Wednesday, July 6, 2011

You lose some and you lose some

I have noticed some peeling paint on facia on our roof, so yesterday I decided to tackle the paint job. Unfortunately, as with most jobs I take on, this small job has taken on humungous dimensions.

Firstly, at age 71, I should be banned from climbing ladders and walking about on tiled roofs. I found myself getting a bit shaky getting back down the ladder remembering a 5 metre fall I had a few years ago breaking and dislocating my shoulder. Got to be very careful these days.

As well as painting I discovered that a piece of fancy trim was rotten with dry rot. Dry rot is actually caused by dampness. I will have to get a joiner’s shop to make me a new piece. Next I managed to spill around a litre of oil based paint on the tiles at the top of the roof and naturally gravity caused the white stream to cover about ten tiles before I could race down the ladder and collect rags to stem the flow. Fortunately I have plenty of spare tiles to replace painted ones.
I know I should have called in a tradesman, but I will have saved an estimated $1,000 and I have had some very average results from ‘tradesmen’.

I have a garage door service bloke coming this morning to sort out my door closer. The closer needs an expert to stop it playing around. He charges $150 call out which includes 30 minutes service time, which I am sure will include a new circuit board or something and a couple of hours fitting time. So what I am saving on the roof will probably probably be eaten up by the garage door.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kev, Do you know how much we all love you and rely on you. ? Stop getting on the roof and through your ladder away. Joan will be throwing her hands in the air with horror, Stop stop stop getting up ladders,,,I meant throw not through I can't work my fingers they are frozen stiff. I hate this freezing weather. Marg