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Working on the House
Mar. 11th, 2023 07:15 pmI've been burning both ends in working on the house lately.
THE LANAI. Toward the start of the year, I asked my dad if he could help me fix our lanai. There were a few places were the boards were getting soft out near the edge of the lanai (because: Hawaii), and I'd been wanting to do do something about it for a year or so.
He agreed and we spent a Thursday afternoon carving out bits of the lanai which seemed rotten. (The biggest problem, the screws holding down the boards were entirely rusted, also because: Hawaii.) And then we spent a Wednesday afternoon the next week repeating the process, with bigger gaps coming out as we found more and more rotten wood. And then one more Thursday afternoon and we just fully took out the front five rows of the deck. So, there was apparently quite a bit that needed fixing.
He unfortunately got called away to work on one of his rentals after that, but I primered newly exposed crossbeams, and then Kimberly and I had an exciting morning tying tarps down over the deck as a month solid of rain started coming in.
(The front of the Lanai is now a huge covered-pit trap, which is not ideal, but we're mostly just not going out there at the moment,)
We've since bought some wood to replace what we took out (ten 8' 2x6s I believe) and I've primed the top of all of them. Another two afternoons and I'll have the other sides primed too.
THE GAME SHELVES. Meanwhile, last week the shelving I ordered from BoardGameTables.com a year and a half ago arrived. (It's a year late, and that combined with some really abysmal communication has made it my worst kickstarter experience to date.) It's cool modular shelving and it all needs to be assembled. I've spent a couple of hours on it so far and have about 20% of the cubes assembled, with 80% more to go plus doors and shelves and connecting it all together.
So afternoons lately, when I finish up work, the question has been: is it a priming afternoon or a cube assembly afternoon?
(Tomorrow morning is going to be one or both, as I defer yard work for the week because the cool and rain of the last few months has slightly slowed the verdant Kauian growth.)
THE BOOK SHELVES. I should note that we've also got the ongoing task of finishing up the furnishing of our downstairs. We finally got our shelves built there in December and we have emptied out our book boxes (3 years later!) and filled all the shelves (ALL THE SHELVES!). But we still have furniture to order to finally fill the place out and make it a fully functioning part of the house. That's largely been on hiatus because Kimberly has been sick since December, except I clear a bit of cruft here and there as time allows. (We still have a few non-book boxes from the move which just need to be settled at this point.)
THE FLOORING. And speaking of delayed projects, I still have a little flooring to finish downstairs too: in my closet and in the Harry-Potter closet. But that's been waiting for us to clear out all the books, and more recently I haven't wanted to do it while the deck was in process. As that's finalizing, and because I'm finally going to get to start shelving some games soon too, I'll have enough space to move my comics (trade paperbacks and omnibuses) out of my closet and get to work in there. WHEW!
PAINTING. As a free bonus, I've been helping my dad out at that rental. It's a house up in Wailua Homesteads that's been rented since before my dad and Mary move to Hawaii, 15 years ago. Combine that with the fact that the renters weren't the most responsible and the place has needed A LOT of work. My dad and Mary have been out there two or three times a week for four to five weeks now! Yowza. I've helped out three Saturdays now.
The place was a wreck the first time I saw it, and that was after a week or more of cleanup! Damaged floors, damaged paint, and quite possibly TONS of junk that the renters left behind when they moved back to the Mainland, including not just a household of stuff, but also a yard filled with tables, a car hood, and who knows what else to create privacy barriers(!!). It's starting to look a lot nicer five or so weeks later. For my part I've painted closets, painted doorframes, and painted doors.
Getting better at painting! Roller and brush, at your service!
THE LANAI. Toward the start of the year, I asked my dad if he could help me fix our lanai. There were a few places were the boards were getting soft out near the edge of the lanai (because: Hawaii), and I'd been wanting to do do something about it for a year or so.
He agreed and we spent a Thursday afternoon carving out bits of the lanai which seemed rotten. (The biggest problem, the screws holding down the boards were entirely rusted, also because: Hawaii.) And then we spent a Wednesday afternoon the next week repeating the process, with bigger gaps coming out as we found more and more rotten wood. And then one more Thursday afternoon and we just fully took out the front five rows of the deck. So, there was apparently quite a bit that needed fixing.
He unfortunately got called away to work on one of his rentals after that, but I primered newly exposed crossbeams, and then Kimberly and I had an exciting morning tying tarps down over the deck as a month solid of rain started coming in.
(The front of the Lanai is now a huge covered-pit trap, which is not ideal, but we're mostly just not going out there at the moment,)
We've since bought some wood to replace what we took out (ten 8' 2x6s I believe) and I've primed the top of all of them. Another two afternoons and I'll have the other sides primed too.
THE GAME SHELVES. Meanwhile, last week the shelving I ordered from BoardGameTables.com a year and a half ago arrived. (It's a year late, and that combined with some really abysmal communication has made it my worst kickstarter experience to date.) It's cool modular shelving and it all needs to be assembled. I've spent a couple of hours on it so far and have about 20% of the cubes assembled, with 80% more to go plus doors and shelves and connecting it all together.
So afternoons lately, when I finish up work, the question has been: is it a priming afternoon or a cube assembly afternoon?
(Tomorrow morning is going to be one or both, as I defer yard work for the week because the cool and rain of the last few months has slightly slowed the verdant Kauian growth.)
THE BOOK SHELVES. I should note that we've also got the ongoing task of finishing up the furnishing of our downstairs. We finally got our shelves built there in December and we have emptied out our book boxes (3 years later!) and filled all the shelves (ALL THE SHELVES!). But we still have furniture to order to finally fill the place out and make it a fully functioning part of the house. That's largely been on hiatus because Kimberly has been sick since December, except I clear a bit of cruft here and there as time allows. (We still have a few non-book boxes from the move which just need to be settled at this point.)
THE FLOORING. And speaking of delayed projects, I still have a little flooring to finish downstairs too: in my closet and in the Harry-Potter closet. But that's been waiting for us to clear out all the books, and more recently I haven't wanted to do it while the deck was in process. As that's finalizing, and because I'm finally going to get to start shelving some games soon too, I'll have enough space to move my comics (trade paperbacks and omnibuses) out of my closet and get to work in there. WHEW!
PAINTING. As a free bonus, I've been helping my dad out at that rental. It's a house up in Wailua Homesteads that's been rented since before my dad and Mary move to Hawaii, 15 years ago. Combine that with the fact that the renters weren't the most responsible and the place has needed A LOT of work. My dad and Mary have been out there two or three times a week for four to five weeks now! Yowza. I've helped out three Saturdays now.
The place was a wreck the first time I saw it, and that was after a week or more of cleanup! Damaged floors, damaged paint, and quite possibly TONS of junk that the renters left behind when they moved back to the Mainland, including not just a household of stuff, but also a yard filled with tables, a car hood, and who knows what else to create privacy barriers(!!). It's starting to look a lot nicer five or so weeks later. For my part I've painted closets, painted doorframes, and painted doors.
Getting better at painting! Roller and brush, at your service!