On the Side | Brad Hicks

 

Labor Day presents the last official swings at summer. Boating, fishing, golfing, swimming, gardening – it’s the weekend after which many put away the warm-weather fun and start thinking about that list of fall chores.

Heaven knows, I’ve had them. 

The first house my wife and I purchased was a real downer upon first inspection. It was a dirty mess that needed cleaning and electrical updating, but had a decent structure. We took down layers of wallpaper, painted, refinished a floor, put down new carpet, and painted some more.

We purchased our second house for next to nothing – when a newspaper guy can buy a place for cash, you know it was cheap. We started with electrical, heating and plumbing, just to make it liveable. It was an old craftsman home that was built on a great foundation. My wife’s vision, creativity, sweat, love, and resolve resulted in it being on the local tour of homes. After that renovation, I began to tell people they ought to see their home down to the studs at some point.

But older homes come at a price – time – in the fall.

The big old two-story with a walk-up attic had its original windows. We took out the glass, sanded off the old varnish or shellac, touched up the finish, and re-glazed them in order to keep the draft from coming through the frames themselves. That was one-time work on each of those windows, as was the process of putting in new ropes and tying them to the weights to allow them to go up and down.

Those windows, too, had the original wooden storms. That meant in the spring, the storms came off and the screens went on – except where the window air conditioners were to be put in. In the fall, this time of year, we started looking at the storm windows to see if repairs or painting needed done. In some cases, I began encasing the storms in plastic; they fit better and further limited air flow around the edges. The AC units came out. When the screens came off, well, some of them needed re-screened. Football on the radio and window work of all sorts became a fall ritual. 

We are still looking for our next home. My wife prefers older houses with some character, but we want to make sure we pick the right one. For while we aren’t afraid of a project, we’re to the point where we don’t want to have to gear up for that list of fall chores every year.

I’m sure you have yours, too. Some of them are done with love, but there are others which are just plain work. Either way, the calendar is beckoning.

Brad Hicks is the editor and publisher of the Red Oak Express. Contact him at publisher@redoakexpress.com

The Red Oak Express

2012 Commerce Drive
P.O. Box 377
Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-623-2566 Fax: 712-623-2568

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