DIY Project Week

For the last year and a half that we lived on Sunset Drive, money was tight.  Cameron was in his final year at Bethany, Meg was a senior in college, and we had purchased a second home in Ocala.  I did everything I could to budget our income, move investments and even sell items that we no longer needed to help pay the Florida mortgage. 

During that time period, I also worked very hard on getting our home in Syracuse ready to sell.  Housing prices were on the rise, and I wanted to get top dollar.  I knew that we had several items that needed repaired or replaced before we could list the home.  I thought about calling a contractor to come in and get a quote for everything but decided first to see if there was anything that I could do myself.  I wasn't overly handy, but I could follow directions well.  I was surprised to find a lot of YouTube videos on DIY projects that I needed done.  My dad also had electrical and plumbing experience, so I asked him for help as well.  I was amazed at all that I could complete with my dad and YouTube's help.  It saved us quite a bit of money and help me to gain confidence in my own abilities.

I have carried that newfound skill to Florida and have been able to fix a few items in our home here.  I even found a faulty outlet after two electricians were unsuccessful and was able to add daisy chain repair to my list of things that I could fix.  This past week, I spent quite a bit of time working on a few DIY projects again.  First, I replaced a broken latch on our fence after a windstorm tore it off of the vinyl gate.  That went well, and I appreciated Doug's help with it.  After our success with the fence, I talked Doug into also helping me replace the fluorescent lights in our garage.  That definitely proved to be the easiest of our tasks.

The third project was a little more challenging. Our grout had never been professionally cleaned since we moved in, and many places desperately needed it.  I tried several different ways to clean them, but they were too hard for me. I finally found the easiest solution from Google Gemini.   In the end, the tile looked great but cleaning it exposed a flaw in how my baseboards were installed.  The water from cleaning the tile had seeped under them and the inexpensive board had swelled in several places.  After a lot of work, I finally got them sanded down and repainted.  They didn't look 100% but would do for now.  

I decided that I would take a break from any type of DIY projects for the time being. I was happy with my new latch and the clean tile but was exhausted from the work.  The best part was that I saved over $500 with both projects and had a week to rest before Cameron arrived home for a short summer break.