It’s interesting how the prospect of renting out my house is making me look at it through new eyes. Sometimes I notice a charming detail here or there, but most of the time I am struck by its faults, which feel… significant… and surprising.
Most of the time I am reminded that we live in, well, a shithole.
I mean, it’s not really a shithole, except it kind of is. We clearly have a high threshold for tolerating crap. We don’t mind much when things don’t look nice, or work very well. We’d much rather just let it go than spend the time or money to improve it. We are lazy. And cheap. And after six years, it’s noticeable.
Except I didn’t really notice it, at least not the breadth and scope of it. I didn’t notice how many things were kind of messed up, and how many spaces looked like shit. Now the stuff I need to fix is all I see.
It doesn’t help that the house, at its foundation, really is a piece of crap. Every expense was spared, as I like to say. If there was a way to spend less — use lower quality materials and less skilled labor — they went with it. Sometimes it feels like the thing is coming apart at the seams.
Obviously we aren’t going to do any big improvement projects just to rent this place out on AirBnB, but I am doing little things, here and there, to make it look nicer. I’m actually excited at the prospect of sprucing the place up a bit. I’ve always wanted to do a lot of these projects, but I never had the impetus until now.
Maybe, by the the time we actually invite people to stay here, it will feel less like a shithole, and more like a home.
Ugh, I feel you. I’m in much the same boat. While my house was built solidly overall and in decent shape when we moved in, given that it’s now 118 years old there’s quite a bit that just starts to break down. We also had a major water leak almost two years ago and still don’t have everything put back together after that. To add to the fun, household repairs are like none other for ratcheting up stress and arguments between my husband and myself. I tend towards perfectionism and don’t like spending more money than necessary so having things that (a) I don’t know much about and (b) are expensive and difficult to redo keeps my stress and thus procrastination in overdrive.
For example, due to multiplying cracks in the walls I’m pretty sure we need to get a structural engineer in to look at our foundation (old and looks like it was half-a$$ed over time) but my husband thinks it’s a waste of money and we should just wait indefinitely (??? and apparently hope the house doesn’t crack in half in the meantime?) to put in a new foundation since he put a few basement jacks in.
It’s crazy how much maintenance and upkeep is needed to keep a structure from turning into a complete pit. In the 9 years we’ve lived here, have replaced the furnace & a/c, water heater, re-sided, put up new gutters, redid the drainage around the house, put up a three car garage, put up several ceiling fans, buried an electrical line that had been exposed, and completely gutted and re-did the upstairs bathroom (mainly done by my husband although an issue with how he did the lines to the tub also was what caused the water leak :-/), plus drywall repairs, putting trim back up, and replacing two ceiling fans due to the water leak.
But at some point we still need to finally put back the drywall in the mudroom that was ripped out due to the leak (would also like to replace the windows while we’re at it), repainting in the downstairs bathroom where paint is peeling, and in the not too distant future need replace the blinds downstairs that all crapped out at pretty much the same time, figure out the foundation issue, and at some point redo the kitchen (old cabinets and sink, blue countertops, and no exhaust fan so everything near the stove builds up a coating of grease and grime over time). I do have roofers booked for when it’s warmer (need to follow up with them…) to replace our roof this spring since that’s also at the end of it’s lifespan and looking rough.
I’d be curious to hear more about the various little things you’re doing to improve your house to get inspiration in tackling my own home tasks.
Given the length of my comments, looks like I might need to start my own blog to discuss my home repair trials and tribulations! 😉
WOW Kathryn K that is a lot of work you have done. 118 years ago things were done differently and time impacts structures and people. I am really impressed. Would be interested if you wrote a blog about it all.
I think most people become habituated to their surroundings and stop seeing with fresh eyes. It is also hard to find the money to make major renovations so we avoid the issues. I have stayed in many BNB places, some clearly only rental properties, some that are lived in by the owners much of the time. Lots lock off one room to store their valuables and “good” belongings. Careful screening of potential renters is really important. I also think it can be hard to assess for one’s self what is appealing or not about a home you are considering using this way for a short period. Sometimes our eyes are too critical and sometimes we miss the obvious concentrating on unimportant aspects that bug us but not others. Get a second set of eyes to look and help evaluate what needs doing. Someone you feel safe, not exposed, around.
I have often thought you over-expect what is possible for you to accomplish in a given time period; and have learned that actually your over-expect what I could do in the same time period but YOU ACTUALLY CAN ACHIEVE. So I am expressing MUCH FAITH in you. And totally sending the very best wishes for your success!
Tell me about it. My house was fairly well built but there were still a lot of issues, mostly related to drainage. As a result, we had several leaks last winter but now we have to actually repair the damage caused by the leaks. We also have water damage from what we think is a leaking tub, which may or may not have to be replaced, which, if it does, may or may not require marble work, which, if it does, will be astronomically expensive. So we don’t want to repair the water damage, until we figure out the deal with the tub and repair it. But the whole thing seems overwhelming (and expensive). We replaced our hot water heater and fixed some serious drainage problems, so I think we probably won’t get more rain leaks, but there still feels like so much to do. And our walls are empty. And two of our burners don’t work and I actually bought replacement parts online and have no idea how to install them. And, I know this is a privileged person’s problem, but the ice maker in our freezer has broken multiple times and I can’t spend the money on yet another service call, but it is still annoying.