I retired last December, but it wasn't until basketball season was over that I started to fall into my retirement routine. So that's about two months to develop a routine of sorts. My typical day is filled with work around the house. More work than I would ever take on while I had an 8 to 5 job. And I'm doing it 7 days a week. My To-Do list around the home is infinitely large and I really have my doubts I will ever get them all done. Maybe I should just get a real job so I don't have to work this hard. 
In reality I am having a blast. Recurring lawn work takes up a lot of my time. In addition to recurring lawn work, I'm getting around to some long neglected tasks. The central part of my house is a Cedar-sided atrium with sunken hot tub and skylights. It has doors on all 4 sides, connecting to the entryway, great room, master bedroom and rear deck. So it's a focus of my house. The skylights leaked, so I had them replaced 16 years ago with new Velux skylights guaranteed not to leak. Well they leak also. It's the skylight, not the installation that's the problem. The guy that put them in came over and stopped the leak maybe 8 years ago. Happily he didn't charge me. Fast forward another 8 years and he came back and fixed them again. I don't know if I'll get a bill this time, but I am resigned to the fact this will be a recurring problem every half dozen years or so.
Anyway the room with the skylights has unfinished Cedar. The leak resulted in some nasty stains that I've put up with. But now that I'm retired, it's a project that I have time to dig into. I searched the internet and found there is no perfect solution to getting rid of these stains, but after trying out some of the suggestions, I've found that a diluted vinegar mix works great on the light stains and does pretty good on the heavy ones if you run the soft brush over it a number of times. Sometimes it takes a harder brush and a little elbow grease or even some sandpaper to finish it off. The sandpaper does very little on the worst stains until they are treated with the vinegar.
Another one of the issues that kept me from taking on this project is the high ceiling and getting access to the skylights above the spa. A while back I bought a taller step ladder, but needed to build a temporary "floor" or scaffolding over the top of the spa, both to get a little more height and also because the spa cover is not load-bearing.
Once I discovered that I could deal with the water-stained wood, I wanted to apply a stain to help protect the wood for the next time I have a leak or the next time I have crazy people over and we get a little too rambunctious and water gets splashed all over the place. I first tried a clear stain, but wasn't totally happy with the result. So I tried a stain with a little bit of light tint in it and am really happy with the result so far. So I have a plan and am starting to execute it.
The vinegar treatment works reasonably well, but it's a tedious job and it takes me about a day per skylight. I've got four skylights and a few other places on the walls to treat. It takes a bit of time to move the "floor" after each skylight. By the end of the day, I hope I have just one skylight left for the vinegar treatment. But I may not get back to it until Wednesday. Tuesday is haircut and tailgate tour day, with a pre-tailgate tour party in mid afternoon, so that day will be shot. I need to fertilize the lawn on Monday and go shopping for a sprayer cable harness with switch. I also need to get a blower so I can get the maple seeds off the pool cover, deck and landscaping.
Staining of the atrium will probably have to wait so I can get the pool open before it gets too hot and turns green. I need to power wash the pool deck before opening. Then power wash the pool chairs. Once I get the pool open and finish staining the atrium I guess I'll take care of the dead tree that I've been putting off for so long. Then clean up and replace the carpet in three-season's porch #1. And so on down the list. This is just cracking the surface.
So this is what my retirement is going to be like, at least until football season starts and Cyclone athletics consumes me for the next 6 or 7 months. It sounds like a lot of work to me. Maybe I should just get a job, so I don't have to work so hard.
In reality I am having a blast. Recurring lawn work takes up a lot of my time. In addition to recurring lawn work, I'm getting around to some long neglected tasks. The central part of my house is a Cedar-sided atrium with sunken hot tub and skylights. It has doors on all 4 sides, connecting to the entryway, great room, master bedroom and rear deck. So it's a focus of my house. The skylights leaked, so I had them replaced 16 years ago with new Velux skylights guaranteed not to leak. Well they leak also. It's the skylight, not the installation that's the problem. The guy that put them in came over and stopped the leak maybe 8 years ago. Happily he didn't charge me. Fast forward another 8 years and he came back and fixed them again. I don't know if I'll get a bill this time, but I am resigned to the fact this will be a recurring problem every half dozen years or so.
Anyway the room with the skylights has unfinished Cedar. The leak resulted in some nasty stains that I've put up with. But now that I'm retired, it's a project that I have time to dig into. I searched the internet and found there is no perfect solution to getting rid of these stains, but after trying out some of the suggestions, I've found that a diluted vinegar mix works great on the light stains and does pretty good on the heavy ones if you run the soft brush over it a number of times. Sometimes it takes a harder brush and a little elbow grease or even some sandpaper to finish it off. The sandpaper does very little on the worst stains until they are treated with the vinegar.
Another one of the issues that kept me from taking on this project is the high ceiling and getting access to the skylights above the spa. A while back I bought a taller step ladder, but needed to build a temporary "floor" or scaffolding over the top of the spa, both to get a little more height and also because the spa cover is not load-bearing.
Once I discovered that I could deal with the water-stained wood, I wanted to apply a stain to help protect the wood for the next time I have a leak or the next time I have crazy people over and we get a little too rambunctious and water gets splashed all over the place. I first tried a clear stain, but wasn't totally happy with the result. So I tried a stain with a little bit of light tint in it and am really happy with the result so far. So I have a plan and am starting to execute it.
The vinegar treatment works reasonably well, but it's a tedious job and it takes me about a day per skylight. I've got four skylights and a few other places on the walls to treat. It takes a bit of time to move the "floor" after each skylight. By the end of the day, I hope I have just one skylight left for the vinegar treatment. But I may not get back to it until Wednesday. Tuesday is haircut and tailgate tour day, with a pre-tailgate tour party in mid afternoon, so that day will be shot. I need to fertilize the lawn on Monday and go shopping for a sprayer cable harness with switch. I also need to get a blower so I can get the maple seeds off the pool cover, deck and landscaping.
Staining of the atrium will probably have to wait so I can get the pool open before it gets too hot and turns green. I need to power wash the pool deck before opening. Then power wash the pool chairs. Once I get the pool open and finish staining the atrium I guess I'll take care of the dead tree that I've been putting off for so long. Then clean up and replace the carpet in three-season's porch #1. And so on down the list. This is just cracking the surface.
So this is what my retirement is going to be like, at least until football season starts and Cyclone athletics consumes me for the next 6 or 7 months. It sounds like a lot of work to me. Maybe I should just get a job, so I don't have to work so hard.
Last edited:
