Home repairs

Jul 15, 2018 22 Replies

Have not been posting here for several months as I have been doing repairs rather than talking about it.


Built a room in the basement. Repaired water leaks in foundation. Trimmed bushes. Painting. Repaired porch. Vacuumed rafters in basement of my 120 year old house. Minor plumbing work. Got rid of 500# of old computer parts. Replaced rotted exterior woodwork.


Much more...and a lot of physical work....more than I've done in years.


Though most of my repairs are sort of half-assed...the good news is at



69 years old I have been doing the amount of work I used to do when I was 40.

After my knees were replaced, due to less activity I was up to a 36" waist pants and 180#.


I am now 165# and 32" waist...which has set me back 25 years.


Now that my projects are done...to keep in shape I may start re-doing some of the half-assed stuff ...and as I tell my wife...."make everything a good 15% better!"


Need some other things on the list? :)

Good on ya'...

My wife has a never ending list.

I could not do much in the 5 years or so before my surgery and for at least a few years after....so in a house this old there is always something to do.

Why are you posting about home repair in this group? Don't you know this group is for political rants only?

I have nearly 10 years on you but now old with all that experience cannot physically do it all. Just had in a plumber to do repairs I could have done myself. He also straightened out one half assed job I had done myself. Also had the asphalt drive seal coated. Something I used to do myself. Then this year, sadly had to hire a lawn service. There is always something for a home owner to do whether capable or not. I have seen older neighbors let these home repairs go and the home deteriorate. Next door neighbor passed on last year and widow had to sell the house for half what it could have if in repair.

Ok then:

Trump was late to see the Queen.

One thing I do not do anymore is go up on high ladders....four or five feet is my limit...unless the wife is not watching.

When I did the concrete floor, rather than picking up the 60# bags and drywall... I had them delivered for a small fee.

When they got here the guy said:

Alright hop up on the the truck and get 'em.

LOL, I told him my days of hopping up on the truck are over and I made him use the damn forklift that was riding attached to the back of the truck.

Though I had to get them to my house from there, the neighbor's kids came running over to help even though I said I could do it myself.

Two kids, gave 'em $20 each...worth it

Yeah, but at least he didn't grab her pussy like he bragged about with other women.

If you want to stay away longer, I need more work done around my home as well.

Good for You! I'm also 69 and finally got around to losing another

46 lbs this year. I've been riding the bike, walking, repairing and catching up on things around here. Ketosis did it for me, actually just another way of limiting calorie intake but it made it seem easy. I went from obese to "normal" body mass index in a few months. Getting around and doing things is much easier now. Falls are the number one reason for us older folks to have to go to the emergency room. I keep that in mind when I'm on a ladder. 6 years ago I was in pretty bad shape, stable angina and knees hurt, since then I've lost 96 lbs, the weight of a bag of portland cement. It's terrible what the farmers and food industry has done to our food. Lots of sugar and HFCS and heavily process foods. Gobs of Youtubes about it, get informed know what going on and decide for yourself. Don't let the gal in the bikini keep ya from paying attention....
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So congratulations! If we can do it, anyone can.

I quit going up on the roof years a go. I believe I mentioned an 82 year old neighbor here that fell of his losing some teeth and a 75 year old neighbor killed when cutting down a partially fallen tree. We got a new roof this spring but 70 year old roofer has crew of younger guys going on the roof. He just does the contractor part like estimates and organization.

I have a hand cart for carrying anything much more than 50 pounds. THe wife got some large bags of mulch the other day and I got out the cart because she wanted them at a distance but before I got started a new much younger neighbor jumped in and helped.

Good for you!

That's another thing I can't do...ride a bike. Due to excess scar tissue in one knee my range of motion is not good enough.

Not the end of the world.

Last year I took my bike to the farmer's market and put a "fee" sign on it.

This year I saw it parked in front of a grocery store near here.

For sure it was the same bike....whoever took it finally replaced the tires I never got around to doing....they were 40 years old!

72 here.

Lots of projects in the last year:

Tear out for bathroom remodel. Tore down and removed above ground pool and deck. Reseeded lawn. Remodeled a closet. All the yard work. Painting. Not afraid of the roof or ladders. (Well actually they terrify me sometimes but I do it anyway.) I once vacuumed my rafters then I wondered why I did that.

I swim 2K 3 times a week. I pay no attention to my diet. Plenty of nutrition in a normal varied diet. No health issues at all, I'm in as good a shape as I've ever been.

5'8, 166#.

Stay active.

Are the door's counterweight springs intact?

If one or both is broken, the unsprung weight of the door is beyond the motor's ability to lift it and the motor will grind.

Friend of mine lost his 90 year old father.

He went up on the roof to check up on the roofing job and fell off.

That is the benefit of being active....I eat like a pig and can loose weight too!

Considering the many ways we can die, I'd count that as a great way to go.

Oren posted for all of us...

Oren, Oren, Oren, oh my. Could you please stop scarring my mind? I have much less than optimal capacity as it is.

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