Saving One Penny at a Time: Day 16: More Steps Backwards!!!

I was able to return last night to be back for two days as I needed to have a physical check-up. I figured while here I would see what work is being done on the house and start cleaning up the interior.

So I headed over this morning and was shocked to see grass already taking hold in the bare areas! And I mean it was doing well! In less than seven days, I had grass standing two inches tall in several areas! I was nothing short of impressed. And thrilled! :)

Grass is starting to take hold!

I gave the grass a good soaking, then headed up onto the roof to tackle a project that I never really planned on up until now! It's kind of comical to me...you have a huge list of projects from Day One. And you have some BIG projects that you know need done (siding, windows, doors, appliances, repairing holes, etc.). Then, as these projects begin, you find other projects (leaky heat pump, shorted wire, unconnected pipes, etc.). Then as these projects all begin to wrap up, you find even more projects that you never had eyes to see before. And that's what this morning was all about.

It turns out that I have a very, very rusty chimney cap. I mean, it's been there all along, but I just never had eyes to see it. I was distracted by the yellow siding, the hideous blue trim, and the overgrown yard. But now that I have clean siding and walls going up, I had an eyesore of rust on the roof! I needed it gone.

So I grabbed some paint and headed up on the roof this morning. I gave it a coat of exterior paint, and what a difference that made! She looks great! I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier!

The very rusty chimney cap.

Getting a little facelift.

Voila!

Of course, when you are on a roof, you might as well get good perspectives of other stuff, too, right?!

The pretty dismal front yard! It looks terrible from this angle!

The newly-installed ridge vent. Looks good.

As the paint was drying, I headed inside and started scrubbing away the bathtubs. They cleaned up decently, but I have to say it's pretty gross pulling up someone else's hair that you know had been sitting there for at least two years. Yuck. Oh well, part of the process...

Scrubbing one of the bathtubs...

The construction workers showed up around 9:15 this morning to continue work. I was eager to see them! They worked outside while I cleaned up inside.

This morning they were finally tackling the windows!!! I was thrilled to see the big picture window removed and replaced with a gorgeous set with panes! I had made that last-minute decision to add panes to the front windows, and I am thrilled with the results. I love the look! Just an extra dose of curb appeal.

Something is missing here!!!

I would find myself making numerous trips out of the bathroom to see the progress. It's so fun to me. On one of those trips, I noticed some heavy damage on the wood below the front picture window.

"Do windows usually have that bad of water damage below them"? I remember my contractor telling me that in his bid he fully expected to have to replace some wood below windows, so I thought nothing of it. I was just curious more than anything.

"No, not THAT bad. And I don't think it's water, either. It looks like termites."

!!!

The window is gone!

The damage done by the termites.

The termites completely weakened (ruined) the wood.

I then told him that I had certainly had termites, and that confirmed his statement. Sure enough, I walked up to the window and inspected the damage. Termites indeed. But this was a HUGE problem, for the workers had already installed siding right up to this window! Not good. The wood just flaked under any pressure. Termites are pretty impressive creatures, and I was getting a crash course on them.

So if I had termites on my hardwood floors...and if I now had them three feet up underneath a window sill...would it not make sense that they used that in-between wood to get up to that window? Sigh. It was a no-brainer to me. AGH!!!

I then painted a second coat on the chimney cap.

The good news is that the work is slowly progressing. The soffit and facia started going up today, and I must say that I do not miss that blue one bit! The white facia is gorgeous!!! What a difference. The house looks clean.

I love the new look! I hate that blue!

I didn't do a whole lot else the rest of the day. I was simply limited by the work going on outside. Most of my projects are wrapped up (woo hoo!), and I just need to deep-clean the inside, but I can't do that until the windows are all in. So my projects were few.

Actually, it was kind of a bad day! Outside of the homemade snowcones with my nieces after lunch and the successful chimney cap painting, today didn't go well, at all.

1. I found more extensive termite damage.
2. The workers were careless in the installation of windows and completely marked up my interior walls.
3. My niece fell out of a shopping cart and fell three feet onto her head on a concrete floor.

Seriously. I had gone to a hardware store to pick up exterior lights, and while shopping, I saw her just tumble out and fall helplessly to the concrete, smashing her back and head. It's a sight I won't soon forget...just helplessly falling perfectly parallel to the ground with that helpless face. Ugh. It made for a hard night's sleep! She was rushed to the doctor's to see if she had a concussion, but they said she was fine, so that's good.

But I wasn't very happy with the progress and workmanship at the house today, either. So I had to fire off a kind but stern email to the boss. I told him about the termite damage and alluded to the whole board needing replaced. I told him about me finding the sliding glass door wide open after his workers had left. And I told him that my interior walls were basically trashed from window installation. I wasn't too thrilled.