Nickel & Three-Granding Me To Death
Coming up in May, we'll have been living in our current house for 6 years. When we first moved in, the inspector told us that the roof was in decent shape, but would need to be re-shingled in about 2 years. The current shingles were original to the house when it was built way back in 1983, but since we have a high-angle of slope on the roof, it has taken longer to degrade the shingles than a normal house in this area. A shingle job should last about 12 - 15 years on the average house.
Anyway, getting back to our massive neglect, it is in our plan to get the house re-shingled this year. How much will a project like that cost? A few grand. We need new windows on the house to replace the see-thru cardboard it FEELS like we have up now. Since the massive window we replaced in the kitchen ran a few grand to put in, we're thinking a more cost-effective solution to the rest of our windows is in order. Replace the front windows this year -- costing a few grand -- and the back windows next year -- again, a few more grand.
To keep the outside of the house from looking like ass, we are also overdue for an exterior paint job. We just had a contractor over last week and got the quote: $2900 (a few grand). We scheduled that to happen in May.
Also on the agenda for the year is to take out a few of the trees in the yard, which have gotten too large or are growing a bit too close to the house. The birch on the East side of the house is now overhanging the roof, dropping copious amounts of organic debris all over the roof. This causes moss to grow all over the roof and makes the gutters hell to clean twice-a-year. The cost of taking out the offending growth will be a nickel. If only that were true... nope, it's going to cost about a grand, but I'm sure we'll find something else to dump another couple in to while we're at it.
Ah, the life of a homeowner. Repeat the mantra and don't stop this time: "This sure will be nice when it's all finished..."
Anyway, getting back to our massive neglect, it is in our plan to get the house re-shingled this year. How much will a project like that cost? A few grand. We need new windows on the house to replace the see-thru cardboard it FEELS like we have up now. Since the massive window we replaced in the kitchen ran a few grand to put in, we're thinking a more cost-effective solution to the rest of our windows is in order. Replace the front windows this year -- costing a few grand -- and the back windows next year -- again, a few more grand.
To keep the outside of the house from looking like ass, we are also overdue for an exterior paint job. We just had a contractor over last week and got the quote: $2900 (a few grand). We scheduled that to happen in May.
Also on the agenda for the year is to take out a few of the trees in the yard, which have gotten too large or are growing a bit too close to the house. The birch on the East side of the house is now overhanging the roof, dropping copious amounts of organic debris all over the roof. This causes moss to grow all over the roof and makes the gutters hell to clean twice-a-year. The cost of taking out the offending growth will be a nickel. If only that were true... nope, it's going to cost about a grand, but I'm sure we'll find something else to dump another couple in to while we're at it.
Ah, the life of a homeowner. Repeat the mantra and don't stop this time: "This sure will be nice when it's all finished..."
1 Comments:
At 9:11 PM,
The Hamzinger said…
Wait a sec - THE "DIY" couple are paying for landsaping and housepainting?!? Sacrilege! You know what you need? A chinaman - he'll do it all in like 3 hours while yelling at you in a language older than the dirt he washes hisself with and he'll only ask for a bowl of fish heads and the reprivitazation of your lands, Pigdog Roundeye!
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