Sink or Swim House Repairs

That is the way most people learn to do them; that is how I have been learning how to repair our house the last few days. Either do it or have the house collapse! Our ceiling/roof got cracks the other day, I have spent hours up in the attic trying to find/correct the problem. Life gets interesting....

Lupy your somethig else, you just go girl!

Reminded me of a n'easter we had when I was a kid. We had everything from the dish pan to the bed pan catching water from the roof leaks. Had to put a new roof on. Learned roofing the hard way - doing it - age 14. Now I supervise as others do it for me :-)

Good job Lupy!

We had been having our well pump running way too much for some time. I told my DH about it and he had decided that our well was going dry due to the drought. I argued with him about it and told him that I thought we had a water leak somewhere in the pipes under the ground to the house or the livestock trough. Day before yesterday I turned off the water to the livestock trough to see if it made any difference. It didn't. :( So later in the day a co-worker of my hubbies was here loading firewood and had not checked in at the house so when I heard all the noise outside I went out the back door to look at what was happening. As I looked at him out there working I thought I saw something moving from the corner of my eye and looked down and saw water bubbling up from the soil at the back door! So yesterday my hubby stayed home and dug a hole for the plumber. As he looked at the pipe he got to thinking that maybe he could repair it and as last resort the plumber was going to come today anyway so he tried to repair it and got the job done for only $3.60. I am sooooo proud of him! And me too. I KNEW it was a pipe break. LOL

Later this spring we have to reroof the second story of our home. Wind has torn off the roofing and now that hubby has done the other job so well he is willing to tackle that job too where before yesterday he wanted to hire somebody for the job. Funny how saving money talks. :)

More money for me to spend on DG and plants (sinister laugh)

Well, I still haven't figured out why the ceiling is all cracked, but have spent hours and hours up in the attic playing a modern version of the old 'Cannibal and Missionary' game. Remember that one? The new version has to be done amid blown insulation (full of asbestos), in a cold dark attic, no flooring, ceiling goes down to 2", with a cripple trying to do the work :(

Life gets interesting...

Oh Lupy, I hope you find your problem soon. It is no fun crawling around in the attic in the insulation. And I know all about being a cripple too.

You are right, Life is interesting. Good Luck dear.

Is it possible that the house is settleing?

Ohio earthquake?
ßernie

That was my thought too, the house settling, not earthquake. Most houses settle a bit over time, and when one part settles and the other doesn't you get cracks, sometimes in the plaster, sometimes in the foundation.

Lupine, DH & I had to shovel the roof a few weeks ago from the snow accummulating in a strange corner. Then, we put salt on the roof to melt the ice that had accummulated under the shingles. I'd check for ice under your shingles to see if that's contributing to your problem.

Also, I got a new book over the holidays called "Dare to Repair". It just came out in September of 2002! I haven't really had to use it yet, but it ks supposed to be good. I think it's written by military wives who have had to take on home repair challenges and found it not too tough :)

You go girl!

I'm back! 5 days in the attic are enough to make anyone anti-social for a while, so I spent the day sleeping ;)

I still can't figure out what made the ceiling crack. The house is 34 years old, so it should have finished settling years ago, shouldn't it? I put repair-type putty on the cracks, 3 coats, sanded in between. That seems to have fixed what were there, but new ones have appeared just beyond what were there. They will be done later, but I am going to have to dismantle the computer to get to that area, so I am delaying it for a couple of days.

Morph, I also had to go out on the roof to shovel the 18" of snow off. I crawl out the side window onto the lower roof, then crawl around with a broom and shovel. Not a pretty sight, but it gets the job done! If I could climb a ladder I could get to the upper roof, but I just don't see how I can do that safely with only one foot available. I did climb a ladder (repeatedly) to get up into the attic, going up on my good foot and my other knee, but that was a regular ladder inside, being held, not an extension ladder that would be unsupported on the lower roof, all by myself. Too scary to think about doing :( And no, I am not afraid of heights, just afraid of falling -- I have fallen many times since I became crippled, I am not too steady on my good foot at times.

We were getting bad icicles from the gutter line, meaning that the attic insulation was bad. I installed 14 rolls after re-distributing all the existing stuff. Through many projects in other years, it had all been re-arranged and compressed. There were huge gaps in it. I also found several old hornet nests, many dead bees and hornets, a bird nest (no eggs, fortunately) and a lot of other problems. The only one I couldn't correct was the bad screening around the attic fan -- huge gaps. We have had critters from time to time get in that way -- I am going to need someone to help me do that; it is a 2-person job.

Bernie, yes, we do get earthquakes here, but almost all are of such minor magnitude that they can't be felt. I lived through 4 in my young life before I finally felt one! And that was when I was living in Phoenix in '91.

So exhausted, triumphant, filthy dirty, I emerged late yesterday afternoon, and with no desire to go back up to the attic anytime soon! Now to clean up the room...

Oh, Lupine, what a weekend you had and more cracks now, too? And, gads, with all those critters, hornets & bees especially, aren't you glad you were up there in winter? Not to mention the heat if you had to go up during the summer!

I don't know how you do it all! I don't have any other ideas about the ceiling cracks other than the land is constantly moving under us (very slowly that is). Maybe you (which would probably mean Ohio, too) is experiencing an extra amount of plate tectonic shifting? Maybe the weather guys would know?