Blocking Out Time for Upkeep, Renovations, etc.

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Samster

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I've decided this was a pretty smart thing to do, to take this week to catch up and do some routine maintenance that I couldn't get to before now. Since we are earlier than a lot of you other folks with the onset of Spring here , this is kind of a perfect time. Things are really budding out, the Winter doldrums are over, and the weather is nice. The only down side is that there is so much pollen, this is NOT the time to paint, especially porches and porch floors. But a good time to do other outside repairs, big yard work, early Spring plantings, etc. Still too early here to put in any annuals that a cold snap will get, but we can plant shrubs and trees. Also, too early to put out the porch ferns.
Lots of events coming up starting next week but it was a little lull pre-Spring break week as far as most events here.
I've already blocked the same time period next year since my dh will still be working. I'd be willing to take guests if it weren't just me plus try to do all this stuff :)
We also will block some time in the heat of Summer for some indoor things (much like when the folks up North do work in the Winter).
Do any of y'all do something similar?
 
We block out time in the winter - usually between Martin Luther King holiday and whatever weekend comes before Valentine's Day. Once we took a long vacation(!) but usually we are doing indoor projects. This year it was painting the living room and halls and plastering a ceiling in one guest room. We usually stay closed the whole time but had some repeat guests who begged us for a room one Friday night - after we took their reservation, we ended up with about five more room nights that weekend. So this year it wasn't as long a break as usual.
 
Yup, we do the winter thing for major overhauls.
Otherwise- if we have to paint a room, we block that off singly. Lawn work gets done when we have time. Anything that would require work being done in the common areas, we close down altogether.
 
Usually in winter, but because we actually close the guest house down as in no water or electric March is usually our "clean, paint, repair" time. I've been out in the yard last week and raked some did some pruning saw all the lillies trying to come up and it just makes me so happy to be out there again anticipating all the bloom. Alas..it started snowing this moring and its BRRR cold and damp. Have to do all the windows again from the outside and praying that the next couple weeks will be nice enough to do them, house is really high off the ground so have to use the hose to do the upstairs outside windows....joy. Also have a large front porch to paint and so many other things to do already did all the linens, comforters, skirts and curtains from the other house but still have so much more....ugh work work work.
Since we close for the winter season, we do take the winter to do things that need to be done, and I am lucky that hubby can do so much of the maintenance. He was working on repairing some stone work in our upper pond on Wednesday Ihis regular day off from his regular job), we also have a trellis that fell with the winter winds that needs to be put back up--concrete.
So much work, but worth it can't wait for the warmth of spring, had a taste of it last week.
 
Yup, we do the winter thing for major overhauls.
Otherwise- if we have to paint a room, we block that off singly. Lawn work gets done when we have time. Anything that would require work being done in the common areas, we close down altogether..
"Lawn work gets down when we have time."
I think that's easier because there are two of you :)
I am the lawn work person so there's no way that I could do a major project or projects with guests in the house & everything else too. Over the last 2 days, I was able to weed all the gardens, put 2 40 lb bags of organic soil in my raised garden which I'm going to use this year strictly for more herbs and edible flowers, (I might plant tomatoes & green peppers in big pots this year to see how they do because I can move them to a sunnier spot in the back that way), spiff up the front porches of both houses, add soil to several spots in the lawn that had low spots, power wash our patio, trim back some things, and rake out the last of the leaves. There are a bunch of cans and bags of lawn stuff at the curb for Monday's pick up.
Still to do: Spread lots of mulch for both houses, buy some plants and put them in, paint the fountain & get it running again, fix the lights that light said fountain, repair my little drip irrigation system around our patio, bleach wash our side porch, and paint porch 5 porch floors (have to wait until the end of pollen so that will be for April - which I'll have to fit in as I can).
Whew!
 
Usually in winter, but because we actually close the guest house down as in no water or electric March is usually our "clean, paint, repair" time. I've been out in the yard last week and raked some did some pruning saw all the lillies trying to come up and it just makes me so happy to be out there again anticipating all the bloom. Alas..it started snowing this moring and its BRRR cold and damp. Have to do all the windows again from the outside and praying that the next couple weeks will be nice enough to do them, house is really high off the ground so have to use the hose to do the upstairs outside windows....joy. Also have a large front porch to paint and so many other things to do already did all the linens, comforters, skirts and curtains from the other house but still have so much more....ugh work work work.
Since we close for the winter season, we do take the winter to do things that need to be done, and I am lucky that hubby can do so much of the maintenance. He was working on repairing some stone work in our upper pond on Wednesday Ihis regular day off from his regular job), we also have a trellis that fell with the winter winds that needs to be put back up--concrete.
So much work, but worth it can't wait for the warmth of spring, had a taste of it last week..
I hear you!! So much to do, so little time :)
 
While we were on vacation, we had all the eaves painted and the steps and landing too. Porch and Floor paint can take a while to dry, so it was great to schedule it like that. We have a housesitter that can watch over things, so we were worry free about it- plus it's people we know doing the work.
 
