New Deck

I have lived at AlPlace for about 15 years now. An extensive remodel was done shortly before I bought The Place. Unfortunately, the guy who did the remodel should have chosen some other line of work. It is obvious that no inspection was done for parts of the work.

I have some real homeowners terror tales to tell. The movie Money Pit comes to mind, but on a less grand scale.

AlPlace is on three floors and totals about 2580 Sq. Ft. Add on a couple of decks and 1/4 acre of crabgrass and dandelions, and that is my little corner of the world.

The main problem is that ever since I bought The Place, I have been fixing one problem after another. When something happens, it is always about ten times as hard to repair because what is wrong at the moment is only the tip of the iceberg.

Take the downstairs bathroom for example.

About six or seven years ago R. was taking a shower when this horrible screeching began in the bathroom. It was R., and part of the shower stall had fallen in on her. Now I suppose I could have gone and gotten a tube of Gorilla glue and just glued it back together, but I had always been uneasy about quality of materials and workmanship in the bathroom so I took it as an opportunity to check out the whole room.

After rewiring the entire bathroom, putting in a new sink and medicine chest, new flooring, a new shower surround and tile, and sectioning the wall up 3' all the way around the tub, four months and a couple of thousand dollars had disappeared.

That year R. gave me a Father's day card that said "How many fathers does it take to change a lightbulb?".

"Only one, but he has to replace the fixture, lower the ceiling and rewire the room, so it will take him several months"

Just about every project I have undertaken at AlPlace has been that way. Major problems hidden beneath a questionable surface.

Well, replacing the deck is the last major issue left at AlPlace. Oh there will always be a stream of minor things to take care of, but all of the major things will have been accomplished.

I just may have to sell it and start all over.