homeownership

[metaphortunate]

I have just evicted, from the gap at the edge of my kitchen floor where the wood was not sealed properly to the threshold of the porch door: two pillbugs, a healthy worm, some small but flourishing wood ear type mushrooms, and a lot of rich-smelling, damp humus. This is partly because our gutters are clogged and the rain has been running right down the door. Also I have sprayed it all down with bleach solution. Currently I am trying to dry the gap out with a hairdryer in hopes of being able to seal it with silicone caulk, which probably won't work because I don't think I can get it clean enough for the silicone to stick, because the edges of the floorboards are partly decomposed, but I have scraped away as much of the humus as I can and I don't know what else to do.

I realize that this is a size 2 jeans problem, but homeownership is such a joy.

ETA:

I did a hysterically bad job of caulking because I did not tape it off properly. And now my slippers are all slippery from getting silicone caulk on them. Motherfucker. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly, because it’s better than not getting it done at all?

At least E cleaned out the gutter, so it can drain now. Yay, E!

Comments

[brooksmoses]

Whee, such fun. I am adding "clean out the gutters" to my list of house to-do things, too. (I haven't seen water running down where it shouldn't yet, but it hasn't rained since we've been in the house, and I figure if the robins are using the gutter as a birdbath, something is probably clogged.)

FWIW, on the "what else to do" question -- the only "right" solution is probably to cut away the decomposed wood and replace it, but if the caulk doesn't end up working, for a medium-term fix you could try soaking it with a "wood hardener" sort of compound that soaks into the decomposed wood and hardens to make a clean solid surface that you could then sand smooth and caulk.

Which is to say, probably an hour of work spread over a day or two. Who has time for that?

[metaphortunate]

Ah, that's good to know though! Thank you.