One Thing Leads To Another

What started out as simple maintenance, albeit long overdue maintenance, has become quite a production in our lives. Then again, what else is new when it comes to house upkeep? I had put off painting the house for years and in fact didn't do it right the first time way back when and paid for my insolence. This time around I needed to re-paint the back section of the house, hopefully doing it right, and ended up replacing a bunch of clapboards. This has led me tot he decision to paint the entire house, which is a pretty ambitious task when you really get down to it. Plus, as I make my around the house, I find plenty of other clapboards that need replacing, and as we all know, fixing one clapboard means fixing three.

This is a job that is long overdue. When we first bought the house, the inspector said to paint the two sides that get the most sun every two years and the other two sides every four years. That's a lot of painting, and being the lazy slob that I am, I didn't follow his advice. Over the years I ended up painting the north and south faces, neglecting the gable ends, which present some significant challenges because they go up so high. Now that I'm finally doing it, it has become very clear to me how much a fresh coat of paint not only makes the house look nice, but it protects the wood from the elements, as well. The two sort of go hand in hand, don't you think?

My plan is to paint the bottom half of the house first, then when I've gone all the around, make my way up. Part of the reason for this is because the bottom half is in greater need of repair being closer to the ground. It's also more accessible and doesn't require the use of our massive 30 foot ladder, which is scary to use. Finally, as you go higher up on the house, you run into more and more hornets' nests, which are a complete bummer, especially when you're balancing precariously on a ladder holding a can of paint.

Needless to say, this should be interesting. As of now the improvement in the appearance of the house is marked, and it's always nice to get immediate results from your work.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.