Peeling off the old asbestos siding
Greetings All !
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. My wife’s working hours have been a bit less lately, so when I’m off-shift, she’s been taking up more and more of my time lately.
Well, since my last post, a few things have happened regarding the whole idea of repainting the house. Of course, as you may recall, our plan is not to do just a simple one-color paint-job. No, instead, we had consulted with an expert on period home color schemes… and he had proposed a plan where we’ll be using nine (!!) different colors to repaint the home to what it COULD have been years ago, when it was originally built.
Our color expert, Paul Helmer, then recommended two contractors to us. These are people whom he has worked with in repainting period homes in Kansas City’s Hyde Park area. One contractor just couldn’t seem to schedule or keep an appointment with us. We concluded that he felt we were too far away from him for him to do the job.
However, the other contractor, a father-and-son team, came out and gave us an estimate. The estimate included taking off the old asbestos siding, power-washing the house, doing wood repair / restoration, and then priming and painting the house according to the color scheme we have planned.
Next, I still wanted a second opinion. Somebody at my day-job pointed me to another painting contractor. And although we received a quote from this person, there were two problems. First, he was asking for the same amount of money as the first contractor, but he wouldn’t be doing any wood repair. Second, I just felt that while he may have painted some older homes, he may not have done multiple-color schemes.
So, mentally at least, we’ve chosen the first contractor.
However, I must confess: I have no idea where or how we’re going to come up with money for this project !! Our credit cards already have more on them than I would like to see. My wife’s funds for her kitchen remodel are pretty-much gone. If I took a home equity loan, well, you still have to have additional income to make the loan payments, eh?
So, Terry and I are relying solely on God to provide us with the funds and help us get the work done.
It sounds crazy, I know! ( During a recent service at our church, the pastor read a Bible verse that “hit home” with me on this: Luke 14:28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?”)
Are we nuts?
I’m not sure.
But we’re going to pray for God’s help… and let everybody know that it is only by his providence that the project is moving along.
To save $2500, I’ve decided to remove the old asbestos siding by myself. (Yes, I am wearing a mask while I do this!) It’s a simple enough task. The only difficult thing is doing it on a ladder. And I haven’t started working with my extension ladder yet, because I have a problem:
I purchased my 28 foot extension ladder at an estate sale for $10. Wow, what a deal, I had thought at the time. However, I later learned that it was missing something called “ladder shoes”. This makes the ladder more stable on flat surfaces, like my driveway. Without shoes, you’re basically standing on two metal beams with their thin edges pushing straight into the ground. Not good.
So, I’ve been hunting (unsuccessfully) for ladder shoes!
The problem is that this ladder has no manufacturer’s name on it… no markings at all. And hardware stores don’t carry ladder shoes as a general rule to begin with. So, I have to find some sort of contractor’s supply place that has them…. or buy a new ladder.
As it is, I started taking the siding off of the front part of the house, by standing on the porch roof and using my 13 foot extension ladder there. I started doing this last week.
I figured I’ll put in a few hours here and there during every off-shift I get. And eventually, maybe by the end of summer, it will be done.
No rush because I still don’t know where I’m going to come up with the other (approximately) $12,500 for this little project.
Please pray for God to give us the funds, not so much for our personal benefit, but for the sake of this old house and what it would mean for our neighborhood to see it returned to former glory!
God is great! He’s given us a wonderful home that, while it’s not as fancy or history-filled as a lot of people’s homes, is still far bigger and more full of character than anything I realistically would have expected that we’d ever be able to live in !!
Have a great day ! And may God bless you too in your old house !