While we were on vacation, we had all the eaves painted and the steps and landing too. Porch and Floor paint can take a while to dry, so it was great to schedule it like that. We have a housesitter that can watch over things, so we were worry free about it- plus it's people we know doing the work..
That's super smart! I'm going to check into what my painter will charge to do the porch floors and some wood repair on our garage. But we'll have to work around guests on that since Spring is really the best time to do that painting here...before it is hideously hot!
 
Yup, we do the winter thing for major overhauls.
Otherwise- if we have to paint a room, we block that off singly. Lawn work gets done when we have time. Anything that would require work being done in the common areas, we close down altogether..
"Lawn work gets down when we have time."
I think that's easier because there are two of you :)
I am the lawn work person so there's no way that I could do a major project or projects with guests in the house & everything else too. Over the last 2 days, I was able to weed all the gardens, put 2 40 lb bags of organic soil in my raised garden which I'm going to use this year strictly for more herbs and edible flowers, (I might plant tomatoes & green peppers in big pots this year to see how they do because I can move them to a sunnier spot in the back that way), spiff up the front porches of both houses, add soil to several spots in the lawn that had low spots, power wash our patio, trim back some things, and rake out the last of the leaves. There are a bunch of cans and bags of lawn stuff at the curb for Monday's pick up.
Still to do: Spread lots of mulch for both houses, buy some plants and put them in, paint the fountain & get it running again, fix the lights that light said fountain, repair my little drip irrigation system around our patio, bleach wash our side porch, and paint porch 5 porch floors (have to wait until the end of pollen so that will be for April - which I'll have to fit in as I can).
Whew!
.
Well, we don't have that much to do! But this year the front porch does have to get stripped and painted and all of the trees and shrubs the PO's put in 6" from the house have to be moved OUT into the lawn somewhere.
But, we won't even start any of that for another month at least. We have at least another trailer-load of broken branches to go to the dump.
 
Yup, we do the winter thing for major overhauls.
Otherwise- if we have to paint a room, we block that off singly. Lawn work gets done when we have time. Anything that would require work being done in the common areas, we close down altogether..
"Lawn work gets down when we have time."
I think that's easier because there are two of you :)
I am the lawn work person so there's no way that I could do a major project or projects with guests in the house & everything else too. Over the last 2 days, I was able to weed all the gardens, put 2 40 lb bags of organic soil in my raised garden which I'm going to use this year strictly for more herbs and edible flowers, (I might plant tomatoes & green peppers in big pots this year to see how they do because I can move them to a sunnier spot in the back that way), spiff up the front porches of both houses, add soil to several spots in the lawn that had low spots, power wash our patio, trim back some things, and rake out the last of the leaves. There are a bunch of cans and bags of lawn stuff at the curb for Monday's pick up.
Still to do: Spread lots of mulch for both houses, buy some plants and put them in, paint the fountain & get it running again, fix the lights that light said fountain, repair my little drip irrigation system around our patio, bleach wash our side porch, and paint porch 5 porch floors (have to wait until the end of pollen so that will be for April - which I'll have to fit in as I can).
Whew!
.
Well, we don't have that much to do! But this year the front porch does have to get stripped and painted and all of the trees and shrubs the PO's put in 6" from the house have to be moved OUT into the lawn somewhere.
But, we won't even start any of that for another month at least. We have at least another trailer-load of broken branches to go to the dump.
.
"Well, we don't have that much to do!"
Yeah, it is the beauty of living here where yardwork is done about 10-11 months of the year. ugh.
 
