I guess the main reason I do not feel at home in the other house is that I resent the people who built it. They were university educated and had zero common sense.
Today I was washing down the sidewalk to the house and cursing under my breath the whole time. Half the time I have to wonder what they were thinking or if they were thinking at all. Who, in the north or Alberta, would even try to hand build a sidewalk with hand placed cut rocks? What do you do in the winter time when there is ice to chip off and how does one even get the snow off the very uneven surface? Every time I shovel that walk I curse under my breath some more. Shiza! Who does that?
So, I was washing down the sidewalk and I know that they had to tear out the steps of the other side, which likely sank down the slope as the house has fallen in that direction too. The fact that the cement they used was not the proper mix to act as a mortar contributes to the problem, because the whole thing is eroding and falling apart. So is the concrete in the garage, which I suspect they either poured themselves or cheaped out on the quality of concrete. The garage is horrible. The salt from the road contributes to the erosion of the cement, but a simple rubber matting would have solved that problem. Did they think of that? No.
Every time I have to do anything in that house I get frustrated. It is hard to believe that two smart people would be so ignorant. They did choose to build much of the house themselves. They shouldn't have. Everything was wrong and it took me a year just to right those wrongs to bring the home to liveable standards. That was without renovating. The plumbing, wiring, and heating were incorrect. I could go into the messes I had to fix, but that will be best saved for another rant. No wonder I cannot live in that house. It is terribly designed without proper ventilation or opening windows that allow cross ventilation at least. They thought it was passive solar, but there is no heat sink area and the sun shines incessantly through the large window in the living room that has extremely high ceilings. Hmmm, I wonder where the heat goes. Even with the new fans I installed, the air is still stagnant. There is no furnace so the air does not move and the in floor heating in the basement was malfunctioning and had to be disconnected this fall. Another problem! There was a leak in the plumbing somewhere under the floor, so the plumber suspected. So, the lower floor currently has no heat and no air movement, except the Redwell infrared heaters that I put there(but are not on now), and which do function very well. They, those people, used to vent the dryer into the house! Shiza! Who does that? Seriously? in winter in Alberta? Gads.
But today, after I cleaned the walkway and washed the stones, I realized that I will have to replace that walkway next year. It has deteriorated beyond repair. There was likely no proper foundation laid down, just concrete on the ground and the slabs have heaved too, not only the stones dislodged and the cement disintegrated. One has to wonder why some people do things at all if they cannot first research the methodology and do them right. Common sense? Missing?
Today I was washing down the sidewalk to the house and cursing under my breath the whole time. Half the time I have to wonder what they were thinking or if they were thinking at all. Who, in the north or Alberta, would even try to hand build a sidewalk with hand placed cut rocks? What do you do in the winter time when there is ice to chip off and how does one even get the snow off the very uneven surface? Every time I shovel that walk I curse under my breath some more. Shiza! Who does that?
So, I was washing down the sidewalk and I know that they had to tear out the steps of the other side, which likely sank down the slope as the house has fallen in that direction too. The fact that the cement they used was not the proper mix to act as a mortar contributes to the problem, because the whole thing is eroding and falling apart. So is the concrete in the garage, which I suspect they either poured themselves or cheaped out on the quality of concrete. The garage is horrible. The salt from the road contributes to the erosion of the cement, but a simple rubber matting would have solved that problem. Did they think of that? No.
Every time I have to do anything in that house I get frustrated. It is hard to believe that two smart people would be so ignorant. They did choose to build much of the house themselves. They shouldn't have. Everything was wrong and it took me a year just to right those wrongs to bring the home to liveable standards. That was without renovating. The plumbing, wiring, and heating were incorrect. I could go into the messes I had to fix, but that will be best saved for another rant. No wonder I cannot live in that house. It is terribly designed without proper ventilation or opening windows that allow cross ventilation at least. They thought it was passive solar, but there is no heat sink area and the sun shines incessantly through the large window in the living room that has extremely high ceilings. Hmmm, I wonder where the heat goes. Even with the new fans I installed, the air is still stagnant. There is no furnace so the air does not move and the in floor heating in the basement was malfunctioning and had to be disconnected this fall. Another problem! There was a leak in the plumbing somewhere under the floor, so the plumber suspected. So, the lower floor currently has no heat and no air movement, except the Redwell infrared heaters that I put there(but are not on now), and which do function very well. They, those people, used to vent the dryer into the house! Shiza! Who does that? Seriously? in winter in Alberta? Gads.
But today, after I cleaned the walkway and washed the stones, I realized that I will have to replace that walkway next year. It has deteriorated beyond repair. There was likely no proper foundation laid down, just concrete on the ground and the slabs have heaved too, not only the stones dislodged and the cement disintegrated. One has to wonder why some people do things at all if they cannot first research the methodology and do them right. Common sense? Missing?
These were the front steps. The steps that are there now do not conform and are dangerous with one being too deep to step down safely and the next not being the same size step. I have blocked the stone steps off and just use the wooden stairs, which are properly built and I am sure not built by the homeowners who did nothing properly.
This is what the garage floor is like after a thorough cleaning. It is crumbling rapidly with large areas now missing.
At least a dozen of these stones has fallen out now. There are cracks and the cement used as mortar is dissolving and disintegrating.
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