A little bit of a dump. Been working on the new rental. The Plan is to work on the interior so my property manager can start showing it and do the exterior after that. But of course the lawn needs to be mowed every week or so. And it is easier to mow the lawn if there isn't crap piled all over. And, as mentioned above, the gutters needed to be cleaned out because they were so full of crud that they not only weren't working, they were pulling away from the eaves--despite extra added screws. When I was up there I saw the condition of the roof and new I needed a new roof ASAP. I also had a dying tree in the front yard. And since it is better to have a stray branch fall on an old roof than a new roof, I wanted the tree out before the roof went on. Meanwhile, there were piles and piles of crap in the driveway. Theoretically firewood for a rusted out firepit, but really piles and piles of crap. Oh, and there was this...well there was a big black metal wheelchair ramp that came out right away, but there was also this plastic fantastic white vinyl railing all around the front porch. Now let me say, the front porch is only maybe 8" higher than the yard. And there are raised plant beds around 90% of it, so it really doesn't need a railing. Heck, there's even a concrete step on the side abutting the driveway, so clearly the intent was to be able to step up onto the porch from the driveway.
Now I need to step back and touch on colors. Roof was (maybe) dark brown. Eaves, gutters, downs, and shutters were dark brown. Windows, pillars, and porch railing were white (because white vinyl is like 1/10th the cost of any other color). Siding...I thought it was tan, but actually looking at it, it was a kind of banana/custard color. And am I gay? Because when I talked to both the female neighbors about what I was doing I used terms like "cream" and "banana" and they'd interrupt with "yellow." And not, like, "light yellow" or "pastel yellow," just yellow. Anyway, when I realized this, I also realized that 95% of houses, the gutters and eaves match the windows. And if I painted the brown white (which will suck a little), it would totally change the look of the place--for the better. I made the call to put grey shingles on the roof that would match what I envision the house to look like, not what it currently looks like.
I also took down the horrible plastic railing. And with that much less white in the scheme, the brown trim worked better; to the point that I almost called my roof guy to change color of the shingles back to brown. My roof guy was annoying me, but when he comes through, he comes through. Said he'd get this done this week and it was done less than 24 hours after we agreed on the work. And it looks bad with the grey shingles and brown trim, so I'm stuck having to paint white over brown (probably more than 1 coat). Should've went back to brown, but spilt milk and all.
But where was I? Oh! Yeah! The interior. Which was *totally* The Plan. And I've totally neglected it. I did manage to clean windows. But on the outside, so that only kind of counts. (The outside of the windows are actually linked to light on the inside, so they are kind of "inside".) Today I finally got started on the inside.
Again, house was occupied by smokers. And pictures of this house would put any sane person off smoking. Pretty much every room has a wallpaper border. Under that, the walls are white. Everywhere else they are a mottled beige. So is the ceiling. After scrubbing the ceilings and 2 walls of 1 bedroom with a bucket of bleach, trisodium phosphate (TSP), and water, I was telling myself that the ceiling was actually beige and that the reason the walls under the border were white is because they were primed but not painted. But then I see the spot behind the floor length mirror that was agressively screwed to the wall and realize that, no, the walls *were* white. But cigarette smoke made them beige to the point that bleach and TSP cannot remove the stain. So the plan is to go over the entire inside of the house with bleach and TSP. Then go over it *again* with vinegar and Pine-Sol, then paint everything with KILLZ primer before painting. And just to jump back to exterior work for a bit, after I unload all the wood in the trunk of the Mustang, I've only got maybe 2 more trunkloads of wood before the driveway is clear. I mean, there's a ton of landscape logs and piles of brush, and about a 10' tall (no exaggerating for effect) stack of concrete pavers, but one thing at a time.
Oh, and fences. What is it about poor people and privacy fences? The house has a very small and cluttered lot. But there's a big beautiful field out behind it. So naturally they put up all kinds of fencing to obstruct the view. And when the fencing didn't do a good enough job obstructing the view, they screwed all kinds of extra boards to it to make damned sure no one could enjoy the nice view out the backyard.
In unrelated news, The Cat has been Out for the better part of the week. Logically, I am not worried. Emotionally, I am becoming concerned--not that there's much I can do, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Now that I'm working part time some nights, this has screwed up our established routine and he wanted to go Out one night and wouldn't come back In before I had to go to bed. Usually, he'll be waiting at the door for me within 24 hours--and he's only been Out overnight a few times. This time it has been days and days with no sign of him. Now I know there are water sources around. And I know he knows how to hunt. And take care of himself around other cats. And avoid suspicious humans. And probably animal predators. And, like, the day before he disappeared I'm pretty sure he discovered that the animals he kills are full of delicious meat (The Dog murdered and partly disemboweled a little baby bunny and left it on the deck). There was also a story in the news today about a dog that was missing for 5 weeks and turned up and should eventually make a full recovery. And cats are much more independent than dogs. I had a cat that I had to give to friends that disappeared for a time but eventually turned up Ok. So logically, I shouldn't be worried. But I feel like he likes me and The Dog and likes laying on the couch and eating cat food whenever he wants, so I'm a bit worried about his continued absence. That said, there's basically nothing I can do, so there's really no point in worrying. He has a microchip. Animal control is so busy they barely pick up stray dogs, let alone cats. But I wish he'd come home. I write this partly because I've already prayed and every time he's Out and I post here, he immediately shows up, so maybe posting here is more effective than praying.
Well, I think I gotta work tomorrow. And I have plans for the weekend. So I may not get back to house renovation until next week.