The Boom Lift

As most people who read this know, Eric and I live in a old house. Like, really old. Eric bought it off of a guy whose family owned it for decades, and had done NOTHING to maintain it, let alone update it.

That was about six years ago. By the time I moved into about four years ago, Eric had done a lot, including restoring nearly all the original hardwood floors and trim. He found a few pleasant surprises along the way... and some not so pleasant. But the inside was looking good and the last major project was a master bath (we'll leave that for another blog one day).

One thing he learned in his house renovation experience is that, except for a bad roof, always fix the inside up fist because that's what you live with and see everyday. If you make it look pretty from the outside first, then everyone enjoys your old home but you, because you have chaos on the inside that you look at everyday.

That's not to say he's done nothing on the outside. The entire front porch was rebuilt, and we get nothing but compliments on that. But the big project outside is the siding. It's an old house, with old wood siding. And since we live in a historic district, it has to stay as such, which means the maintenance is a nightmare, in my opinion. He's done some, but I'm all about virtually maintenance free brick exteriors - this siding crap isn't worth the effort. I think brick looks nicer, too.

ANYWAY, the maintenance thus far on the siding has be horrendous (mainly for Eric). As I said, the previous owners did nothing, and I'm pretty sure most of what's up there is the original siding from 1905-ish. Okay... so maybe they've done something since then, but there was nothing done over the last couple of decades, while it was a rental. The lower level is easy enough... even the second level isn't so bad. But it's the upper attic level and the peaks beyond that level that are impossible. The priming, painting, replacing, and just the up and down on ladders makes it an extremely slow DIY process.

With the prospect of a garage being built this summer, Eric wanted to finish the back. Made sense. So last week, he proposed renting a 60' construction boom lift for the long weekend. I didn't even argue - if it meant getting it done, I was all for it. So he did. That thing is crazy! But, over the past few days, a lot got completed. The entire back - DONE! He even drove it around the front and made a few repairs to the front upper eave and painted all but the very, very upper peak that's set back a bit... which you can barely see from the road. The fixing of the eave by a contractor would've cost the rental fee alone, so it made it so worth it.

Now all that's left are the sides of the house... which are two very large faces with few windows. And lifts can't fit in the side yards, so it's back to the ladders and scaffolding.

But the lift was fun... kind of cool to play on. Yes... I went up on it, too. Not like Eric's amount of time up there, but I had to experience it. But I'm glad it goes away on Friday... the thing is monstrous! But it sure was worth it.