Published: May 24, 2009 12:30 am      

MARREN: Flood of unexpected projects

Is there anything more fun than home improvements? No, I don’t think so.

Sarcasm aside, you may be thinking the same thing this long holiday weekend as you tinker around the house, fixing things here and there, trying to knock items off your ever-growing list.

Every time I moan over the latest project, I think, “Well, it’s an investment.” But what if it’s something that’s not really improving the value of your home, but just making it function normally?

Like, say, plumbing.

We had a drip through a light fixture that is just below our bathroom a few months ago. It happened the day of my cousin’s wedding, so I wasn’t about to tackle it then. We were cleaning the bathroom that morning, so I thought some water got behind the tile and it was just a caulking issue that I could address later. I didn’t expect anything major.

Last weekend, I bought one of those “As-Seen-On-TV” caulking kits that makes it look so easy when you’re watching at 2 a.m. That was going to be this weekend’s project.

It was scratched off the list when my wife woke me early Wednesday, just after her shower, screaming that our first floor-eating area was flooding. It was the same area under that fixture that was just dripping a few months ago.

We used every bath towel, wash cloth, bed sheet and pair of underwear we had in the house to sop up a shower’s worth of water before it ruined our hardwood. The fixture is right above the table we eat at, just off our living room. Luckily, we only had a book on the table, which is titled “Adventures of an Incurable Optimist” by Michael J. Fox.

Pretty ironic title, considering the circumstances of our latest home repair.

So anyway, caulking was out. I had a plumber come out later that afternoon since I was going home sick anyway and he found the root of the problem — the ol’ “upstairs tub drum trap.” Gets ya every time. You knew that, right?

Friday, the whole unit was replaced. The cost of this unexpected, unbudgeted project: $1,036.19.

Nothing says “welcome to summer” like the first project costing more than a grand and a bloated credit card statement in my future.

We have a list on the chalkboard in our kitchen of things we wanted to get done this summer. The garage door repair has been scratched off, thanks to a great, local company, Door Solutions. The $1,000 plumbing job didn’t have a chance to make it to the official chalk board, but it’s fixed.

I think it’s safe to say I’m starting to feel like Tom Hanks in “The Money Pit.”

Tim Marren is the managing editor of the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal. Contact him at Tim.Marren@lockportjournal.com or 439-9222.