HomeOwnerShip
This year I bought a house.
I haven’t actually done any work on this house, but it’s weird that I have done a lot of work on other people’s houses.
Well, I did cut down a lot of the back yard and reseed some of it. But really, that was one Saturday.
Hardly a lot of work since March.
Most of the work was done in Bracebridge.
There was a point where everytime I went, I was doing something new.
Not that I’m complaining. I learned how to do a lot of different things.
I think the first thing was windows.
I don’t think I did a lot there, shimmed some windows and maybe removed one, but it’s something.
Then, siding.
I did a lot there. Helped reside an entire house, and learned how to do it properly.
I doubt I’ll have to reside my house anytime soon, but it’s still a handy thing to know.
Insulating an attic was next.
I had the easy job of loading the bailer and keeping it full.
Poor Rich was stuck up in the attic actually blowing the stuff around.
I got to drink beer ^_^
That was pretty easy stuff.
And yes, I even helped install a kitchen sink.
A lot of that was just holding up directions so that he could cut properly.
I think the most useful thing that I helped with, at least useful to me, was how to lay a subfloor.
Between the two of us, we got most of it done in one afternoon.
It was at that time where Rich offered me a job because, apparently unlike a lot of people he works with, I followed directions well. ^_^
Had to politely turn him down, construction just isn’t my gig.
There was something else that I just can’t think of right now.
What brings this on?
Today was mostly spent digging post holes.
My brother and I went to Home Depot to pick up one of those hydrolic augers.
The nice girl told us that it should dig down about 5 feet, which was more than enough.
It’s important to note this, it comes up later.
We hitched it to the back of my Dad’s jeep and off we barreled down the road.
What we didn’t read was the speed limit for the auger.
It didn’t flip or anything, but doing more than 30 over the suggested speed was probably a bad thing.
My brother had all the hole placements layed out, so we knew where we had to dig.
The main problem was this; he lives in a newly built house, and the lot next to him is empty. This sounds good, but it’s also about 6 inches down, straight down, from his lot.
Initially we had the auger straddling the two properties, but we eventually had it straight on the other property so that we could dig down further.
The second problem is that he lives in Kanata.
Kanata is mostly rock.
One of the rocks that we had to dig out of the hole was the size of my torso.
The first three holes, or was it five, took all morning.
It took that long because we were figuring out what to do.
The next seven only took three hours, and there were plenty of rocks to deal with.
It’s also really helpful when you adjust the speed of the motor from the slowest setting to something that actually moves dirt.
Who knew? ^_^
It was a good experience. And what I really learned from it was that I don’t want a fence in my yard ^_^
I do need one though. Something simple, just a chain link along one side, just so that the dog doesn’t get out.
I have a feeling I’ll try to cheat and just ram the metal posts into the ground and hope for the best.
The fence doesn’t have to be strong. The posts don’t have to be 4 feet into the ground.
And I probably don’t need to have them encased in cement either.
I’ll let the people that buy the house next worry about that ^_^
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Not 100% happy with this post, but it did just pop into my head.
On the upside, it looks like it takes less than 30 minutes to do all this.
I do wonder why I start at 10 though?
Filed under: Blog - @ November 4, 2006 10:38 pm
Since I’m not a homeowner at this point, I don’t have much to add (except the post did make me reconsider my aspirations of home ownership…).
I do have some indirect experience with fencing though. My Dad opted to do chain link about 10 or 15 years ago to keep a dog in…
He found out quickly that dogs like to dig, and although he had anticipated this and buried about a foot of chain link (this recollection is shaky) the dog still managed to get out.
Might be simpler to opt for fence posts, though chain link gives somewhat more security I suppose…
Still, I’ll offer up my continuing congratulations on the home purchase!
Well, on the upside, the dog doesn’t appear to be a digger.
That, and she has shown no interest in going through the hedge, so I figure if I have a chain link fence there, it should be all good.
I wouldn’t even bother with the fence, all I really want is a gate, but I figure if there’s just a gate and no fence, then she’ll go around the gate.
I’m sure your backyard will appreciate your dog’s lack of the digger gene too! 🙂
Could try one of those magic electric(?) dog fences…
My step-brother has one, and it seems to work for him.
Then you could get by with just a gate.