Yup, we do the winter thing for major overhauls.
Otherwise- if we have to paint a room, we block that off singly. Lawn work gets done when we have time. Anything that would require work being done in the common areas, we close down altogether..
"Lawn work gets down when we have time."
I think that's easier because there are two of you :)
I am the lawn work person so there's no way that I could do a major project or projects with guests in the house & everything else too. Over the last 2 days, I was able to weed all the gardens, put 2 40 lb bags of organic soil in my raised garden which I'm going to use this year strictly for more herbs and edible flowers, (I might plant tomatoes & green peppers in big pots this year to see how they do because I can move them to a sunnier spot in the back that way), spiff up the front porches of both houses, add soil to several spots in the lawn that had low spots, power wash our patio, trim back some things, and rake out the last of the leaves. There are a bunch of cans and bags of lawn stuff at the curb for Monday's pick up.
Still to do: Spread lots of mulch for both houses, buy some plants and put them in, paint the fountain & get it running again, fix the lights that light said fountain, repair my little drip irrigation system around our patio, bleach wash our side porch, and paint porch 5 porch floors (have to wait until the end of pollen so that will be for April - which I'll have to fit in as I can).
Whew!
.
Well, we don't have that much to do! But this year the front porch does have to get stripped and painted and all of the trees and shrubs the PO's put in 6" from the house have to be moved OUT into the lawn somewhere.
But, we won't even start any of that for another month at least. We have at least another trailer-load of broken branches to go to the dump.
.
"Well, we don't have that much to do!"
Yeah, it is the beauty of living here where yardwork is done about 10-11 months of the year. ugh.
.
Samster said:
"Well, we don't have that much to do!"
Yeah, it is the beauty of living here where yardwork is done about 10-11 months of the year. ugh.
We did see a couple of people out raking today. We were really surprised that a few towns east of us, they had virtually no snow! We went to the beach today. I have noticed a few sprouts coming up here! But we won't be doing any serious yard work (other than picking up the huge branches that came down) for another month.
 
Yup, we do the winter thing for major overhauls.
Otherwise- if we have to paint a room, we block that off singly. Lawn work gets done when we have time. Anything that would require work being done in the common areas, we close down altogether..
"Lawn work gets down when we have time."
I think that's easier because there are two of you :)
I am the lawn work person so there's no way that I could do a major project or projects with guests in the house & everything else too. Over the last 2 days, I was able to weed all the gardens, put 2 40 lb bags of organic soil in my raised garden which I'm going to use this year strictly for more herbs and edible flowers, (I might plant tomatoes & green peppers in big pots this year to see how they do because I can move them to a sunnier spot in the back that way), spiff up the front porches of both houses, add soil to several spots in the lawn that had low spots, power wash our patio, trim back some things, and rake out the last of the leaves. There are a bunch of cans and bags of lawn stuff at the curb for Monday's pick up.
Still to do: Spread lots of mulch for both houses, buy some plants and put them in, paint the fountain & get it running again, fix the lights that light said fountain, repair my little drip irrigation system around our patio, bleach wash our side porch, and paint porch 5 porch floors (have to wait until the end of pollen so that will be for April - which I'll have to fit in as I can).
Whew!
.
Well, we don't have that much to do! But this year the front porch does have to get stripped and painted and all of the trees and shrubs the PO's put in 6" from the house have to be moved OUT into the lawn somewhere.
But, we won't even start any of that for another month at least. We have at least another trailer-load of broken branches to go to the dump.
.
"Well, we don't have that much to do!"
Yeah, it is the beauty of living here where yardwork is done about 10-11 months of the year. ugh.
.
Samster said:
"Well, we don't have that much to do!"
Yeah, it is the beauty of living here where yardwork is done about 10-11 months of the year. ugh.
We did see a couple of people out raking today. We were really surprised that a few towns east of us, they had virtually no snow! We went to the beach today. I have noticed a few sprouts coming up here! But we won't be doing any serious yard work (other than picking up the huge branches that came down) for another month.
.
Bunch of stuff came down when we were under that tornado watch/warning and had lots of wind. Then, it snowed the next day! Heavy rains here through tomorrow morning so there will be lots of small branches, plus it's the height of pollen time! Yellow cars and porches.
 
