Mid-Winter Pause, Slogging Through “The List"

[Uplander]

This past autumn I hunted. A lot. So much that I burned up almost all of my month+ of vacation days in the short span of two months. And The War Department didn’t complain. But, nothing good comes for free, and the price to be paid is “The List” of rooms to be “redone” before trout season kicks into gear come May or so.

So, as the temps drop and the winter winds howl outside with a noise like a freight train, I find myself not lounging with a good book and a heady libation, or tying needed flies for the coming trout season. Rather, I have just put the finishing touches on the first coat of paint in the bathroom upstairs…. The ceiling and trim were painted last week, and the room should be finished after the second coat on the walls tomorrow.

This isn’t major renovations we’re talking about either. No tearing down old plaster and sheetrocking, no flooring, etc. Just changing light fixtures and painting.

For a couple of weeks now I’ve been coming home from work at night and spending a couple of hours playing This Old House by pecking away at the tedious “prep” work. You know, all the caulking, spackling, sanding, deglossing, priming, and other tasks that need to be performed before the actual painting takes place….

There remain on The List a large room that is to be Lisa’s “office,” and an upstairs hallway that looks like it hasn’t seen a paintbrush in 120 years. I hope to be done by the end of March, but it’s iffy.

I’m really looking forward to trout fishing come spring, I can tell you that!

Anyone else working their “honey do” list during the off season?

[JoeOverlock]

I feel your pain.

My wife's "morning sickness" has turned into "all day sickness" and my honey do list has been a mile long. Plus I've been doing a little Pro Bona electrical work for some friends. Thank God for the Union, if I had a real job and had to work all 12 months of the year I'd be screwed!

I.B.E.W. Local 7
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
or
I Barely Ever Work
or
I'm Broke Every Winter

[yashuone]

my wife and i own a two unit building so my "honey do" list ends up about twice as long as your average. i spent all of the remaining autumn i had (after recovering from a broken clavicle) working on our first floor unit while we had no tenants. when that finally got rented i moved on to the basement. that consisted of asbestos removal and clearing out several years worth of tenants abandoned belongings (the flip side of that is that i finally got started building my workshop down there ;D ). now i'm on to the apartment that we currently reside in. just replaced kitchen counters and installed a new sink, next is tearing up a crappy old tile floor in the kitchen and replacing that. then after that...

you get the point i'm sure, those lists are endless i tell yuh
hang in there guys

[strbender]

Uplander,

There is a contractor around my parts that calls his company Honey Do Home Improvement. Because I'm a small contractor, what you are describing are things I will do for homeowners ONLY when I'm real slow. Heck I don't even do it at my own house ;D Joe, you know the saying. The worst house on the street belongs to the to busy carpenter

[JoeOverlock]

[strbender]

Joe

I have seen that one already. I posted a question on truck lettering over at Journal of Light Construction. I made copies and handed them out. I even posted one at the hockey rink in Winthrop when I took my nephew ;D Wow I have to find some work.

[Mark Patenaude]

I'm about 90% done framing my 2000 s.f. basement. I'll be starting all the soffiting pretty soon. I wish the mechanical guys would have been a little smarter about running their supplies and returns.

Mark

[strbender]

Mark

I feel your pain. If I don't keep on top of my subs I can have a real mess on my hands. In remodeling they are always cutting openings to big for whats needed or cutting load bearing beams / joists etc. I know Joe wouldn't do any of those things but a lot of them do

[JoeOverlock]

strbender said:

In remodeling they are always cutting openings to big for whats needed or cutting load bearing beams / joists etc. I know Joe wouldn't do any of those things but a lot of them do

I just bought a new sheet rock saw just for that sort of work.
;D


There are some real hacks out there. I've been spending a lot of time up at the North Adams Hospital the last few weeks and you should see the botched electrical job up there. They just finished a brand new renovation up there last year so everything is new. You have to wonder sometimes on how these things pass an inspection. I found 3 code violation just in one patient room and that's just on the surface, imagine what's hiding in the walls!?

Keep an eye on the Transcript for this headline: "NARH burns to ground in major electrical fire!"

Hospitals are supposed to get the best electrical installation possible. We have an entire section in the code book just for them.

[Mark Patenaude]

I had a builder build my house and unfortunately I didn't have any control over the elec/mech/plumb rough in the basement.

The soffiting isn't too bad. Everything was held tight to the joists except for the sewer main. Its tough when you have a zoned HVAC system and 2 furnaces. Alot more trunk lines.

Mark