Mucky, Mucky Was A Pond >>> Mucky, Mucky Is Now Gone

So when we moved in our house, it came with this lovely double level pond with a motor that, we were so blessed was filled with mucky water and loved to attract mosquitos to our yard.  On one hand I had always wanted a pond in my yard since I was young but, on the other hand I did not want this pond in my yard.  One day while Colby was at work (to surprise him), my mom and I emptied all the water (NASTINESS) out of the ponds.  We then squirted off the ponds and motors and set them to the side.  Our biggest venture was upon us.  There was water under the pond in the dirt too and we wanted it emptied so my dogs would stop jumping in it to swim and drink.  During this emptying, we found a bee hive (YIKES)! After we got most of the bees killed, we poured some bleach in the water to get rid of any other mucky-ness!  So now we have two empty holes that do not attract mosquitos.

Before- Whole Pond

Before- Mucky Water

Before- Mucky Water

Before- Whole Pond

After- Pond Gone

After- Empty Hole

After- Empty Hole

After- Pond Gone

After- Cleaned Some Foliage

After- Cleaned Pond

Popping Champagne & Fixing Chimneys

So the next project we worked on was our chimney. We needed to fix the mortar and seal on our chimney based on our house inspection. There was some cracking in the mortar and sealant needed to be redone. Of course since we are doing this house ourselves, we decided to figure out how to fix these issues on our own. But first we made some mimosas! This was especially necessary for me because, Colby had me using a broken ladder that did not even reach the roof. You get to the top step and then pull your body weight onto the roof!

This renovation requires mortar, sealant, chisels, hammers, a pointing trowel, a masonry brush and a razor. The first step was for us to take apart the chimney cap so it would not get in the way or messed up during the process. The next step is to start cracking away the old mortar with your chisel and hammer. All the mortar needs to go so its a clean slate again. Then use the masonry brush to get rid of all the dust. Before placing any new mortar down, the surface needs to be dampened.  Place the mortar then pat with your hands to form shape and use your trowel to smooth surface and make the downward slant for the rain to run off. This may seem easy but it requires you working VERY FAST so the mortar does not dry before you smooth or shape. This is also the part where you will start screaming at the person you are working with (in our case that would be me and Colby yelling at each other on the roof.) After you are finished and the mortar is flat in the middle and dry, you can reapply the cap. The next step in our renovation was to use a razor to cut and then scrap all the old sealant around the flashing. We then applied new sealant and smoothed it with our fingers. (My fingers had sealant on them for almost a week after.)

Popping Champagne!

Mimosas before our adventure

Safety Hazard: Ladder shorter than the roof

All the mortar is off.

All the mortar is off (again.)

New Mortar and New Sealant.

New Mortar and New Sealant (again.)