. 14. For some reason I kept waiting for her to come home.. but I suppose everyone,( even insane people like me) realize after a while that some wishes just don't come true. No matter how hard you hope and pray for it.. God has but one answer sometimes.. and that answer is NO.
So facing another winter in this cold mobile home, which actually the mobile home has twice the room in it as the house does.. but it is not even close to being as insulated and yes indeed.. WARM! So I have tried on several occasions to hire somebody to do some work for me. I need to have the bathroom redone for certain and when we had all those storms this spring.. the wind knocked loose some of the metal stuff over the trim board and I saw the evilness called dry rot plainly.
You would think in todays economy with so many people out of work and on unemployment, someone would have jumped at the idea of getting some money in their pocket... ho ho.. no so!
I must of called 10 different people locally and no one even showed up to look, let alone give me a bid! Until.. my neighbor really got hit hard with the last big one that went through and had to have their siding replaced on their house.. they too tried to find someone to do the work locally.. but to no avail. Then the lady neighbor got a phone call from her nephew in Kansas who is a carpenter.. ah ha!.. he was tickled to death to get the work.. so I contacted them and he is now at my house.. groan!
So far he has had to replace most of the trim board, and the people who put the steel siding on the house .. put this kind of pressed cardboard stuff under the eves of the house and it was so far gone.. it actually just kind of crumbled when he pulled the plastic covering off of it! Nasty now! But he contacted the people who sell the siding stuff and asked what was up with all of it and they said it was just a way that was used in the early times when everyone was just learning about steel siding.. was supposed to add insulating value to the house..
So now I have new stuff with little vent holes in it.. hopefully it won't impair the insulating value I had on the house before.. it is a bit too tight though.. nothing escapes.. so I am having him install a ventilation fan in the hallway to move the stale air out and get some flow to it.. Mom just breathed the same air over and over again I guess...
Tomorrow I am off to see about cabinets for the kitchen and a new vanity and light fixture for the bathroom.. new carpet for the bedrooms and new lights for the living room and kitchen.. whew! I have so much stuff to have to deal with as far as going through all the things in the house. That seems to be my undoing most of the time. I have tried so many times to start this and get moved in.. sigh..
I suppose I should just not be so strange about it all.. but sure feels like I am doing something wrong when I throw out boxes and boxes of old cancel checks and warranties on hot water heaters from 1979. She saved everything .. in organized neat bundles.. in plastic containers.. stacks and stacks of the stuff.
Going to set a big brush fire next time it is a misty rainy day.. Gary finally got the trees that had been blown down on the holding pen fence cut down and the brush piled up.. need to remember to put my cast iron cookware in there when he gets it going good.. burns all the built up yuck and they are like brand new again. But we found out the roof of the barn had been rotten in one spot and the tree limbs have knocked a hole in it we didn't see until now.. boy.. it is sure getting deep around my knees right about now! The entire barn is in bad shape and it need to be pulled down and a new building of some sort put up.. probably another barn with a add on to keep the tractor and the lawnmowers and stuff in.. that can wait though.. surely something can wait a little bit. Now I got the ball rolling.. it wants to bounce around too much for me to not get called for a walk.... or a technical foul .. mouth!
The wood stove Mom used in the winter is still in wonderful shape and will be so much warmer this winter than this fireplace in the trailer. But I am going to miss the open flame to watch... that is really a nice thing when it is cold outside and windy.. to be warm and have a nice fire to watch.. but then when you have to go out in a rainstorm or snow storm to gather in wood.. or heaven forbid you run out of wood and have to go cut it in a snowstorm.. or worse yet.. buy a rick.. well.. it kind of evens out I guess.. last year to heat this 16x80 mobile home.. I only used 200 gallons of butane.. I also cook with butane too.. and that my friends is simply awesome!
I will post some pictures pretty soon.. maybe.. hehehe.. progress reports as the home and brain remodeling continues..
THE INSANITY OF REMODELING
A HOUSE AND A BRAIN
IT'S ROTTEN! IT'S ROTTEN!
