Re: The Ranting Thread
Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 7:29 pm
It is time for the airing of grievances, in my case, towards the former owners of my house.
1) Allowing a jungle to take over the yard, a grievance requiring several sub points.
A) Planting a "garden" out front, without laying a weed liner, rocks, or mulch, without putting any sort of dividing barrier between it and the yard in general, and just letting things grow wild after doing so. Status: Fixed, after near a year of pruning, digging, rock hauling, and replanting.
B) Planting privacy bushes between the side of the house and the neighbor's privacy fence, and allowing them to grow wild to the extent that you could not blame people for mistaking it for a small woodland. Status: Still there, almost seriously considering fire as a solution. My house is brick, it'll survive.
C) Laying down stepping stones along the other side of the house without bothering to sink them into the ground at all, so that running a lawn mower over them was a risk, and again, letting everything grow up wild around them. Status: Fixed, at the cost of my spine
D) Planting a bush so close to the back fence that 1/3 of said bush grew up on the other side of the fence. Status: Removed, as of today.
E) Planting a series of ground hugging plants on the slope in the front yard leading down the sidewalk. Said plants looked like evergreen trees growing like creepers, were woody so no mower could handle them, and did nothing to stop weeds growing up through them. Status: Removed, at the cost of a shovel and lots of sweat.
F) Putting in a fence and not having it run flush against the neighbor's fence, leaving a 4 inch gap between the two that is virtually impossible to get any kind of trimming device into, thus leaving a row of wild grass and weeds that can only be tamed chemically. Status: Unresolved
G) Never, ever knocking down the dozens of dried mud nests made by wasps under the roof overhang. Status: Removed via much poking with a broom handle.
H) Leaving a large iron cauldron (seriously) in one overgrown corner of the yard for so long that it half sunk into the ground under its own weight, was literally so overgrown by weeds as to become utterly hidden, and then filled with water that turned rank and stagnant. Status: Removed and weeded, though my back still hurts just looking there and I think the smell has only just left my nose.
I) Never trimming any of the trees, even when they began to brush against the house. Status: Trimmed.
2) Removing the beautiful hardwood floor found everywhere else in the house from the kitchen and back patio room in order to lay down plain baize (and cheap) floor tile. Status: Unlikely to be fixed any time soon
A) Removing the decorative molding during the flooring process, and replacing it with unfinished 1X4s. Status: Unresolved
B) Using the same ugly 1x4s as trim in the game room when they finished the basement. Status: Replaced
3) Replacing the piping under the kitchen sink with cheap, plastic tubing and no sealant. Status: Sealant added.
A) Replacing the kitchen sink and merely setting it into the counting without caulking. Status: Caulked.
4) Improperly installing a door to the laundry room using too short screws, so that the hinges were sunk into the 1/8th inch of wood of the door frame and a bare bit of the dry wall, resulting in the top hinge popping loose. Made all the more annoying by the presence of a stud only an inch deeper, which is clearly visible as the backside of the wall is unfinished. Status: Next project
1) Allowing a jungle to take over the yard, a grievance requiring several sub points.
A) Planting a "garden" out front, without laying a weed liner, rocks, or mulch, without putting any sort of dividing barrier between it and the yard in general, and just letting things grow wild after doing so. Status: Fixed, after near a year of pruning, digging, rock hauling, and replanting.
B) Planting privacy bushes between the side of the house and the neighbor's privacy fence, and allowing them to grow wild to the extent that you could not blame people for mistaking it for a small woodland. Status: Still there, almost seriously considering fire as a solution. My house is brick, it'll survive.
C) Laying down stepping stones along the other side of the house without bothering to sink them into the ground at all, so that running a lawn mower over them was a risk, and again, letting everything grow up wild around them. Status: Fixed, at the cost of my spine
D) Planting a bush so close to the back fence that 1/3 of said bush grew up on the other side of the fence. Status: Removed, as of today.
E) Planting a series of ground hugging plants on the slope in the front yard leading down the sidewalk. Said plants looked like evergreen trees growing like creepers, were woody so no mower could handle them, and did nothing to stop weeds growing up through them. Status: Removed, at the cost of a shovel and lots of sweat.
F) Putting in a fence and not having it run flush against the neighbor's fence, leaving a 4 inch gap between the two that is virtually impossible to get any kind of trimming device into, thus leaving a row of wild grass and weeds that can only be tamed chemically. Status: Unresolved
G) Never, ever knocking down the dozens of dried mud nests made by wasps under the roof overhang. Status: Removed via much poking with a broom handle.
H) Leaving a large iron cauldron (seriously) in one overgrown corner of the yard for so long that it half sunk into the ground under its own weight, was literally so overgrown by weeds as to become utterly hidden, and then filled with water that turned rank and stagnant. Status: Removed and weeded, though my back still hurts just looking there and I think the smell has only just left my nose.
I) Never trimming any of the trees, even when they began to brush against the house. Status: Trimmed.
2) Removing the beautiful hardwood floor found everywhere else in the house from the kitchen and back patio room in order to lay down plain baize (and cheap) floor tile. Status: Unlikely to be fixed any time soon
A) Removing the decorative molding during the flooring process, and replacing it with unfinished 1X4s. Status: Unresolved
B) Using the same ugly 1x4s as trim in the game room when they finished the basement. Status: Replaced
3) Replacing the piping under the kitchen sink with cheap, plastic tubing and no sealant. Status: Sealant added.
A) Replacing the kitchen sink and merely setting it into the counting without caulking. Status: Caulked.
4) Improperly installing a door to the laundry room using too short screws, so that the hinges were sunk into the 1/8th inch of wood of the door frame and a bare bit of the dry wall, resulting in the top hinge popping loose. Made all the more annoying by the presence of a stud only an inch deeper, which is clearly visible as the backside of the wall is unfinished. Status: Next project
