Ah, homeownership. One of the great American dreams. Nothing beats the feeling of sending payments to a giant loan company rather than some landlord. I finally own something, or will, in the year 2036. Throughout the life of my column, I hope to take a look at the joys and pitfalls of being a new homeowner.
Many things come along with homeownership that do not occur to many people as they sign their closing papers. Did I know that my skills as an amateur plumber, electrician, carpenter, contractor, and handiman would be put to the test on a regular basis? Somewhat. I had heard that I should invest in Home Depot since I would now be spending many of my waking hours trying to figure out which type of caulking would best solve my current problem. I chalked this talk up to overzealous nuts. Now you may consider me one of those nuts.
I am currently involved in one project that I thought would be a “minor” fix. How difficult could it be to take down wallpaper and paint a bathroom? A couple of days, I thought. A month later, and ninety percent done, I realize that when you have a little know-how and a lot of gusto, things can go pretty wrong. Wallboard can be severly damaged by overscraping wallpaper. Should I use DIF or steam? I have found both to be just as damaging. Painting is a real pain in the neck.
I probably shouldn’t have scheduled a hardwood-floor installation just when I am about to be finished with the bathroom, but at least now my kitchen floor will look fantastic. Every once in a while I look at my almost finished bathroom and say, “This is the smallest room in the house and it is taking me ten times longer than it should to finish. The rest of the house should be a real treat.”
Is homeownership a pain in the neck? Kind of. I am now paying people to fix things that in the past the landlord would have. I have no one to blame but myself for things getting broken because of stupidity. I’ll tell you one thing though: I can’t wait to get that bathroom finished. Once I do, I am going to go in, close the door, have a seat, and take a good look around at my handiwork.
Feel free to do so also; just light a match before you leave.
7 Comments
I have used wallpaper striper in powder form cut with warm water and sprayed from a pump action bottle. Let it absorb then go at it with a large flat scraper. It works better than steam on really tricky paper and the sprayer penetrates way better than a sponge. If you tell me what kind of walls you have (horse-hair plaster or sheet-rock) I can give you some tips on seamless repair.
Are you installing the kitchen floor (pre-finished?) before the rest of the house is completed? Becaus it would be a shame for a plumber to accidentally drop a heavy wrench on that new floor.
What I have noticed in dealing with homeowners is that they get over excited and want to see things finished, even if it means working backwards to do so. Good work takes time. Make lists, prioritize and be patient. It’s good practice to start in a small room. Good luck and have fun with it.
See Dan, and you thought it would be insults and assholes. But oh no, here on Fluid Imagination, our resident experts are kind, courteous, and committed to fine craftsmanship. And if you get them drunk, they may even get naked and pee on you.
The walls are sheet rock, I started using steam but then switched to Dif and found that that worked out better and the paper came off easier.
The house is in good shape overall just minor things, like taking wallpaper off of every wall. The floors were installed unfinished by a flooring company, not quite ready to tackle that myself. There shouldn’t be too much of a concern with other workers walking all on them and ruining them.
Thanks for the offer of help, I’m all ears and willing to take any I can get.
Tip #1 one room at a time. I wish someone told me this when I first started. I have removed wall paper and painted every room in my house some of them twice. Trying to do all of them at once not such a good idea.
I have been re-doing my bathroom since august. good times.
vinegar and warm water in a pressure spay bottle works best on wall paper and no damage to the wall….just let it dry.
Started the kitchen in august, just finished, 1 month behind schedule and $2K over budget….good times…good times…
about to tackle one of the bedrooms…
ah - home ownership…
Budget huh? That sounds like a good idea, I’ll try that on the roof/fasure (sp?) gutters project I have got going next summer.
Ahhhh….homeownership, can’t say I’ve got any experience in that department…..I will say “nice” things have started to creep into our apartment…I’ve always lived by the adage that it wasn’t worth buying anything nice if you were just going to be putting it into a rented apartment. This has always included furniture, dishware, pictures, basically everything…..and I’ve managed to uphold that theory until only very very recently…the lady of the house has started gathering what I would call “house things”….fancy serving platters, new silverware, fancy salt and pepper shakers, things that no doubt could use an upgrade but in my mind were always bundled into that period after we bought a house (or condo)…Apparently, my theory is starting to lose out to my lady’s desire to start getting nice things…doesn’t make any sense to me…why put lipstick on a pig? - I can certainly wait, I don’t mind that we 8 plates and that they are all different and mostly ugly (and or cracked)…who cares that our couches have travelled with us since college and that our entertainment center is a $20 target special…I like thinking that I live in an apartment where the cat could defecate on the couch and I wouldn’t be that upset (especially if Sarah is the one who cleans it up)…Who wants to worry about nice things? -
Anyway, I guess my point is that there are some benefits to renting (i.e. never having to really do anything except call your landlord) but once your girlfriend starts buying nice “Homey” type things…it probably means that your on the road to home ownership and that soon enough you will be trying to fix some floors, take off wallpaper and replumb your bathroom - I can’t say I’m too excited for all this but I guess it also means that a nice new Lazy Boy may be on the horizon, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that.