The Continuing Adventures of Home Ownership

I had finished about half of our front yard when the electric lawnmower stopped. It would not restart. It had been having intermittent starting problems since last summer but I always managed to somehow wiggle on the right spot and it would restart and run until I finished that mowing.

I had reviewed several YouTube videos on the subject and decided there were too many parts to remove to attempt fixing it myself. There had to be more talented people to do this. But as soon as I finished mowing I would forget about it. So I didn’t get it looked at. Until I had to.

I had been angle-cutting the front yard to give it that offset look. For a week it looked like a sheet cake half eaten diagonally. I thought of telling everyone that I stopped mowing because I suddenly remembered it’s No Mow May.

The place I bought it from said that a computer board had failed and it was still under warranty. Barely. A week later I was back in business.

Everything with a battery these days likely has computer chips controlling it. Some lawnmowers even have touchscreens. I’m reading up on autonomous mowers that can mow your whole yard while you watch. Or not. What could go wrong?

Faucet Failure

Every spring when you can finally open the windows and wear shorts, you discover things that you take for granted. When we bought our house, I was pleased to see it had freeze-free outdoor faucets. I have now learned that they have a lifespan.

I connected the hose to fill the birdbath but even on full blast I was getting only a small stream. Then the faucet and pipes started making a racket. Bad sign. That racket was water shooting through an ice-damaged water line, eventually flooding part of our recently remodeled basement.

A plumber was called and several hundred dollars later, after installation of a new faucet and pipe, we are good to go. Except for the access hole he had to cut in a brand new cabinet.

The young plumber knew what the problem was right away and said this kind of faucet failure is common. He assured me that he has replaced many. He showed me the failed pipe section that he replaced. It was split like a hot dog that boiled too long.

What I have learned over many years of home ownership is that everything fails eventually. What’s new today won’t be tomorrow. We’ve replaced the roof, gutters, deck, furnace, AC and lots of plumbing. They will again need replacing some day. I expect that.

But I really thought I could get a few years of no emergency maintenance so I could at least learn how to use the new appliances and the apps that came with them before they fail. A failed outside faucet sure wasn’t on my radar. I figured a faucet that won’t freeze should also last forever. You can’t plan for something like this. Maybe we’re all supposed to have the plumbing inspected regularly, like a furnace.

Hail to the Almighty Roof

The recent hail storm in our neighborhood has brought on the incessant sound of nail guns which will last all summer. It was fortunate that we had our roof replaced just last year. An inspection revealed no damage. That may sound strange but it’s a long story. I’ll simplify it.

A free roof inspection last year by a salesman going down the street revealed some damage. We decided to see what our insurance would cover. Their inspector also saw damage but they wouldn’t cover it because the roof had been installed before we bought the house and we couldn’t prove when. You are expected to replace your roof every so many years. OK, I get that.

But the worst part was that they would cancel our policy if we didn’t get it replaced in short order, with documentation. And they assured us that no other insurance carrier would pick us up until the roof was replaced. I’ve never even made a claim with this company, not even for the water leak which luckily cleaned up well. Insurance companies are getting much stricter which should not be a surprise.

We really just want to get to where everything works for awhile. Because this is it, our forever home. Our forever-fixing-and-paying-for-it home.

They may have to carry us out of the place.