Appraisal

I spent last Tuesday through Sunday doing repairs, deep cleaning my house and cleverly staging things to hide imperfections all in anticipation of an appraisal on Monday (I'm re-financing). And then the appraisal lasted less than five minutes. That's it. I suppose it wasn't all for naught, though. Who can complain about a clean house?

Now, here's one of the repairs I did. With the help of my brother and advice of my dad, I fixed an old water spot on my spare bedroom ceiling. NOTE: The entire ceiling is crappy and there's a poor patch job by the previous owners that looks extremely obvious in these photos. My patch is within that patch.

BEFORE. I scraped off the stained parts of the popcorn texture.

DURING. I secured parts of the sagging ceiling with drywall screws and fender washers.

AFTER.  I patched the ceiling with mesh tape and joint compound, applied new popcorn texture, and painted.

Window pain

The frame on one of my basement windows is rotting. Oh, joy. My dad is coming over to help with the repair this weekend. It's been kind of a pain (probably more so for my dad than me...although, he's been very good-natured about the whole thing, so maybe it's just me.) figuring out just what exactly we should do to fix this bad boy since my window is not a standard size.

Isn't this scary looking? I totally have a Blair Witch Project corner of my basement, too. It's Halloween year round in these parts.

Down the drain

Why the long face? Because sewage backed up out of the floor drain in my basement and I had to muck around in it to clean it up and then I needed to hose off in the front yard because I couldn't put anything down the drains inside, that's why.

Roto Rooter and I had a hot date tonight.

In case there was any confusion, yes, those are grocery bags on my feet.

Limb trim

Mother Nature did a little tree trimming for me last week ( Uh, thanks, I guess). I wouldn't recommend her services. I had to recruit extra muscles and a chainsaw to finish the job she left half completed.

If a tree falls in my yard and no one hears it, does it make me annoyed?

Raise the roof

My dad has mad skillz. He knows how to do stuff. This weekend he fixed a leaky spot on my roof with varying degrees of help from my brother, my mom and me. And as a bonus, he fixed a spigot, too!

Double bonus: My mom whipped out her green thumb and planted some flowers and other vegetation around my yard.

Leaving their mark on the place.

I said, "Smile!" What I got were these loving looks.

Rain, rain

An overdose of rain has put a damper on my spirits as of late because of the minor havoc it's wreaked on my house.

But now, it's time for the silver lining. Time to turn that frown upside down. Et al.

Ta-da! What a pretty silver lining. Photo cred goes to my brother.

Basement Dwellers Do Battle

Large puddles of water have invaded my basement. I was feeling quite defeated until three faithful allies joined forces with me in the battle against the liquid menace. They are a fearless, loyal bunch.

Brave box fan

Daring dehumidifier

Swarthy shop vac

Paint lesson learned

I'm learning a lot of home improvement lessons lately. Lesson #17: Do not assume that the cans of paint left in the basement by the previous owners actually matches any of the wall colors.

I thoughtfully deduced that the only can of light blue paint in the basement must be the very paint that was used in the only light blue room in the house... my bedroom. Mistake. I used the paint to touch up various nail holes and other patches and now my walls appear to have the measles.

Mismatched. I present exhibits A, B and C.

Pledge Complete

Done! A mere four months ago, I took my own oath to whip my house into shape. The goal was to have it ready for show and tell on Easter. While I didn't complete every single task on my to do list, I completed a lot of the really important ones. So, last Sunday, I was able to confidently open my doors to the extended family for a tour. I felt like such a proud mama of my little home. Huzzah! (See what's done - wins and fails)

Here's the to do list that's been hanging on the fridge and helping me whip my house into shape since December.

Kitchen Ceiling Fail

Upon closer inspection, my kitchen ceiling is kind of a fail. The paint looks good, it's just that I did not do as a good a job at sanding the patch as I initially thought I did. And by the time I realized it, it was too late.

So, I'm not going to post any pictures until I take a power sander to it and do kitchen patch 2.0. Here's a puppy instead.

Another painting weekend

Kitchen ceiling is getting a fresh paint job this weekend. I've assembled all the necessary tools. Ready to rock and roll.

One of these things is not like the others.

Dusty do

Nothing says hard work like a little dirt on your hands. Or in my case, a little dust in my hair. After patching the kitchen ceiling a couple weeks ago, I finally got around to sanding it tonight. I was very careful to lay down a drop cloth, but it didn't matter. Dust went everywhere(!) including in my eyes and in my hair and probably in my lungs, too.

Afterward, I took quite the liking to my dusty hairdo. It was like my own little badge of honor - proof, that I'm actually doing stuff around here.

Carefully-placed drop cloth.

[Insert psoriasis/dandruff jokes here]

Chair redo

I reupholstered a chair! This was another freebie from the curb that's been in my garage for a long time. I decided a couple weeks ago that it was as good a time as any to breathe new life into it. Here's my step by step process:

1. Unscrew backrest. This particular backrest consisted of two pieces of wood pressed together and held in place by screws.
2. Flip chair over to unscrew seat.
3. SCREAM!
4. Have my brother remove the giant spider and her eggs that are suspended under the seat.
5. Unscrew the seat.
6. Use flat-head screwdriver and needle nose pliers to pry up and remove the staples holding the upholstery in place.
7. Stretch new fabric over the backrest and seat. (I got upholstery-weight fabric from Hancock's. I followed Amanda's lead and just went to their remnant section to get fabric on the cheap.) Staple in place with staple gun on the underside of the pieces.
8. Screw the seat and back rest back in place.

Before

After.

Please appreciate how well the fabric is stretched around the corners. I spent way too many hours obsessing over those.

