Hello and welcome back to the home improvement world of the Dogpound.  In my many years of owning homes and rentals, I have had the opportunity to do wiring, plumbing, drywall and about everything else except for siding.  Well, I got my opportunity, but it was not something I had planned on doing.  

A few weeks back we had a very bad storm and my Internet and satellite were both knocked out of commission.  The repairmen showed up the following Monday afternoon and, as they worked on the repairs, one of them asked me if I knew I had some loose siding on the house; he suggested I call the insurance company. Yikes!  I was not aware of anything loose or otherwise on my house, so I rushed out the back door, expecting to see half of the house’s siding missing or damaged.  

I looked all over the back of the house and I could not see anything amiss, but as I rounded the corner toward the front of the house, I spied one single piece of siding that had pulled loose out from under the dining room window.  It would have been easy to put back in place if it had not bent far enough to crack the vinyl at the crease of the bend.  Further observation showed that the builders had made no effort to seal the vinyl under the window, rather, they tried to stick a little bit under the window frame and hope it held together.  Not a good idea.  

Fortunately, I had some vinyl siding left over, but since I left it outside on the back patio, it was covered in dirt and mold.  So my first job was to clean the siding; then, I managed to pry the damaged piece off the wall and used it to measure the cutouts around the window frame.  I was doing pretty good and was about ready with my first piece when I noticed that there was a crack in the corner, so I had to start all over again.  Fortunately my measurements and cutting skills were adequate enough for the second piece to slip nicely into place. And, just to make sure, I added a couple of aluminum nails. This puppy is not going anywhere in the next storm.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.” Confucius

CAR REPAIR
Took my car to the local service center last week and told the manager that every time I make a hard turn there is a clunking noise.  The service manager gave my keys to the mechanic and asked him to take the car out for a test spin to see if could figure out where the noise was coming from.  A few minutes later the mechanic returned, handed the keys to the service manage, told him he had fixed the problem and handed him the work order.  I asked the service manager what was on the work order. It read: “Removed bowling ball from trunk.”

As always be good, play safe and remember to be modest in all things.  

JR and Max