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My Christmas curse continues! You see, for a long time—nearly thirty years—Christmas has become synonymous with family problems for me.
It all started with the first home Chris and I owned when we were newly married. We woke up one Christmas morning and found that the water heater had overflowed, flooding the laundry room and most of the remodeled garage. We did not worry, cleaned up the mess and spent our vacation without hot water. Fun!
Since then, I have encountered a series of family problems on Christmas Day: frozen pipes, broken drains, collapsed fences, etc. And this year? Well, the problem this year is small…but it may lead to major repairs.
The house that Jin and I bought last August was in good condition. We ensured this during the inspection. Nonetheless, no house is perfect-a house built fifty years ago has some warts.
“Do you know what’s wrong with the ceiling of the bathroom in the hall?” Kim asked after she had showered on Christmas morning. “The paint on the ceiling seems to be peeling off.”
“What?” I said. I gonna go see. Kim is right. The paint on the ceiling seems to be peeling off.
“I bet it’s because of moisture,” I said. I found a footstool and climbed up to take a closer look. I turned on the ventilation fan. “Wow,” I said. “The fan doesn’t seem to be pulling any Air. This is the fundamental problem. “
I played with the peeling paint and it was a mistake. The fragile thing broke and fell to the ground in large chunks. “This is weird,” I said. I picked up a few pieces. “Is this just paint? It looks so thick.”
“It looks like it’s just paint,” King said. “But there are many layers of paint. Who knows? It could be something else underneath.”
So, now we have the first urgent family project in a new place. Obviously, this is not a big problem, but we hope to fix it as soon as possible. It’s just a matter of finding time. (This seems to be something we should be able to repair ourselves instead of hiring.)
This question is actually a blessing in disguise. No matter where I live, I keep a general list of repairs and items. But I have not drafted this list for our home in Corvallis. This morning, I solved this problem.
List of My Home Ownership Items
When you buy a house, you also buy a series of items. No home is fully functional at all times. There is always something that needs to be repaired, upgraded or inspected.
As a person who struggles with ADHD, this never-ending family project may overwhelm me.There are too many things to do, my will is to do there is nothingBut, of course, doing nothing will only lead to more projects in the future. I have learned that it is important for me to make continuous and incremental progress on tasks at home.
To stay focused, maintaining a to-do list of home ownership is critical.
A long time ago, I created my project list with pencil and paper. Today, I keep the list digitally. In our last house, I maintained a text file containing all the things that needed to be done. For our new house, I am trying to use Apple’s built-in reminder app. This allows me to share lists with Kim, add notes and images, deadlines for tasks, etc.
I think you can choose a variety of ways to build your personal home project list. For me, it is always easiest to use the home inspection report as a starting point.
“I use your report as a to-do list,” I told our house inspector in August.
“If you do this, you are the only person,” he said with a smile. “No one seems to take this seriously. Going back and inspecting the house I saw a few years ago made me very frustrated, but none of the problems were resolved. This happens all the time.”
First, I let the inspection report form my inventory structure. For this house, the report is divided into major systems, such as: roof, ground, exterior, attic, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc. In each part of the report, the inspector rated the item as OK, MM (for marginal or “maintenance required”), or RR (for “repair or replacement”).
I divided my checklist into the same parts as the inspection report. Because this special report did not break down the individual “inner rooms”, I added a section to each space in the house: kitchen, living room, golden office, lobby, stairs, etc.
When I read the inspection report, I copied each marked item as an operation step. The inspector’s comment about roof moss growth became “Remove Moss (RR)”. If I have one, I will add notes and comments, and I might even write a tentative date to process the project and/or contact information for the contractor I want to hire.
But the inspection report is only a starting point.
Next i walk slowly Walk through the house, walk from room to room, and think about our plans for the future. I take notes as I walk. I write down anything that bothers us (“install thresholds in the room downstairs”, “install carpet slides for stairs”) and I noticed any upgrades we wanted to make to the house (“buy heaters for the deck”, “completely remodel the lobby bathroom”). I try to write down everything I can think of, no matter how small. My goal is to move these things from my mind to the (metaphorical) paper.
As a final step, I must ask Kim if there is anything else I should add to our project list. She often has her own plans and dreams, but she has not yet shared them with me. It is also good to include those on the main list.
After this brain dump, I will have a list of dozens of tasks I want to do at home. These tasks will be divided by subsystem and/or room (this makes it easier to “batch” jobs), and they will also be sorted by priority.
Final thoughts
In the past, my to-do list for the main homeownership has proven to be priceless. This list gave me motivation and direction.It helps me to prioritize tasks must Do it as soon as possible, not the ones that are easy or fun. Most importantly, it can help us solve problem areas in a timely manner, rather than make them worse.
I should note that this is not if only List of household items we use. We also keep an ongoing list/calendar of maintenance tasks. This was originally a simple list I extracted from a book on home maintenance, but over time it turned into a series of calendar reminders, which Kim and I continued to revise.
For example, I had to blow off the roof and clean the drain twice This fall, because our house is surrounded by huge tall evergreen trees. Needles are troublesome.Every time I clean the roof, I put an alarm in the calendar at the same time next year A word of caution. We will do this for any regular maintenance tasks that we don’t want to forget.
Home maintenance and home renovation can be a headache at times, but I find that I can alleviate the pain by (a) keeping an updated list of home projects and (b) inserting the list regularly—even if this is done in an unorganized manner.
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