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Sunday, June 2, 2013

Money pit?

When we bought this house 6 years ago, we were surprised when the owners told us the lock on the back door "never worked right."

We accepted it. Fixed it about a year later (after finding said door standing WIDE open after a long day at work/school).

We found monsters sized cracks in the laundry room, our bedroom, and bathroom approximately a year after we moved in. Not a big deal, all houses settle. 

Should probably have wondered about the electricity when Ironman was out of town & I got "locked in" the garage. The van was in the garage, with about 8" clearance between the top of the van & the garage ceiling. Every time I pressed the button to open the garage door, the electricity shorted, blew a breaker, and we lost power to open the door. The emergency release was above the van. I couldn't get around the front or back of the van at all, so couldn't pull the release, so was essentially home bound until either the fault fixed itself (likely? Right...) or Ironman returned from his weeklong trip. 

Fond out it was due to a short in an EXTENSION CORD run outside to power some lights in the deck. Rated indoor only. Short was caused by melting snow. 

Two years ago we started pulling down the deck due to overly high pergola height. It was so high we never were able to get any sun protection. And the center post? Supporting the entire weight of the structure? Unanchored. Resting on the floor of the deck. Not even toenailed. And we had a porch swing hanging from this. Should we mention the two "outdoor rated" electrical ceiling fans we pulled down? Rusted through the housings. Hanging in open air (no roof over them). Yep, some high quality engineering went into the hanging of these.  

So today, Ironman decided to pull down the rails on the deck. Big old sledge, some frustration, and voila! The rails are down. 


Unfortunately...when he removed one of the rails, the top of a support post came off, revealing it had previously been repaired. He checked a little further and found that almost all of the posts are wet. Or at least damp. That's ok, it's been a pretty wet spring, and its on the north side of the house. Right? Or maybe, if you dig a little around the post, he finds the post is BURIED in the ground, not anchored in cement, and others are likely the same. 

Sigh. 


Updates to follow. 

On the upside? We got the raised bed garden done in about two hours on Saturday!
 

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