Well, hell.

[darkemeralds]

Damn mudroom. Damn painting. I knew it would become a remodeling job! I knew it!

I couldn't stand to just slap paint on over the foundation wall and hope for the best. It leaks. It's a problem. There's mildew and algae and water damage. I had to strip the existing coating so I could fill the cracks with hydraulic cement.

Two buckets of stripper later, I discover one of those stupid "homeowner-quality" jobs hidden under the epoxy, requiring the pouring of a new footing not only to prevent seepage in a rainy climate, but to shore up the damn foundation of the damn house!

So, 120 lbs of concrete being the bare minimum to do the job, I borrowed one of the working cars in the family--my former 23-year-old Honda Civic which is now my sister's--to go get it at the corner hardware store. While I was there with a car, I thought, hey, might as well get that box fan and those two on-sale garden chairs I've been needing.

The chairs don't fit in the Honda. So I drive the concrete home, then put on real shoes and walk back to the hardware store.





One thing about walking nine blocks in the heat with two stacking chairs on your head is that when you get tired, you have a place to sit and rest. Which I did, on the sidewalk in the shade about halfway home. I waved at the passers-by and pretended I belonged there. In my stacking chairs, in the shade.

Next? Actual excavation--albeit small excavation--under the foundation wall. Gah! I'm getting tired!

Comments

[kis]

Ack! See this is why I always go for Denial.

Of course, that means one day soon the bathroom window is going to fall out. (Don't ask!)

[darkemeralds]

Rot?

[kis]

Shower water (no cabinet, you see) spraying onto the sill. The sill was varnished with a water soluble product. Mr Kis doesn't care where the soap or water land. Or, at least, he does in theory but no brain connection has yet been made.

[executrix]

kis: I don't know how easy/hard it would be for you to get hold of it (either at home or when visiting the US, Land of the Big Box Store!) but there is a product specifically made for shooting down into rotted-out sills. It was developed for historic preservation.

[kis]

That's a useful tip. Thanks. I'll see if it's in any of our DIY places.