$500 wasted

The rain from yesterday's massive downpours have again washed away the driveway. We CANN OT spend $500 every time it rains and to fix this problem would be obviously prohibitevely expensive. This is very discouraging and I don't know to do about it. Ernesto is only hours away and it will only get worse.

Some updated pictures

Some progress pictures, if only to remind myself that I am making progress.

1. This first one is an indication of the coverage problems. This was medium blue trim and this is what it looks like after the second coat of primer (one coat of which is supposed to hide the color). It's still blue. Even after the first coat of high-quality white paint, the blue still peeks through if you look closely. For high-profile areas, I've had to add a fourth coat and even then it could us another. Annoying and extremely time-consuming.

2. The second picture is of the new threshold. You can't see much, but it isn't rotten and that's the main point. The camera in the cell takes very basic pictures, so these aren't great.

3. The kitchen is still a work zone, so it's cluttered and only done from the waist up, but this is what it looks like. I reattached the original handles and hinges after painting because they worked better now that before! I coul still replace them if consensus dictates, but personally, I like them. They are pretty basic.

4. The back deck no longer has a tress stump in it and the hole has been covered. I had to build the framing under it and discovered that the left side was higher than the right, but to fix it would probably not be possible or feasible, so it slopes.

5. The girl's bedroom, which has been a major hassle of the cerilian teal, bananna peel and unnamed purple (I found the paint cans) painted daisies and butterflies. It is now general public beige and white! The ceiling has caused another problem, causing me to needto paint it, when I'd hope I could avoid it. I thought this room would be simple, but like everything else, not. The original picture is here for comparision.

At this point the majority of the paint is done. Bathrooms still need it as do the outside first floor windows (The second floor is staying putple unless it really stands out. I'm just not getting 20 feet up on ladders.) The high heat abd humidity have limited my time outdoors as well as upstairs and his week could present a hurrican problem, but there's still lots to do inside.

Some lessons learned

I knew I'd learn some things doing this. I learned two things this week: 1. When I do this again, buy a compressor and paint spray equipment. Hours and hours and hours of painting is really grinding me down. This roller and brush stuff is a collosally archaic waste of time and energy. I'd rather spend two days masking and taping and one or two days spraiying than three weeks of painting. I have at least three more days of painting. The dark green and purple trim takes at least three coats, using high quality primer, often four and is very tedious. 2. Ill go back to the inspector I used originally on this houe in Wendell. The inspector for the Blackfoot house missed or severely underestimated several critical items and his report was hard to read and incomplete. He's a decent guy and his report was okay for a residential house, but not for an investment. On a more expensive house, I'd be very reluctant to hire him again. Back to Amerispec.

The crawlspace mess

The A/C technician came out for evaluation today on why the airflow is so inconsistent. This could get expensive, but basically there are these problems:

1. Some of the ducts are either disconnected of ruptured (he put his right through a large one near the blower.

2. The ducts, most of them, are made of amaterial that was new in the early 90's, a grey flexible tubing that has since provento be a disaster. The flexing created by heat in the winter and cold in te summer causes them to crack and break. A couple of thee were replaced at some point, but at least eight have to be replaced.

2a. These ducts were installed by incompetent installers who used large cable ties to attach them. Sloppy, cheap and irresponsible.

3. The evaporator coil needs to be "deep cleaned." For an unknown length of time, the unit has been running without filters, which is disasterous for the evaporator. It could need replacement, which would be expensive, but hopefully a less expensive cleaning.

4. Something is living in one of the ducts and the technicial would not advance past it! I'll have to find and remove the animal/reptile, somehow, before any repairs can be made. There are small animal tracks, possibly a feral cat or a racoon. Either way it could be rabid. I may try to trap it with a humane trap. If that fails, another expense for animal removal.
This is likely because of the crawlspace door being detached, which I'll need to fix. My knees and back can't take being under there for very long.

Progess and setbacks

A sick cat and a muffler that fell off in traffic have set me back that last two days, but the kitchen (and hallway) is *almost* painted. Then the there's a the countertop and floor. Obviously my original three-week estimate was extremely opimistic. I'll be very lucky to get this done by September 1.

The driveway is done, though the two loads of crushed stone didn't go as far as I'd hoped. At least prostects won't lose a wheel on the property.

Friday Night Update

Every day this week was 95 or hotter (100 both Wednesday and Thursday, 98 today) and high humidity. Even in the A/C I sweat profusely all week and all I did was paint! It's still work, and any work this week was tough going. I figure out soaked 15 T-shirts this week!

The kitchen trim and cabinets are *almost* painted. The dark green has proven extremely difficult to cover and requires four coats. Trim is slow going anyway, so the progess has been excutiatingly slow. High quality primer and paint made little difference, and I still have five more windows and doors of that color (or burgundy). It's literally been 50 hours of painting, so I know there will be a least another week of it.

I brought room A/C unit from home so I could spot prime the butterfilies and daisies in the upstairs room in something less that 100-degree heat. (I needed a break from the kitchen.) At 5000 BTU, it barely made a dent. After four hours, it barely got the temperature down to about 90. It should do a little better from now on, but I need to find a HVAC company that isn't overwhelmed to fix the central unit. Those butterflies and daisies, too, required three coats of primer just so I could paint over them!

When I get the cabinet doors and drawers back up in the kitchen, I'll take a picture. It's already three times brighter in there. When I get a new floor and countertop, it will be a very nice kitchen.

Ray the Landscaper didn't show today, so hopefully he'll show up on Monday. He didn't make a firm comittment for today, so that's okay. If he skipped it because of the heat, I can't blame him. He's in his late 60s or early 70s.

To date, I've spent about about $1600 (including my labor rate), I've logged more than 800 miles, and 90 hours.

Threshold pictures

Right side of threshold prior to further investigation. Not visible are hundreds of started termites and ants, and a couple of bugs I couldn't identify.
This is the left side looking out from the kitchen.


With the door closed looking down into the insulation.

Hot hot hot

It's 3:06 on the hottest day of the year and I 'm back home because, despite taking trhe precautions, I started having early signs of heat exhaustion. After only about 4 hours of work, inside in the air conditioning, I still sweat through four shirts. I drank plenty of water, but started getting a little dizzy with a headache and shivering. Time to stop! I was removing the very stubborn top border wallpaper, so even in a cool room I was up near the ceiling and working hard. I managed to finish that (but still two rooms to do), but I ran out of gas when I went back to painting.

The driveway will be graded and loaded with crushed stone in a few days (cheaper than gravel, apparently).