fistfulls of nerdglee: post-apocalyptic radiation canary

the warm breath of spring is finally upon minnesota. and what seemed like an endless list of home improvement projects is finally complete.

i ignored the slowly growing problems on my basement walls for years, but trying to sell this place meant i finally had to bite the crusty fuzzy bullet. the basement is unfinished, with cinder block walls, so attractive - especially when crusty with salts and fuzzy with mold. i always just refused to look at the small black patches, imagining them to be peripheral shadows. ewwww, i know.

i was amazed at how easy it was to make the mold disappear, but the crusted salts and flaking paint were another story. i spent hours scraping brushing vacuuming and bitching. i learned that cinder blocks should never be painted - unless you are using dry lock paint first. because the idiot who lived here before painted them with latex paint, they can never be sealed. if cinderblocks are left unpainted, they are ugly, but moisture can pass thru and evaporate, so no mold.

but when you paint with latex, you seal the walls just enough to trap moisture behind the paint, and the latex is food for mold, so mold farm. my nonsolution solution was to clean them up scrape them down and paint with more latex. hoping the spring melt doesn't bring the ugly right back.

other lovely projects included painting the bedrooms, having furniture that i will not move with me thrown away, and serious cleaning. the house is now officially ready. i had a photographer over this week to take shots for the listing. amazing how clean this place can get. the plan is to put list it this week, then have an open house very soon. then just wait and see what happens. could sell soon or not move for months and months. in the unlikely event it sells quickly, i guess i panic and move into a friend's basement? if it will not sell, i really really really don't want to become a landlord and sublet. yet that remains a possibility.