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bring on the glut of house fixin'.
Mar. 9th, 2008 11:03 amit's that time of year again... the weather's getting warmer, my tax refund is on its way... so i'm tackling my list of house repairs for the spring and summer.
first on my list: the lawn. my lawn is this crazy patchwork of grass, moss, purple weedy things (where some of my torn-out trees used to be), and dirt. it needs a major overhaul. add to that the fact that i'm going to need to re-grade it, because my home inspector had let me know when i moved in that there were areas where water was draining directly towards my house.
so, yesterday i brought out a landscaper for an estimate... he was awesome (my brother, who's a landscape designer, works with him a lot). the good news is that i won't have a lot of cash outlay at first... the lawn needs to be treated first to restore the pH before it can be graded and seeded, and that will take well into the fall. the bad news? i'm going to have a dead brown lawn all summer. the OTHER bad news? the part that most needs to be re-graded is DIRECTLY UNDER MY DECK. turns out water is running down my neighbor's hill towards my house, and pooling right under the deck. yes, my rocket-scientist previous owners built a brand-new deck, right before selling the house, right over the swampiest area of the lawn. good going.
second on my list: rebuild the powder room i had to gut in order to waterproof it (you all, i'm sure, recall the saga of the tree roots growing up through the floor in there).
third on my list: finally redo my 3rd bedroom. that room used to be their baby's room, and is this horrible paint combination of dirty pink, dirty blue, and mustard yellow. AND, the entire ceiling is covered with glow-in-the-dark stars. i spent a good chunk of my morning picking little stars off the ceiling, and now have roughly 40 holes up there that i'm going to have to putty before i can paint.
let's recap all the great things the previous owners have done to screw up this house:
1. wired many of the outlets themselves, but got the polarity wrong, which was a fire hazard
2. hid the fact that the downstairs powder room was a wet mess, so i was left with paint peeling off the soggy walls and tree roots growing through the floor and walls
3. had brand-new roof shingles installed over rotting plywood, so that my kitchen flooded every time it rained
4. painted without a dropcloth, so that the hardwood floors are covered in paint in every room
5. built a brand-new deck over an area that had water seeping into the foundation
6. left a ceiling full of stick-on stars for me to remove
freaking idiots. i can't wait to see what other treats are waiting for me, the longer i live here. when i move someday, this place is going to be 100 times better than how i bought it.
first on my list: the lawn. my lawn is this crazy patchwork of grass, moss, purple weedy things (where some of my torn-out trees used to be), and dirt. it needs a major overhaul. add to that the fact that i'm going to need to re-grade it, because my home inspector had let me know when i moved in that there were areas where water was draining directly towards my house.
so, yesterday i brought out a landscaper for an estimate... he was awesome (my brother, who's a landscape designer, works with him a lot). the good news is that i won't have a lot of cash outlay at first... the lawn needs to be treated first to restore the pH before it can be graded and seeded, and that will take well into the fall. the bad news? i'm going to have a dead brown lawn all summer. the OTHER bad news? the part that most needs to be re-graded is DIRECTLY UNDER MY DECK. turns out water is running down my neighbor's hill towards my house, and pooling right under the deck. yes, my rocket-scientist previous owners built a brand-new deck, right before selling the house, right over the swampiest area of the lawn. good going.
second on my list: rebuild the powder room i had to gut in order to waterproof it (you all, i'm sure, recall the saga of the tree roots growing up through the floor in there).
third on my list: finally redo my 3rd bedroom. that room used to be their baby's room, and is this horrible paint combination of dirty pink, dirty blue, and mustard yellow. AND, the entire ceiling is covered with glow-in-the-dark stars. i spent a good chunk of my morning picking little stars off the ceiling, and now have roughly 40 holes up there that i'm going to have to putty before i can paint.
let's recap all the great things the previous owners have done to screw up this house:
1. wired many of the outlets themselves, but got the polarity wrong, which was a fire hazard
2. hid the fact that the downstairs powder room was a wet mess, so i was left with paint peeling off the soggy walls and tree roots growing through the floor and walls
3. had brand-new roof shingles installed over rotting plywood, so that my kitchen flooded every time it rained
4. painted without a dropcloth, so that the hardwood floors are covered in paint in every room
5. built a brand-new deck over an area that had water seeping into the foundation
6. left a ceiling full of stick-on stars for me to remove
freaking idiots. i can't wait to see what other treats are waiting for me, the longer i live here. when i move someday, this place is going to be 100 times better than how i bought it.
