Jul 15 2006
Rot
“Uhm boss, how do we chase the cats without a porch?”
The big house repairs are starting. I was going to replace some rotted boards in our back porch. Somewhere on the street somebody also did that but he also took out the good boards. So I brought 20 of those home because they’re very thick, much thicker than boards you can get nowadays; 80 years ago wood was much cheaper so they used lots of it. But, as it goes with these things, it turned out that the beams underneath were also rotting and a lot more boards were bad than previously thought. I didn’t have that many replacement boards, so the decision was made to replace them all with plywood, just as the guy on the street. Later I’m going to cover the plywood with polyester and fibreglass to make it really weather proof. And while we’re at it, I also replaced all beams that had rotted, and will replace the rusted metal stairs for wooden ones. A major operation, enough to fill a weekend. Or two.
Sunday, 16 July, 2006 @ 11:35
That’s the one thing that scares me about owning a house : all that work…
Sunday, 16 July, 2006 @ 11:58
There’s an upside though. Mark is pleased with all the weight he’s lost, and I’m getting hot and bothered about all that firm, flat, smooth muscle right beneath his skin.
Now I’m thinking it’s my turn to dedicate myself to some demanding physical labour. Laundry clearly isn’t doing it for me.
Sunday, 16 July, 2006 @ 16:38
René:
Apart from above observations, I actually like working on the house. Especially when it’s done, it gives so much pride and fullfilment. Your house really becomes ‘your’ house that way (and harder to move out from). I even did house repairs and renovations on rental places. So everybody always said I should buy a house. But it never materialized, either because I didn’t have any money nor income, I didn’t know in what city/country/continent I wanted to buy a house, or because the house prices where to high in the Netherlands (they have since doubled…) O, and you should come by so you can see the house before I have totally renovated it! So you can compare. (Yes, this is an invitation…)
Monday, 17 July, 2006 @ 16:17
Hier ook een hoop rot… toch wel rot, al dat rot, vind je niet?