Rock Out with Your Caulk Out

There seems to be a lot of caulking that goes on around my house. By my count, last Saturday I took on caulk project #5: Re-caulking the outside of my tub. It went something like this in case you are inclined to follow suit:

1. Use box cutter and flat-head screwdriver to pry up and scrape off all of the old caulk.
2. Wipe down the surface with rubbing alcohol. Allow surface to dry.
3. Put painters tape on either side of the seam to create a straight line for the caulk.
4. Apply the bead of caulk.
5. Use wet finger to smooth the surface of the caulk. Have a bunch of paper towels or rags available to wipe off excess caulk.
6. Peel off tape while caulk is still wet.

Before. Don't look too close; it's gross.

After. Still don't look too close. It's better than the before, but bathroom floors are gross by nature.

Repairs - Thanksgiving edition

Today is Nov. 26. One day before Thanksgiving. Might I ask, "Where the heck did the year go?!" As I look back on what I'm thankful for in 2008, I've realized that when it comes to my home, I'm usually most thankful for successful repairs, particularly the DIY kind.

For some reason, half of these little victories never made it to my blog, but I'm very grateful still the same!

• A major leak from my shower fixed (Consequently, I'm thankful for running water as well)


• Rotting siding on my garage replaced


• Rotting side door threshold replaced


• Rotting deck boards replaced


• Anti-freeze applied to my deck to circumvent further rot (Noticing a theme yet?)


• Old water heater removed and new one installed


• Handle on toilet fixed so it no longer stays down when flushed


• Stuck garage door quickly tweaked to fully close


• Basement reclaimed with bleach and water following too much summer rain

More than the repairs themselves, I'm thankful for everyone who lent a helping hand (Cue the violins)!

Now, let's eat! Much like I'm doing in this photo from Thanksiving '07.

New water heater

On Saturday, my parents breezed into town and helped me install my new water heater. I played the role of general contractor and my dad and brother played sub-contractors.

Preparation
A few days prior to the installation, and three hours away, my dad took care of buying the right pipes and other piping miscellany. I just took a few measurements and a few photos and e-mailed them to him. Then, he worked his magic and showed up with the correct pipes and tools in hand.

Day of Installation
Once we drained the old water heater, it was out of the basement in minutes. When my dad and brother went to carry my new water heater into the basement, I made the unpleasant discovery that it was dented. In multiple spots. At that point, my mind locked down and I could not figure out how I should proceed, suggesting I may be completely hopeless in a real crisis.

Someone told me to call Lowe's to remedy the situation, so that is exactly what I did. And thank goodness too. I was able to get half my money back without even so much as one little argument!

After that minor crisis, the water heater went in no sweat (we did have to make one quick run to Ace, but it was no biggie). To top it all off, my parents hauled my old water heater back with them to dump at a local junk pile. So, no haul away charges for me! I owe my parents big time.

Before.
Old water heater - scorched and sad

During.
My dad - doing something important

After.
The new, improved and slightly dented water heater

A slurry of activity

There's some official city business going on in my neighborhood tomorrow as the city places a slurry seal of my street (this is NOT a resurfacing project, my official notice says). Such serious business warrants these very official "No Parking" signs, with quite the incorrect date.

To me, this sign looks more like something a disgruntled homeowner would spike into the ground, not city crews. Shouldn't their signs be orange and reflective...and not written on with a Sharpie? Ah, who am I kidding, I actually find these signs to be quite endearing.

In hot water

Everyone needs to splurge on a couple big ticket items for their home, right? Well, I've been saving my pennies for quite some time now so I can buy myself a brand new... water heater. Glamorous, no?

Really, I'd rather get a coffee table or headboard, but instead, I'm buying a Whirlpool 50-gallon natural gas water heater from Lowes. My current one has just got to go. It's at least as old as I am and is sporting a scorched, ready-to-rust-out, ready-to-burn-someone look.

Since I'm not keen on paying the $255 for delivery and installation, plus the unspecified amount the plumber is likely to charge for "updates," my dad has agreed to help me install it. I did an initial consultation with him over the phone, and now he's running the show - figuring out what pipes I need, what kind of flex tubing will work best, etc. Thanks, Dad!

Now, I just need to actually go purchase the darn thing.

The 50-gallon stallion from Lowes.

All hands on deck

Last weekend, after lovingly repairing the rotting car siding on my garage, my father took particular issue with the wacky chop job that was my deck railing. That meant one thing: it had to be repaired. NOW. Since my dad had to hit the road to milk cows, that left Brian and me to fix it. It took two trips to Mendards, five new boards of pressure-treated pine, one bottle of carpenter ant and termite killer, and Brian's muscle and skill to get the job done. I did a little bit of holding the boards in place and a lot of staying out the way.

My before and after shots are kind of lousy, but here they are regardless.

Before.
Instead of laying one solid board on top of the deck posts, the previous owner cut the top railing to angle around the posts so that the tops were flush. The wood was rotting all over the place.

During.

Brian prying some nails loose.

After.
Brian drilling the last screw in place while supporting the Bush-Cheney '04 election. Talk about multi-tasking.

Diagnose that furnace!

Quick, it's quiz time! What's wrong with my forced-air furnace if it makes a loud creaking, clunking sound (much like a rusty, old metal gate) when the blower shuts off?

a) Bearings are going bad.

b) Fan belt is wearing out.

c) Blower motor is cracked.

d) Nothing is wrong with the furnace; a rusty old register cover isn't screwed to the wall so the forced air causes it to move and then slam back in place once the furnace shuts off.

The answer is d! I spent the better part of a day fretting over my furnace until I discovered that rascally register. It's pure folly at my house, friends!

Notice the conspicuous lack of screws. This register is so, so sad.