Projects Around the House

So for all it's worth, I'm not for want of things to do around the house, even in lieu of being a complete bum over the weekend. There three biggies that come to mind. The first will be to overhaul the deck in front of the house. The current state of the deck is fine on the surface, but for whatever reason the person who installed and oversaw its construction (that would include MG) failed to deal with the fact that the deck leans in towards the house. The consequence of this is that water runs toward the house and collects along the front door. While it doesn't get in through the front entrance, it does leak through the tiles and into the basement, soaking the frame and the floor boards. NOT A GOOD THING.
So the plan is to gently pry the tiles off and salvage as much of it as I can, though I've got free license to destroy the things, so I'm not too concerned. Even still, I'll try to be graceful, because they are nice tiles, not to mention, I'm sure, expensive. My mentor told me to just try and ram a pry bar underneath and lift and see what happens. I think I can do that. Once we have them up, we need to cut out the wood and then replace it so that the pitch of the deck slopes away from the house. Then lay the tiles, grout them, and caulk the heck out of the seams. Sounds easy enough... if you're friggin Bob Vila.

The other thing I need to do is sand and paint the trim along the root. Normally this would be a piece of cake if it weren't so high up. The rain doesn't help, either, but I've got to tackle this before winter kicks in. Though I have some time, better now than later. What will make this job a bear is that I don't have a scaffolding, so I'll have to do it a few feet at a time. Sand, paint, then move the ladder a few feet and repeat. Sounds like the instructions on a shampoo bottle.

Then, of course, I'll have to finish painting the clapboards and then the windows. Then I'll have finished half of my mandatory painting work, according to the Jack Castle 2 and 4 theory of house painting, which states that you should paint the two sides that get the most sun every two years, and then the other sides every four years. It works out so that the high sun sides get painted every two years and the low sun sides get it every four years. Is that perfectly confusing?

I've also decided to venture into territory that mortifies with me fear but I'm going to give it a try due to the thumbs up by my favorite tool store, Joe's. I'm going to try and remove, dismantle, clean, reassemble, and reinstall the carburetor on my lawnmower. First, however, I need to locate it. Wish me luck. You might not be able to tell, but our lawnmower is shaking with fear at the prospect of me working on her. I figure that if I succeed in even one of these steps, I'm farther along than I was a year ago. If I get two, then I'm looking good, and any more than that, then look out for Fred, real man in training.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.