Caulk, Cracks, and Home Maintenance. Oh My!
Caulking cracks. Chipping Paint. Rotting Wood. When it comes to this old house we live in, it’s us against nature.
Who will win?
Nature is unrelenting and seems to be in the lead at the moment.
But don’t count out me and Handy Husband. We’re tenacious and industrious problem solvers.
When you buy a fixer-upper like we did you have to expect to be in it for the long haul, especially if you aren’t doing a major renovation all at once.
For the past couple of months, we’ve been focusing on siding maintenance. Like many old homes in the Northeast, we have wood siding. Wood siding can last decades but it needs maintenance.
We’ve been looking for cracks in the wood that have happened and caulking those cracks so water can’t get behind the siding. We’ve also been scraping any loose paint, sanding if necessary, and repainting.
I made this mess with my scraper.
Don’t worry. I cleaned up my mess.
It was under duress though.
I do not like being on the tall ladder. At all.
I don’t have a fear of heights or falling.
I have a fear of how bad it’s going to hurt if I fall.
The night after I painted this tall wall, I was lying in bed next to Handy Husband and pondering the ladder situation.
Me: “What would you have done if I had fallen off the ladder?”
Handy Husband: (without any hesitation) I would have caught you.
Me: *silently swoons*
Also Me: *thinks about the practicality of what he said*
Me: You really think you could catch me?
Handy Husband: (seems a little perturbed) I could catch you. I WOULD catch you. It would probably mess me up for life but I would catch you.
Me: Okay…if you’re sure.
Handy Husband: I’m sure.
Me: *thinks about it some more*
Me: Just so you know, I don’t think I could catch you.
Handy Husband: *sighs*
We also took the time to remove something that has bugged me since the day we moved in – the telephone box on the front of our house.
The FRONT!
*shakes head*
These wires had all been abandoned, so we could remove the telephone box.
Shall we see what was hiding under the box?
That looks like a fun mess, huh?
By fun, I mean not fun.
A little scraping, a little sanding, a little wood filling, and we had this situation.
We also replaced some rotten wood in this section, redid the trim, and caulked every crack we could find.
After a little paint, the porch looks like that eyesore of a phone box was never there.
I don’t know about you, but I feel a million times better now.
All of these little home maintenance tasks take time. Hours usually. Sometimes days.
We know our siding will need to be replaced sooner rather than later. In the meantime, taking care of it means we are preserving the underlying structure of our home and hopefully preventing bigger problems from occurring.
Our home is still a fixer-upper in many regards. Slowly but surely we are chipping away at the projects and hoping that we get to everything that still needs to be done in time.
Have you been doing exterior home maintenance this year too? Do you also have a fixer-upper or a home you’re trying to prevent from becoming a fixer-upper? I’d love to know. You can do that by commenting on this blog post, emailing us here, or reaching out via Instagram or Facebook.
Happy Fixing Up!
Thanks for being here today. I appreciate you. Here are some other blog posts you might enjoy.
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