Acacia decking: thickness, joists and a ventilated facade
Choosing acacia decking boards by thickness and grade, setting joist spacing under a deck, and why a ventilated cladding keeps exterior timber dry.
Section
Upkeep
Nearly every expensive household repair began as something visible. A gutter joint dripping down a wall for two winters, a sealant bead that shrank away from the bath, a hinge screw that pulled loose and let a door drop. None of them cost anything to find and all of them cost a great deal to leave. Upkeep is the shelf for the work that happens before a trade is called: looking on purpose, at a fixed interval, and writing down what was seen.
The entries here divide the work three ways, because the three do not mix. Anything that arrives by season goes on a calendar with an interval and a date beside it. Anything that takes ten minutes with the tools already in the house goes on a running list and gets cleared in one pass. Anything that needs a ladder above single storey, a gas engineer or a structural opinion stops at the point of noticing. Anything found on a walk that concerns damp coming from inside the house rather than outside it belongs with textiles, where drying and ventilation are dealt with, and anything that ends up as a receipt or a service record belongs in records.
Hanging a mirror so it stays safe and straight
How to hang a mirror so it cannot fall, why an old mirror darkens at the edges, and what cleans glass without harming a frame.
Cables and settings behind a television
One certified HDMI lead, a soundbar that wakes with the screen, and where the boxes live: the practical order behind a television.
Reading the finish on solid wood furniture
How to tell an oiled finish from a lacquered one, what a veneered panel does that solid wood does not, and how to tighten a chair joint without stripping the
Wall, ground and roof as one system
How a thermal barrier, earth tubes, ground heat storage and a solar roof work together, and which measurements show whether the house performs as planned.
A house at altitude: snow load, pipes and winter work
What a mountain house asks of a roof, how exposed pipes are protected before the first hard frost, and what to check on a property before buying.
A dry-climate garden: water, shade, ground cover
How much water a planted bed needs in a dry summer, where shade earns its place around a house, and which low-water ground covers hold a slope.
Reading a home's energy use, room by room
How to measure what a house actually spends on energy, room by room, what a heat pump or boiler costs over a year, and which measures pay back first.
A maintenance calendar for a piece of land
A field, paddock or rough plot wants its own sheet in the calendar: which jobs belong to which season, and why the ground decides the day.
Closing the house before a week away
A house left for a week needs a closing routine, not a vague sense of unease: the last hour, room by room, ending at the front door.
A house kept by season: building a quarterly round of chores
Four short seasonal rounds beat one fixed chore list: which jobs belong to which season, and how to rotate the house with the months.
The seasonal walk around a house
Four times a year, walk the outside of the building and then the inside, in the same order, looking for water. Most household repairs begin as something you could have seen.
Squeaks, drips and the ten minute fix
A squeak, a slow drip and a door that catches are all ten minute jobs while they are small. Kept on a list and cleared in one pass, they never become a trade call.
What a maintenance calendar actually holds
A maintenance calendar holds jobs that arrive by season, not jobs that arrive by mood. Filters, drains, gutters, alarms and the two appliances that fail without warning.