Master List

1) Garage: why does door open and close on its own, stopping at random intervals?
    How do I get the door in the right place on the track so it stops when it hits the ground, and doesn't reverse direction and open up when I've tried to close it?
    What is eating the wood above the door, and how do I get rid of it?
     How can I get the person-size door on the side to close tightly, to keep squirrels from getting into the trash?
    Clean it / organize it.
    Stand or hook for hose
    Clean out all the yuck from under the back porch

2) Bathroom -- yikes
    Remove tile around tub
    Bleach to kill mold
    Remove drywall behind tile
    Replace drywall and "blueboard"
    If any studs have been damaged, replace them.
    Install access panel from kitchen?
    Install fiberglass liner
    Take down cabinet
    Remove wallpaper
    Choose paint color
    Scrape walls
    Paint 
    Pick up linoleum floor and tile instead? (only if necess.)
    Figure out a better storage solution
    Mixing valve -- can shower water be hotter?
    What's going on with the drain valve?
    Fix leaky seal in toilet tank -- how to get the old one out??

3) Dining room:
    Scrape and paint area of chipping paint.
    Pull up linoleum??  (Someday)

4) Stairway / hall
    Scrape chipping paint.
    Spackle that spot
    Repaint

5) Front porch:
    Fight that agressive viney plant that is taking over.
    Replace mailbox with something big enough to actually hold the mail.

6) Yard:
    Measure perimeter of whole yard, side yard.
    Investigate fence options -- cost, time, can I do it myself?
    What would it take to put stairs off the other side of the back porch so I could let Lila out into an enclosed back yard to pee in the wintertime?
    Cut back roses and other things in side garden
    Remove giant brush pile in back corner
    Get C to move his boat, and 517 to move his giant pile of bricks
    Finish perennial garden on side of house
    Weed and clip and trim around perimeters
    Could I get rid of bamboo forest in back? 
    Move those rocks
    Fill holes
    Get rid of all those cans of oil and other crap that's been sitting behind the garage for years.    
    Remove rhubarb and asparagus and reclaim those patches for yard space.
    Install some birdfeeders, and plants to encourage birds.
    Plant lilacs at border with ugly apt. building.
    Make a compost pile or place

7) Kitchen
    Get screen replaced for back door
    Install new garbage disposal
    scrub walls

8) Basement
    Clean, purge, organize

9) Whole house
    New windows
    Scrape and repaint windowsills and trim
    What critter is living in the eaves over the kitchen?  How can I get rid of it?
    Should I be worrying about my ceilings?

Comments

[Amber]

Douse the imperialist plant with some RoundUp. It kills just about everything.

[Notorious BLT]

Garage:
1. The door sensor seems screwy. There is a pressure sensor on the door that could be malfunctioning (or have a bunch of crud on it). Check near the tracks at the top or bottom of the door.
2. It looks like a nice dry-rot/carpenter ant problem. Carpenter ants can be hard to get rid of. Often you can see a trail of sawdust leading to their nest which is surrounded by sawdust. Find them and eradicate! The board needs to be replaced anyway, if you pull it down you may be better able to see what's going on.

Bathroom:
1. Clorox spray bleach works excellent for that kind of thing
2. Personally I wouldn't remove the drywall after removing the tiles. You probably don't want to know what the studs are like back there. Screw new blueboard directly into the studs on top of the old dry wall. This can save a lot of time.
3. Water can only be hotter if you find that it's hotter in the kitchen. Use your hand right under the faucets to determine this. If the kitchen sink is much hotter then it probably is your mixing valve. You should probably replace the plumbing hardware when installing your new liner.
4. An access panel in the kitchen could be handy but you may have sufficient access to the shut-off valves in the basement right under the tub.

Yard:
1. Stairs and a fence for Lila sound like a great idea. Here's a link to stair plans for adding stairs to an existing deck --> http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/decks/stairs/2nd_story/straight.htm, and here is a more technical tutorial with cut dimensions --> http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/framecarp/technique/stairs/outdoor.htm
2. Here's a link to Lowe's fence center. You can purchase the horizontal sections of the fence pre-assembled. This makes your job easier. Put in the vertical posts and then screw in the pre-assembled 8' fence sections. There are metal bottoms that you can purchase for the posts so that you hammer the metal bottom into the ground, then insert the post and fasten it. This metal base will save you the hassle of digging holes in the ground that you will fill with concrete to set posts in... The only issue with the metal bases is they wont support a ton of weight. I have a neighbor who used this system and fenced in their yard for their dogs in a weekend.

Remember, you can only do one thing at a time and anything completed shold be viewed as a victory. Sometimes tackling a few small thing can be more rewarding than pounding away on one big thing for weeks on end.

Best of luck with your list.

[Courtney]

Tilex mold and mildew will clean that bathroom easily and without much effort.

I just had my garage looked at and the rollers in the door needed to be replaced in order to not stop at odd intervals. At only $5.00 a roller it was well worth it.

[Scheherazade H.]

Re getting rid of bamboo forest - I don't know how big yours is, but I saw Dan's dad get rid of a monster of some pampas grass by just digging around it and eventually getting it out through sheer brute force.

Maybe that will work.

Also to keep the mold away once you get rid of it - maybe a shower spray that can be used once a day? We buy a generic one from the supermarket and it seems to work relatively well (when we moved in our tiles were filthy).

[PG]

I'd feel kind of overwhelmed by this list too. But I also feel very envious of you for having a place where everything you do for it, you're doing for YOUR place. I'm already getting tired of being a renter and the feeling I always have of "Why bother?" when I want to improve something, or worse, "Does my agreement even *let* me do this?"

[Elfie]

The spot above the door looks like dry rot. The board will have to come out. Do you have gutters? If not, you might want to install something like a lip or awning over the door. Pull the boards off completely and replace. Test the rest of the wood around that spot and make sure that you are getting it all at one time.

NOW: the nice gents at home depot or Loews or similar will talk you through what you need to do to replace the boards, and probably precut them to the right length for you in the lumber department. If not, get a saw and a miter box. You CAN do this and you will feel very Walden Pond when you do. Got a rechargeable power drill/screw driver? If not, get one. Mid-range on those is not bad at all, and will work for everything you need it for. Everywoman's best tool.

Don't get me started on tile, but recalking is really, really easy and pretty satisfying. It looks like you need to do that, once you get your tiles re-stuck (this isn't hard either, trust me). Again, make the guys at the Home Depot feel manly by asking them how, or get a good home repair book.

Best thing for mold: clorox and an old toothbrush. Get "barkeepers friend" for the rust ring and some of the hard water deposits.

You can do it!

Signed,

Southern girl with a power saw. ;)

[Al Wheeler]

Bamboo is tough. To get rid of it, a friend who knows this stuff says to take Roundup, make a hole 2-3 cm below one of the rings in the bamboo, and inject 5-15 ml of pure Roundup. One per plant.

[Al Wheeler]

Then, of course, cover the hole with packing tape or equivalent.