Decided to use the Family Bandwagon to fill everyone in on some house maintenance plans. I hadn't checked it for ages. Thank you for the birthday wishes Dayna and Bruce.
I've booked to get my roof cleaned and the tiles rebedded and pointed. Also decided to get new guttering. Probably not much dearer than getting someone to paint the old one and that had some suspicious bumps (maybe rust). I will need to paint the fascia boards after the old guttering is removed and before the new lot is fitted. Working bee, you boys are lucky you are both so far away. That will be a benefit my way when Damien, Cheryl, Oscar and Lily move back. Extra help for my projects. I'm looking forward to having you closer. Trip to Canberra instead of Adelaide. That is going to depend on the roof man but if he is finished, I'm thinking the week after Glenn's birthday and maybe flying at least one way.
Next project was to replace the patio blinds which have disintegrated with time and weather. One option was to go back to Kmart for three new ones. I just got a quote from Hi Light blinds for them to do the job. They would need to put in a post since they will only span 4.2m. These blinds would be much stronger and fitted so they didn't flap around. However the quote is $3700 against about $250 for the KMart version on sale. Even at $500 and paying Pete to fit them, I don't think I can justify the extra. The KMart ones lasted about five years.I'd been prepared for a couple of thousand dollars. Next time I head to Kangaroo Flat I'll price them and maybe the Spotlight version too.
Looking forward to a post from Glenn and Dee on how they have settled. Damien, have you asked what it cost Glenn and Dee to move their treasures to Canberra. Maybe the very expensive won't seem so bad. Not sure that saving a few boxes worth of stuff will bring the price down much.
Love to all
Mum
Hey Mum,
ReplyDeleteYeah, we realise we're not going to save a lot of money by getting rid of a few boxes worth of stuff.. I reckon it's as much a psychological thing, really. Uncluttering ourselves before we move back to Bendigo.
As I posted on facebook, we're all about home maintenance right now as well - fixing up our place before we rent it out. As such I'm learning :) I've been fixing up the cracks inside (with polyfiller) while Cheryl fixed the ones outside (with mortar).. and I finally fixed the front security door - I had just needed to get a rivet gun for that one. On the weekend I also replaced the rubber parts on our toilet - it was awfully cracked and leaking water every time we flushed. It's funny, I had considered calling a plumber but decided to do it myself - I don't know what the plumber would have charged but in the end it cost me about $5 :)
Still got to sort out the front door - the glass is cracked, and glued in so it's not easy to replace. We've got a spare door so I'm going to try to put the deadlock and doorknobs on it and swap them over.
And there's plenty of painting to do - painting over the polyfiller when I'm finished with that, and painting the top of the wardrobe Daz made us.
The benefit of all this is I'm learning a lot as I go, so hopefully when we're back in Bendigo and I'm helping you with your projects Mum I can do it with a little more skill than before ;)
Well done Damien and Cheryl on the maintenance work. I decided to go with the KMart option on patio blinds and just replace what was there. Pete has agreed to do the work so next time I'm out that way I'll buy three blinds. The roof man replied to my email to say he plans to start here this week so I'll be painting next weekend. Hope the weather stays good.
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