This seems to be the battlecry of the carpenter who is remodeling my house. Have mercy on a woman with that sound in her ears every 10 minutes it seems like!
If you have been with me a while you know that I have yet to move into my Moms house, even though she has been gone for three years this Nov. 14. For some reason I kept waiting for her to come home.. but I suppose everyone,( even insane people like me) realize after a while that some wishes just don't come true. No matter how hard you hope and pray for it.. God has but one answer sometimes.. and that answer is NO.
So facing another winter in this cold mobile home, which actually the mobile home has twice the room in it as the house does.. but it is not even close to being as insulated and yes indeed.. WARM! So I have tried on several occasions to hire somebody to do some work for me. I need to have the bathroom redone for certain and when we had all those storms this spring.. the wind knocked loose some of the metal stuff over the trim board and I saw the evilness called dry rot plainly.
You would think in todays economy with so many people out of work and on unemployment, someone would have jumped at the idea of getting some money in their pocket... ho ho.. no so!
I must of called 10 different people locally and no one even showed up to look, let alone give me a bid! Until.. my neighbor really got hit hard with the last big one that went through and had to have their siding replaced on their house.. they too tried to find someone to do the work locally.. but to no avail. Then the lady neighbor got a phone call from her nephew in Kansas who is a carpenter.. ah ha!.. he was tickled to death to get the work.. so I contacted them and he is now at my house.. groan!
So far he has had to replace most of the trim board, and the people who put the steel siding on the house .. put this kind of pressed cardboard stuff under the eves of the house and it was so far gone.. it actually just kind of crumbled when he pulled the plastic covering off of it! Nasty now! But he contacted the people who sell the siding stuff and asked what was up with all of it and they said it was just a way that was used in the early times when everyone was just learning about steel siding.. was supposed to add insulating value to the house..
So now I have new stuff with little vent holes in it.. hopefully it won't impair the insulating value I had on the house before.. it is a bit too tight though.. nothing escapes.. so I am having him install a ventilation fan in the hallway to move the stale air out and get some flow to it.. Mom just breathed the same air over and over again I guess...
Tomorrow I am off to see about cabinets for the kitchen and a new vanity and light fixture for the bathroom.. new carpet for the bedrooms and new lights for the living room and kitchen.. whew! I have so much stuff to have to deal with as far as going through all the things in the house. That seems to be my undoing most of the time. I have tried so many times to start this and get moved in.. sigh..
I suppose I should just not be so strange about it all.. but sure feels like I am doing something wrong when I throw out boxes and boxes of old cancel checks and warranties on hot water heaters from 1979. She saved everything .. in organized neat bundles.. in plastic containers.. stacks and stacks of the stuff.
Going to set a big brush fire next time it is a misty rainy day.. Gary finally got the trees that had been blown down on the holding pen fence cut down and the brush piled up.. need to remember to put my cast iron cookware in there when he gets it going good.. burns all the built up yuck and they are like brand new again. But we found out the roof of the barn had been rotten in one spot and the tree limbs have knocked a hole in it we didn't see until now.. boy.. it is sure getting deep around my knees right about now! The entire barn is in bad shape and it need to be pulled down and a new building of some sort put up.. probably another barn with a add on to keep the tractor and the lawnmowers and stuff in.. that can wait though.. surely something can wait a little bit. Now I got the ball rolling.. it wants to bounce around too much for me to not get called for a walk.... or a technical foul .. mouth!
The wood stove Mom used in the winter is still in wonderful shape and will be so much warmer this winter than this fireplace in the trailer. But I am going to miss the open flame to watch... that is really a nice thing when it is cold outside and windy.. to be warm and have a nice fire to watch.. but then when you have to go out in a rainstorm or snow storm to gather in wood.. or heaven forbid you run out of wood and have to go cut it in a snowstorm.. or worse yet.. buy a rick.. well.. it kind of evens out I guess.. last year to heat this 16x80 mobile home.. I only used 200 gallons of butane.. I also cook with butane too.. and that my friends is simply awesome!
I will post some pictures pretty soon.. maybe.. hehehe.. progress reports as the home and brain remodeling continues..
lockerridge