Yup, we do the winter thing for major overhauls.
Otherwise- if we have to paint a room, we block that off singly. Lawn work gets done when we have time. Anything that would require work being done in the common areas, we close down altogether..
"Lawn work gets down when we have time."
I think that's easier because there are two of you :)
I am the lawn work person so there's no way that I could do a major project or projects with guests in the house & everything else too. Over the last 2 days, I was able to weed all the gardens, put 2 40 lb bags of organic soil in my raised garden which I'm going to use this year strictly for more herbs and edible flowers, (I might plant tomatoes & green peppers in big pots this year to see how they do because I can move them to a sunnier spot in the back that way), spiff up the front porches of both houses, add soil to several spots in the lawn that had low spots, power wash our patio, trim back some things, and rake out the last of the leaves. There are a bunch of cans and bags of lawn stuff at the curb for Monday's pick up.
Still to do: Spread lots of mulch for both houses, buy some plants and put them in, paint the fountain & get it running again, fix the lights that light said fountain, repair my little drip irrigation system around our patio, bleach wash our side porch, and paint porch 5 porch floors (have to wait until the end of pollen so that will be for April - which I'll have to fit in as I can).
Whew!
.
Well, we don't have that much to do! But this year the front porch does have to get stripped and painted and all of the trees and shrubs the PO's put in 6" from the house have to be moved OUT into the lawn somewhere.
But, we won't even start any of that for another month at least. We have at least another trailer-load of broken branches to go to the dump.
.
"Well, we don't have that much to do!"
Yeah, it is the beauty of living here where yardwork is done about 10-11 months of the year. ugh.
.
Samster said:
"Well, we don't have that much to do!"
Yeah, it is the beauty of living here where yardwork is done about 10-11 months of the year. ugh.
We did see a couple of people out raking today. We were really surprised that a few towns east of us, they had virtually no snow! We went to the beach today. I have noticed a few sprouts coming up here! But we won't be doing any serious yard work (other than picking up the huge branches that came down) for another month.
.
Bunch of stuff came down when we were under that tornado watch/warning and had lots of wind. Then, it snowed the next day! Heavy rains here through tomorrow morning so there will be lots of small branches, plus it's the height of pollen time! Yellow cars and porches.
.
Samster said:
Bunch of stuff came down when we were under that tornado watch/warning and had lots of wind. Then, it snowed the next day! Heavy rains here through tomorrow morning so there will be lots of small branches, plus it's the height of pollen time! Yellow cars and porches.
We won't have that kind of pollen until May! We do the window washing after it's over. But that's getting close. We're starting to be busier and it's harder to keep up with the outside stuff at that point. Luckily, most of my windows are the newer, tilt-style so it's only a few rooms that need 2 of us, one inside and one outside, to get both sides of the windows.
 
Yup, we do the winter thing for major overhauls.
Otherwise- if we have to paint a room, we block that off singly. Lawn work gets done when we have time. Anything that would require work being done in the common areas, we close down altogether..
"Lawn work gets down when we have time."
I think that's easier because there are two of you :)
I am the lawn work person so there's no way that I could do a major project or projects with guests in the house & everything else too. Over the last 2 days, I was able to weed all the gardens, put 2 40 lb bags of organic soil in my raised garden which I'm going to use this year strictly for more herbs and edible flowers, (I might plant tomatoes & green peppers in big pots this year to see how they do because I can move them to a sunnier spot in the back that way), spiff up the front porches of both houses, add soil to several spots in the lawn that had low spots, power wash our patio, trim back some things, and rake out the last of the leaves. There are a bunch of cans and bags of lawn stuff at the curb for Monday's pick up.
Still to do: Spread lots of mulch for both houses, buy some plants and put them in, paint the fountain & get it running again, fix the lights that light said fountain, repair my little drip irrigation system around our patio, bleach wash our side porch, and paint porch 5 porch floors (have to wait until the end of pollen so that will be for April - which I'll have to fit in as I can).
Whew!
.
Well, we don't have that much to do! But this year the front porch does have to get stripped and painted and all of the trees and shrubs the PO's put in 6" from the house have to be moved OUT into the lawn somewhere.
But, we won't even start any of that for another month at least. We have at least another trailer-load of broken branches to go to the dump.
.
"Well, we don't have that much to do!"
Yeah, it is the beauty of living here where yardwork is done about 10-11 months of the year. ugh.
.
Samster said:
"Well, we don't have that much to do!"
Yeah, it is the beauty of living here where yardwork is done about 10-11 months of the year. ugh.
We did see a couple of people out raking today. We were really surprised that a few towns east of us, they had virtually no snow! We went to the beach today. I have noticed a few sprouts coming up here! But we won't be doing any serious yard work (other than picking up the huge branches that came down) for another month.
.
Bunch of stuff came down when we were under that tornado watch/warning and had lots of wind. Then, it snowed the next day! Heavy rains here through tomorrow morning so there will be lots of small branches, plus it's the height of pollen time! Yellow cars and porches.
.
Samster said:
Bunch of stuff came down when we were under that tornado watch/warning and had lots of wind. Then, it snowed the next day! Heavy rains here through tomorrow morning so there will be lots of small branches, plus it's the height of pollen time! Yellow cars and porches.
We won't have that kind of pollen until May! We do the window washing after it's over. But that's getting close. We're starting to be busier and it's harder to keep up with the outside stuff at that point. Luckily, most of my windows are the newer, tilt-style so it's only a few rooms that need 2 of us, one inside and one outside, to get both sides of the windows.
.
It is sooooooooooooooo bad that I have typed up a letter for the guest rooms telling them to let us know if the porches need attention. It is a 24/7 job right now to keep up with up. I could be sweeping them constantly. ugh.
 
