Home Matters
Dec. 6th, 2018 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wyld_dandelyonSo, life has been busy. I’ll try to post about October later, but for the moment, I thought I’d natter about this week. Or at least one part of this week, that being house stuff.
I’ve been waiting for the weather to be dry enough and calm enough (in terms of wind) to get my roof repaired. The first snow of the season made it Very Clear that I needed to get part of the wall repaired too. This is not good for my budget, but the repairs will indeed be good for my house, even if it will have something of a patchwork look—I don’t have enough of the old siding to cover the repairs, so they’re putting new siding on the walls they are repairing. I’m not sure when we can do the rest of the house; I’ll have to consult the budget and it seems likely that the weather wouldn’t cooperate for redoing the whole thing anyway.
While I was waiting, and writing at the kitchen table (sometimes a change of scenery is good for the writing), I got tired of looking at a kitchen window where the top has persistently refused to be closeable—you know, the old double-hung windows, designed so you can open the top for air flow in the summer? I’d hoped a little stubborn insistence and careful application of brute force on my part would let me close it up for the winter but no. Someone in this house’s past had painted it in place, down more than an inch on one side and less than an inch on the other. Yes, they painted it not-shut crooked.
So I’ve been taking the window apart and repairing plaster and trying to get that corner of the kitchen ready for paint, and also doing stuff like painting bits of wood in my kitchen so repairs outside will have paint that doesn’t slough off because it froze instead of sealing to the wood. And today I have the old mailbox inside, for sanding and painting, so it can be re-hung over the new siding without looking rusty and disgusting.
I guess it’s like editing a story—the bones are good, but there are bits that have to go, and bits that just need fixing up. And it always seems to take more time and futzing than you expected. It’s also good to have friends who can help. A friend came by today to show me how to wiggle the wood to get that top window, which I’d finally gotten to move, out of the casing altogether so we can re-do the glazing compound and be assured the glass won’t fall out some cold, windy day.
Also, thank goodness for storm windows. I get to do all this and stay warm in the kitchen.
So, have you had home-repair, decorating, or organizing challenges lately?
I’ve been waiting for the weather to be dry enough and calm enough (in terms of wind) to get my roof repaired. The first snow of the season made it Very Clear that I needed to get part of the wall repaired too. This is not good for my budget, but the repairs will indeed be good for my house, even if it will have something of a patchwork look—I don’t have enough of the old siding to cover the repairs, so they’re putting new siding on the walls they are repairing. I’m not sure when we can do the rest of the house; I’ll have to consult the budget and it seems likely that the weather wouldn’t cooperate for redoing the whole thing anyway.
While I was waiting, and writing at the kitchen table (sometimes a change of scenery is good for the writing), I got tired of looking at a kitchen window where the top has persistently refused to be closeable—you know, the old double-hung windows, designed so you can open the top for air flow in the summer? I’d hoped a little stubborn insistence and careful application of brute force on my part would let me close it up for the winter but no. Someone in this house’s past had painted it in place, down more than an inch on one side and less than an inch on the other. Yes, they painted it not-shut crooked.
So I’ve been taking the window apart and repairing plaster and trying to get that corner of the kitchen ready for paint, and also doing stuff like painting bits of wood in my kitchen so repairs outside will have paint that doesn’t slough off because it froze instead of sealing to the wood. And today I have the old mailbox inside, for sanding and painting, so it can be re-hung over the new siding without looking rusty and disgusting.
I guess it’s like editing a story—the bones are good, but there are bits that have to go, and bits that just need fixing up. And it always seems to take more time and futzing than you expected. It’s also good to have friends who can help. A friend came by today to show me how to wiggle the wood to get that top window, which I’d finally gotten to move, out of the casing altogether so we can re-do the glazing compound and be assured the glass won’t fall out some cold, windy day.
Also, thank goodness for storm windows. I get to do all this and stay warm in the kitchen.
So, have you had home-repair, decorating, or organizing challenges lately?
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-06 08:17 pm (UTC)I never liked old-fashioned sash windows. They never seem to close properly, or to stay closed, and they always leak around the edges. The only thing they're good for is installing in-window air conditioners (and in a perfect world, every house would have central heating/cooling).
I rearranged my corner of the computer room, and got a new desk. I'm going to need to rearrange some more, because I acquired another piece of furniture to store a lot of the general debris - everything from an old dial-up modem, to books, to printer paper. Mostly I've been working on recovering from heart failure and stroke - I'm going to be taking tai chi lessons from an old friend, once I manage to get my new webcam set up! That's pretty much what I've been doing lately, except for handing out Trick-or-Treat candy on Halloween (and celebrating Samhain). Also, someone very close to me has been having troubles with discord within their household, and I
ve been trying to help them solve their problem. Now I'm working on December's usual madness - Yule, then Christmas with my in-laws-in-law (my daughter-in-law's extended family). (Anything else I did is probably in my journal somewhere.)
*Hugs* to you, and good luck with the house repairs!
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 12:25 am (UTC)You're doing a lot for someone recovering from those. I'm glad--your ability to do so much argues for your continued existence in this plane, and I like having you around.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-07 02:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-06 09:44 pm (UTC)We rent this apartment, but we have a long-term solution on the horizon. We plan to move.
:)
Date: 2018-12-06 11:10 pm (UTC)But for you, it not being your house, taking apart the window isn't an option, and the work involved wouldn't be rewarding anyway. In contrast, I will get to enjoy having a nice-looking working window for however long I own the house.