Home repairs are never cheap.
New vinyl siding covering every square inch of home's exterior:
Twelve Bazillion Dollars
New downspouts and gutters with Gutter Guards:
Eleventy Million Dollars
New steel garage doors:
You spent what?!
Never having to deal with any of these again:
Carpenter Bee: harmless, unless you're a house.
Carpenter Ant: way more reliable than the carpenter you hired to renovate the kitchen.
Termites: Ever had a swarm of these in your kitchen? Straight out of Hitchcock, I tell you.
Woody: He's cute. Crazy, but cute.
Losing battle: we live in the woods.
All we have to do is power wash, baby! Once we buy a power washer.
Preposterously ridiculously colossally exorbitantly prohibitively expensive
Priceless
What's your latest home improvement project?
Visit FeeFiFoto for beautiful personalized home decor items. Put your photos on clocks, porcelain plates, or ceramic tiles.
I live on the fourth floor in a condo, so you would think I'd escape such travails. But no, if you own and don't rent, there is no escape. First I had to pony up for a new roof. Then I had to have new windows installed in the living room and both bedrooms (if I did it when the other owners did, I could get a discount; if I waited, I'd be on my own). In 2007 I noticed a musty smell in my kitchen. Turns out it had to do with the pipes down on the second floor. I'm waiting for the bill on that one. It doesn't seem to end! Doing these things eats up the money I'd put away to redo my own space -- new kitchen, new bathroom, new window treatments ... They all have to wait. PHEW! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to rant, but you touched a nerve. I just have to take solace in all that deductible mortgage interest.
Posted by: The Gal Herself | January 18, 2008 at 06:23 PM
It's not so bad if the work we do is something visitors can admire, like a redecorated room or a new kitchen, but when it's hidden or mundane like a roof or new furnace, there's very little pleasure in it. Really, when you were in high school, did you ever dream you'd have to even think about a new roof? All I wanted was a new Camaro (I'm dating myself ;))
Posted by: feefifoto | January 18, 2008 at 06:52 PM
I just got our first estimate on getting a fertilizing service for our lawn. The previous owners let the yard go to the weeds and it's one of the worst yards in the neighborhood. I was a bit surprised to say the least at the estimate. I think I'm going to have to suck it up though and get it done if I want to see any improvement in our yard.
Posted by: Lynne | January 18, 2008 at 08:24 PM