Home Repair and Improvement

A little bit it seems stupid to even talk about the little things we've been doing for our house ourselves while we have a crew banging away on the thing 40 hours/week. But seeing as how they're off this weekend I guess I can show you something.

Here was my project for the day:


The old side door had a mail slot. So Friday when that door went away so did our capability to receive mail. Part of me wonders what would have happened had we not had place for mail. Would we just lose our mail privileges? If so, it might not be a bad strategy.

This process made me feel like a real dope. We originally were going to relocate the thing to closer to the street. That meant fastening to concrete and so I'd bought some tapcons. Unbeknownst to me though the mailbox has a setback on the back of about 5/8 of an inch. So when I got the tapcons in, they were too short. This was, by the way after having to run home to get a Phillips bit for my screwgun, as for some reason the only bits I had with me were square head. Then Mrs. TANBI suggests we put the thing up by the door again anyway, so now I am on the siding and not on the concrete so I need normal screws, which are at the apartment again; and so I go back to the apartment the second time for 2 screws. Really, after thinking about it I came to the conclusion that it felt more like I used to in summer stock when it seemed like every five minutes I'd have to run back to the shop for something.

So what do we learn for life from this? Wherever your screw gun is you should have a Phillips bit and a handful of screws.

This was Mrs. TANBI's project...


She'd decided that she would like the railing above to be black. So yesterday in 90 degree heat she stripped of the old paint using a variety of methods, none clean or quiet. Today (again in 90 degree heat) she went back and finished off the prep and then did the painting. The painting like any true DIY project required a second trip to the home center (took more paint than we thought). Looks pretty good though:


Yes, yes, we know. We'll have someone look at that retaining wall.

SO far all the pics have been looking inward. Today was a nice day and I spent a little time just sitting in our front yard. This is what you see if you do that:


Tomorrow the pros return.