We put new hardwood flooring down, stained it and dh put 3 coats of oil base varnish on. It is in one of our guest rooms which is rented many times over. The guests last night were bothered by the varnish smell. What is the quickest way to get rid of this smell other than openiong the windows and trying baking soda all over the room? I'm a bit desperate here. It does look beautiful but I'm sure there will be others not impressed. The smell seems to have gone through the whole house.
 
We put new hardwood flooring down, stained it and dh put 3 coats of oil base varnish on. It is in one of our guest rooms which is rented many times over. The guests last night were bothered by the varnish smell. What is the quickest way to get rid of this smell other than openiong the windows and trying baking soda all over the room? I'm a bit desperate here. It does look beautiful but I'm sure there will be others not impressed. The smell seems to have gone through the whole house..
Sorry I don't think there is a trick to it. Varnish needs to cure and it cures by evaporation of the solvent....unfortunatey the evaporating solvent is what stinks. And if it is cold out, opening the windows only prolongs the stink because the solvent doesn't evaporate as well at low temperatures. Opening a a single window and putting a fan in that window blowing out and closing the door to the room will help create negative air pressure so more of the fumes leave the house and don't migrate to other areas.
 
We put new hardwood flooring down, stained it and dh put 3 coats of oil base varnish on. It is in one of our guest rooms which is rented many times over. The guests last night were bothered by the varnish smell. What is the quickest way to get rid of this smell other than openiong the windows and trying baking soda all over the room? I'm a bit desperate here. It does look beautiful but I'm sure there will be others not impressed. The smell seems to have gone through the whole house..
Try putting some vanilla in a small bowl or container on a dresser or on a shelf (some place it will not get knocked over. Vanilla absorbs oders.
 
We put new hardwood flooring down, stained it and dh put 3 coats of oil base varnish on. It is in one of our guest rooms which is rented many times over. The guests last night were bothered by the varnish smell. What is the quickest way to get rid of this smell other than openiong the windows and trying baking soda all over the room? I'm a bit desperate here. It does look beautiful but I'm sure there will be others not impressed. The smell seems to have gone through the whole house..
I think Swirt has given you the best advice. I would not try to mask the odor, it will just create another problem.
I say this becasue we had a guest come in the other day & say, "It smells like natural gas in here, you should check it out!" Well, it didn't really because a gas leak smells like rotten eggs. But what we had going on was the combination of some smells that were competing and not in a good way. This "Scentsy" machine I have in the dining room that I turn on for a short time after breakfast to help with bacon smell or others and a reed diffuser that was a different scent. They didn't meld well, needless to say. I figured it out & aired out the downstairs (it was in the 70s here yesterday) and now it's fine. So, that's why I suggested that you not try to cover up the smell. This is also why really I don't have scented things in the house.
 
We put new hardwood flooring down, stained it and dh put 3 coats of oil base varnish on. It is in one of our guest rooms which is rented many times over. The guests last night were bothered by the varnish smell. What is the quickest way to get rid of this smell other than openiong the windows and trying baking soda all over the room? I'm a bit desperate here. It does look beautiful but I'm sure there will be others not impressed. The smell seems to have gone through the whole house..
I think Swirt has given you the best advice. I would not try to mask the odor, it will just create another problem.
I say this becasue we had a guest come in the other day & say, "It smells like natural gas in here, you should check it out!" Well, it didn't really because a gas leak smells like rotten eggs. But what we had going on was the combination of some smells that were competing and not in a good way. This "Scentsy" machine I have in the dining room that I turn on for a short time after breakfast to help with bacon smell or others and a reed diffuser that was a different scent. They didn't meld well, needless to say. I figured it out & aired out the downstairs (it was in the 70s here yesterday) and now it's fine. So, that's why I suggested that you not try to cover up the smell. This is also why really I don't have scented things in the house.
.
That is why I suggested vanilla. Although vanilla does have an oder, it absorbs the other oders - does not "cover up".
 
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