Stupid House

Why do people want to own a house? It seems all well and good since property values are increasing now, but you're still paying something each month...call it what you want (mortgage/rent). And with all these new loans available, you barely build any equity to begin with. I'm being somewhat facetious as I am well aware of the actual benefits, but I bring this up because since moving into my new house (which is 20 years old), I am flooded (literally) with problems and upkeep.

I've written about the leak in my basement plumbing, which has still not been completely fixed, though I have been quoted $875 for drywall work, following the $180 I paid for the plumber. Then you all got to enjoy reading about my green thumb antics as I redid my front garden including building a stone retaining wall...and my $80 tree died. Now, let's add to that list some new dilemmas that these repeated thunderstorms have brought to my attention:

1) I have a leak in a bay window in my living room that seems to include some warping of the wood exterior....swell
2) Water somehow comes into my front entry when we get the real bad rains...not sure exactly how.
3) Water somehow comes into my back door to the deck...not sure how to fix it.
4) The instant-hot spigot in my kitchen is no longer hot
5) My door bell broke with all the power surges
6) My front exterior light cracked...who knows why.
7) My front door is all dried out and starting to crack
8) My deck needs to be re-sealed as the wood is starting to show signs of aging

Well, something has to be done about this shit...so where was I on a beautiful Sunday morning:

At Home Depot. (maybe Bed, Bath and Beyond...if there's time)

I think I've already addressed my hatred for Home Depot in previous blogs, especially on weekends when women who feel they can drive an SUV...or any car for that matter...flock into the Garden Center and nearly kill everyone in their path. So, of course, I parked on the upper level. I'll walk, just spare my life.

Finding shit in Home Depot is like trying to locate your car after a Cypress Hill concert, so I'm fucking wandering around with Amy for almost an hour and a half with a glazed look, wondering why door bells are not with the front doors, but rather at the end of the lighting aisle? At least they got rid of the tools cage with the 4 foot wide opening as the only way in or out. That was always enjoyable.

So, we get all our stuff...totaling over $180 and the projects begin.

I couldn't do it all in one day, so we aimed for completing the front door restaining, the new exterior light and the doorbell this Sunday...though we picked up supplies for the deck and ideas for the front entry leak. And we're off.

And so is the front door...within minutes of our return. I carry it down to the garage and lay it down to sand off the old stain...with my trusty new power sander (seriously, sand paper and arm strength is not how I roll). Chloe is absolutely hating this because she does not want to be locked up inside, or on her chain in the yard, and she's afraid of the sander. Perhaps she was on to something, because I forgot that one should have a face mask when sanding shit. I and my lungs will never forget again though.

The door gets nicely sanded and is good to get its coatings, but I've also got to handle the frame work around the front door. If I had any foresight, I would have figured that we should have sanded the frame while the door was still on to block the dust from entering the house and getting on everything. But would this be a story if I did?

Everything within about 20 feet of the front door is covered in reddish dust, including the leather couch, my winter jackets (which are still in the front entry), the dining room table, the dog, and the stair rail. Oh, and who can forget my new slick floor....and I thought the basketball courts were slick when they got dusty?

New task: 9) Vacuum the entire first floor and stairwell

So, I put on one coat, spill some on the front steps, and now I've got some time to kill. In goes the exterior light.

Actually that was no sweat...$10 well spent. Back to the door.

Second coat goes on nice, It's been about 5 hours of work now, dog is being a real howling pain, It's about 100 degrees outside and the AC is cranking with no front door, and Amy looks at the Polyeurethane sealant we bought, which is the next coat.

"FOR INTERIOR USE ONLY."

That's it. Fuck it. I am not driving back to Home Depot again. I am done. That door went right up on its frame, screw the Urethane. It's gonna have to wait for another day. At least, I fixed the doorbell too.

Three and a half down, five and a half to go. Why do people want to own a house?