Just a homeowners observation

[ironhat]

Have you noticed that one repair spawns another one. Like, when you decide to replace the gutters you may as well do the facia but that means you probably should do the soffit and while they're putting in the gutter guards to keep the leaves out they notice that the roof has had it and now you remember that the bathroom vent never was attached to an outlet through the roof. Holy crud, there's just o middle ground sometimes. OK, I'm feeling better now - I shlould be alright. Oh yea, the wife wanted me to do the tub surround

[Alex Franke]

Tell me about it. I started off wanting to repair/replace some boards on a play structure out back. The old boards look sooooo bad compared to the new ones... And I never liked how they did the decking... Any my son really did want a fire pole. So I ended up leveling the whole thing and starting from scratch!

BTW, you better just succumb now and replace your whole bathroom for you wife.

[ExYankee]

When we bought our home 2 ½ years ago there was some dry rot on the bottom of the galls panel to the right, it was spotted during the inspection and added and it appeared fixed when we moved in. But all that really was done was to cap it and paint. Well now the “fungus is amungus” again and I am pretty sure that it’s going to be a real seriuos.project when I go and ‘fix it’. My guess is by the time a fix the framing and such I will be ordering a new (and prettier) door.

[ironhat]

<snip>
BTW, you better just succumb now and replace your whole bathroom for you wife.

Jeez, who's side are you on? I'm needing support here. Not the crowd screaming, "jump". LOL!

[mschrank]

I hear ya! About a year and half ago the wife wanted a new fridge (had to have ice & water in the door). That turned into a kitchen remodel, then the main bathroom ("might as well...since we're at it"), then new deck.

But within each of those big projects were dozens of "little" tasks that spawned what seemed like hundreds more little tasks. Somedays I felt like I was chasing my tail and racing the clock to get one "quick" thing done.

[atgcpaul]

But within each of those big projects were dozens of "little" tasks that spawned what seemed like hundreds more little tasks.

Totally sounds like something my wife pulls. After 6 years of marriage,
countless hours of DIY TV shows, and more than her fair share of watching me
do things around the house, she still comes to me to hang a picture frame.
Guess she's tool phobic or maybe she's just checking out my butt.

Paul

[goslin23]

After 6 years of marriage,
countless hours of DIY TV shows, and more than her fair share of watching me do things around the house, she still comes to me to hang a picture frame.

Paul

Amen brother!

That cannot be more true of my wife!

Fortunately I just bought a brand new house so there's not much fixin up to do just yet (oh Lord, please don't let the LOML read this.. she'll find something for sure).

-=gos=-

[dlminehart]

This chain-reaction or daisy-chaing or whatever can also serve to SAVE effort. For instance, my wife wants to remove the wallpaper in our family room and just paint the walls. But, since we have to take everything out of the room to do this, and since that's such an effort given the huge numbers of books, the piano, the entertainment center, etc., it doesn't make sense to ONLY do the wall painting. Not when we also want to remove the tacky wood paneling at the fireplace end of the room. And, when we do that, we'll want to take advantage of the opened wall to update the non-grounded wiring and install some actual insulation.

And, and, well, you get the picture. This wallpaper removal is effectively stalled for at least another few months!

[ironhat]

Guess she's tool phobic or maybe she's just checking out my butt.
Paul

After six years I'm afraid to tell ya its the former reason, not the later!

[Thalermade]

Years ago I read a funny story about why a guy tore down his old house to build a new house. The answer, of course, began with "Well, it all started with a leak in the gutter, and the next thing I knew was......"

Sound about right?

Been in our "new house" ten years. Can not believe how all of a sudden there is a ton of maintence to do. Landscaping is starting to mature, starting to need to be redone, redecorate rooms ( didn't my parents decorate once and it stayed that way for 25 years?) replace water heater, garage door opener repair, vinyl double pane windows losing seal, deck is showing signs of wear, patio pavers sinking here and there, faucets wearing out, carpet looking worn (kids were 7 and 5 when we moved in), even the 15 year shingles are definitely looking aged. Okay I will stop.

have a great day,
Russ

[IBBugsy]

Been married 32 years and I'm still fighting this battle.

Currently, we had a rug that needed replacing in the dining room due to my late-cats bladder problem. Well, she wanted laminate flooring. Gotta do the living room and hallway, too, since it's the same rug. Gotta replace the sliding patio door first since the laminate butts up against it. Might as well pull up some ceramic tile flooring since she doesn't like it so we can laminate it also. Gotta take the wallpaper off since it won't match the new floor and paint the walls and ceiling. Now, the kitchen cabinets don't match the new floor in the dining room, which is adjacient, so we'll be painting the cabinets. Oh, yeah, the stove and dish washer are old so we might as well replace them, too.....

I'm afraid to go home from work to see what else she's thought of today....

[prlundberg]

I have come to the determination that it never ends. If you buy an old house there's all sorts of maintenance and upgrades to do. If you buy a new house there's all sorts of outside work to be done. I figure by the time my yard is the way I want it and I finish the basement it will be time to start upgrading and doing other maintenance.

When I was single and in an apartment life was so much easier...

[TheRic]

Having my wife ask me to do something is not a problem, it's when she then tells me HOW to do it. Either ask me to do it, and I'm going to do it my way or you do it.

We moved into our house 5 years ago. I think we are living in the remake of the Money Pit. More than once a 5 minute project turns into several hours, and more $$$$$. The previous owners (for about 10 years) did little to no maintenance on the place the whole time. What little they did they screwed up big time. Before that was a old lady that lived there, she did little.

[atgcpaul]

The previous owners (for about 10 years) did little to no maintenance on the place the whole time. What little they did they screwed up big time. Before that was a old lady that lived there, she did little.

This is what we at our house call "English"--the name of the previous owners.

As in:

-This old wallpaper job is pretty "Englished".
-They really "Englished" the drywall around those outlets; must be why all the wall plates in this room are over sized.
-"English" it all!

You get the idea,
Paul

[messmaker]

It all started with pulling some overgrown bushes
Had to redo the landcaping
new gutters
replace facia
4 new windows
replace vents in gable
fix loose bricks(major pain).
New front door
New outside lights

My Lowe's card is smoking. At least they had 12 months same as cash.