Too Many Projects
Hello once again. Your friendly neighbourhood weirdo here with another update on all the many projects (and other things) that are going on. I’ll start with the one item I am sure everyone wants to hear about, and then move on to other things.
Tinkerbelle
Yes, she’s still an idiot, but now she’s in less pain. Probably none, in fact, but she’s not talking.
No, really. She went from not putting any weight on her back left leg to running around like a lunatic in about three days. Technically she’s still on limited exercise, but it’s not really possible to explain that to her.
My Ears
They’re fine. The hearing aids are working well as amplifiers and appear to be properly programmed. That is, I don’t have to turn them up or down at all. I can tell they help in some situations, and I only take them off to sleep and shower. (Supposedly they’re waterproof but I see no need to test that.)
I’ve paired them with my phone and laptop, and have used them a bit with those devices. They seem fine as headphones, but extensive use eats the batteries more than I like, so I don’t leave them connected all the time.
As for their interaction with my tinnitus, the jury is still out on that. As I think I mentioned before, the severity of my tinnitus varies, and I have yet to be certain they are actually helping. When things get better, it could just be the natural variation I experience. It may be a long time before I am certain of any changes here.
The conclusion so far is still that they seem to be worth the money, but it’s not a perfectly clear cut decision. I see the audiologist on Monday for my first follow up visit, and we’ll see what I learn.
Exterior Painting
As I write this, we expect the painters to arrive on Monday to power wash the house in preparation for the painting job. Part of preparing for that was to get rid of a really dumb downspout:
What you see there is a downspout coming off the upper roof, going around the eave on the east side of the lower roof, and down into a PVC drain line.
Not only does it look stupid, but all the water from both roof levels winds up in the same drain anyway, so that convoluted routing around the eave is just an eyesore. Plus, this way when I install a melt wire in the downspout to keep it from freezing, it only has to be ten feet long, not twenty.
As you can see, I turned the opening into a cleanout, and if we ever want to put the downspout back the way it was, we can do so easily. But the whole thing looks better now, and the painting will be easier. We’ll live with it this way for at least a while. The upper roof drainage issues may change it again, should we get them worked out.
Painting The Bathroom
I’m really glad this got started, but it’s a bigger job than just a day or two.
First, I took down all the old towel bars and related items. Then I figured out where I wanted the new ones hung, and installed the brackets for them.
The camera reacted very differently to the lighting in there for reasons I don’t understand. And don’t ask what the two green spots are in the second photo. I have no idea, but they were not visible on the wall. They must be some sort of image artifact. Note the horrible putty colour used in there, much like the exterior of the house. I am very happy to be making it go away.
Once the brackets were installed (you can see a few of them in the photos) I set about patching the holes left behind by the previous ones. That took three passes with drywall mud, and the third one still requires some light sanding.
But before I got to that I put up drop cloths and started priming the ceiling:
What you see there is the first coat of primer. The odd thing at the top is the opening for a skylight.
At this point I have actually applied two coats of primer, as one coat didn’t fully hide the ugly paint. The ceiling will be the same brilliant white we have been painting most of the rest of the house, while the walls will be an ivory colour that should go well with the tile.
Once the ceiling is fully painted I will remove the toilet (it’s a horrible colour) and start priming the walls, in preparation for painting them.
Once the painting is done the new toilet goes in. And if all goes well with that I will think about replacing the sinks and faucets. Like the toilet, the sinks are a truly horrible colour, but replacing them will not be simple. I am leaving that for the very end of the job as a result.
Of course I started painting during the hottest week so far this year, and being on a ladder up in that opening to the skylight is awful. I have shade cloth over the skylight and it’s still way too hot up there.
Oh, and the skylight has a crack and needs replacing. They are made of acrylic and only last so long. Counting this one I’ve replaced four of the six skylights for various reasons: two had cracks, one had an aluminum frame that condensed water inside the house, and one was replaced to give us a tinted window over the kitchen. One more needs replacing — another crack — but it’s hard to get to. The last one probably needs replacing as well, but for the moment it’s fine. It’s more shaded than any of the others, so the UV light has impacted it less.
A Final Mystery Resolved
Over the three years we’ve lived here, we never understood how the deck over our front door is built. I worried about it a bit, but I didn’t know what to do about it until the contractors were here last year and we took a closer look. It turns out it’s just cedar planks nailed to some stringers, which left us wondering what was below that. Well, the other day I figured it out.
I lifted the deck up — it’s very light — and leaned it against the wall and railing:
What you see there is after I swept up the debris that had accumulated. It seems to be a landscaping fabric over some sort of rubber stuff. There’s a seam in the middle, so…
Rubber bumpies holding the whole deck up, and the landscape fabric catches the debris so it can’t get into the rubber. And below that?
Regular roofing material.
The entire deck just floats on the roof. There is a lip around the edge so it can’t go anywhere, and a downspout to carry away the water. That’s it.
This is all good news. The old cedar planks are stained a redwood(ish) colour that doesn’t go with anything and is peeling up, so they either need to be stripped and sealed, or replaced. I think I will replace them with some sort of artificial decking that will go well with the new house colour, and will never need staining. Anne suggests I can use the same material for the stoop at the back door as well, so that is the plan. And it’s not a huge job, either. The deck is really tiny. I can probably install a replacement for the whole thing in a single weekend. The biggest challenge will be getting everything to sit flat. I may have to rip some boards down to interesting thicknesses to make that work well. Or I will need some interesting shims.
But all that has to wait for the house exterior to be painted and for me to finish painting the bathroom.
The only other thing of note is that I’ve been walking nearly every morning, trying to get myself moving more than I was. The neighbourhood has great access to many trails, and even the streets aren’t bad. A walk of 45 to 60 minutes each morning seems to be quite nice, and I hope to continue it even in the fall when the rains come back in earnest.
Anyway, it’s been a productive week, even if the main bathroom is completely unusable for the moment. I hope the trend continues.
May all your projects go well!