I am a house hypochondriac

[gwenshack]

I always seem to assume the worst with my health. It's well documented and discussed among my family and friends that I feel one ache or cramp or something and I think the worst thing ever. But I'm also afraid of the doctor and am afraid to get things checked out. Silly? Sure. But we all have our anxieties and phobias. I can't tell you how many times I was afraid my appendix were going to burst.
But lately I've taken my head case symptoms and applied them to my house. Two weeks ago I realized that there was water damage to the wood floor in my hallway (that shares a wall with my shower) and had a plumber come out and tell me that the shower needs to be regrouted. That seems easy enough and most people would just take care of it. But me? I went on a kick for about a week sniffing everything and convinced I smelled musty smells and therefore must have mold. Everyone told me to stop sniffing everything. FH lives here and told me he didn't smell anything. But of course I thought he was just trying to calm me down. Then I went to Vegas and was able to talk myself out of the mold thing - especially because my contractor brother told me to stop being dumb. But then I get home and I found some bugs near my computer - just a few, mind you - not like an infestation for the ages or anything - and I remembered that my neighbor told me that 2 units upstairs have termites. So now I'm convinced that there are termites. I killed the bugs, have only found 2 strays since, traced them to a window that apparently doesn't close or lock correctly (yet another thing to worry about) and have called a handyman service to come tomorrow to help me get the window secured and perhaps help with the shower situation (I have to pay them to be here for 2 hours anyway).
So now I'm afraid somebody is going to break in the window that is open, that bugs will get in too, that I have termites, mold, that the repaint job I did doesn't quite match the old paint so I'm going to have to repaint the entire wall now, that the regrout job on the shower won't get done right and water will continue to spill through the cracks, and that perhaps the water wasn't coming from there and that maybe my upstairs neighbor has a leak and doesn't know it, and that it's going to cost an arm and a leg to get the wood flooring back to the way it used to be.
I'm cracking up a little, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
I think I always assume the worst because I don't know much about home maintenance and repair. And FH isn't much help - not so much handy! And the people close to me don't take my concerns seriously because they know I tend to fear the worst and obsess over it.
Anyway, sorry for the long post and the rambling about my paranoia and home maintenance dilemmas. I think I just need to get it out!

[WebLady]

I worry about our house sometimes, but I try to just let DH deal with it ;)

Get things checked out, but try not to worry and don't let the handy man know you are worried or they may try to make you think it is worse than it is to get you to spend more money.

[amisteratwisterandme]

Wow! I'm sorry. I have major anxiety too. Hate, hate, hate the Doctor and no matter what it's for think I will be diagnosed with some life threatening disease. :bbeek:

I also suffer from panic attacks over things like thunderstorms and such, worry about the house catching on fire and on and on and on, so I totally sympathize with you.

Good News! The bugs couldn't have been termites if they were easy to see, they are teeny tiny and you would definately have a mud tunnel on one of your walls.

[gwenshack]

I worry about our house sometimes, but I try to just let DH deal with it ;)

Get things checked out, but try not to worry and don't let the handy man know you are worried or they may try to make you think it is worse than it is to get you to spend more money.


I know, right? There's no winning on that one - you want someone to come in and be honest with you so you can get things done that need to be done, but you always have to wonder if somebody is going to make up work to make money! It's so unfair!!! hahaha.
When I lived on the east coast my life was so much easier - my brother knows all of this stuff and could just take a look at it or send somebody over. I've been pretty lucky the past couple years with no problems - now it feels like BAM! all at once and nobody to trust who knows what's what!

[caligal85]

I worry about our house all the time, mainly because I have the landlords from Hades. How my roommate convinced me to live with her, I'll never know. I'm a maintenance is the first step to prevention kind of person and my landlords are clearly not. I cannot wait to move in 9 months! Keep up a routine maintenance schedule and you'll be find. The trick in today's world is finding a handy man worth having.

[Ninedays9]

I can be somewhat the same way. Whenever I have anything little happen with my body, I'm afraid that it's something huge. I've also worried about my appendix, when it was really probably just.. uh.. air that was causing that pain. Then I've also had concern about gall stones... which I'm actually still pretty sure I had. (My sister gave me a remedy that her professor told her, and I did part of it, and I think that was actually what worked and made the pain go away, but that's another story, haha.) And then I'm the worst with the pregnancy concern.

I imagine I'll be the same way when we get a house. I panicked about stuff when we were moving out of our apartment, and it turned out to be fine... still got the full security deposit back. Then again though, I could actually see myself going the other way and not being concerned enough when things go wrong until they go very wrong. Hopefully I'm a happy medium, but I guess I shall find out some day...

[Dani]

I am a very achy person, always have been, but when it's something new, I freak out and my mind gets the best of me. I pulled a muscle in my chest and I thought I was having a heart attack. (I went to 3 different doctors for the same thing!) I get really bad with stress, I do get the tightness and all, but I do know that is what is now. (After having been hooked up to monitors and doing a stress test!)

I worry about my house too. I am always making sure things are unplugged, and have to look at outlets for like 5 minutes to "make sure" nothing is on or plugged in.

Uggh, I drive myself crazy.

[gwenshack]

Thanks everybody. I feel like I'm making some progress on the stuff that has gone wrong so I'm feeling a little better. And the "Mr. Handyman" service is coming tomorrow to help me with some of the other stuff. I get a handyman for 2 hours to do my bidding. Maybe that will help put my mind at ease.

Dani and Ninedays - I'm sorry to hear you guys have the same ache anxiety I do. But I'm relieved to hear I'm not the only one. Sometimes it's nice to have people to commiserate with. :)

[mitch]

I totally feel for You on this one. I have stresses about My Home too. I want to do so much to it. But i have to remind Myself that We are only renting this place.

I'm having a time with the Garden. FH brought His digger home from work and ripped up the path. Which was about 60ft long. Then left Me with a Ton of Rubble. I smashed it up then bagged it ready for taking away.

That was Four Months ago. :bbeek:

Our Wedding is soon. The Reception is at home and the rubble is still there.

FH managed to take some of it away and dumped it at work. But He works all over London and can't take a few bags everyday.

It's too heavy to lift into the Car. Plus for the first time ever i don't own an Estate Car to take heavy loads. A Skip will cost a fortune. The Council will only accept 9 Bags every 28 Days. So i'm in a tizzy on where to "Hide" it in time for the Wedding.

Then to top it all. Every Night FH brings home more stuff from work and dumps it in the Garden until needed for His next job.

Oh Boy. :ooh:

[gwenshack]

Update -

Mr. Handyman is currently here. And, boy, is he handy.

He fixed the window, a light fixture, and examined my wall/shower problem and is in there scraping grout out as we speak. And I'm sitting in my chair typing to you all. I paid for him to be here for two hours - but now I'm thinking I'm going to go get the grout and have him come back and finish the job.

I may feel a little bit of relief here quite soon!

:) Gwen

[Scrwballsgrl]

I
Our Wedding is soon. The Reception is at home and the rubble is still there.

FH managed to take some of it away and dumped it at work. But He works all over London and can't take a few bags everyday.

It's too heavy to lift into the Car. Plus for the first time ever i don't own an Estate Car to take heavy loads. A Skip will cost a fortune. The Council will only accept 9 Bags every 28 Days. So i'm in a tizzy on where to "Hide" it in time for the Wedding.
Oh Boy. :ooh:

Hey mitch jsut a suggestion!Dont know if you have enough rubble to do it & This is just something that popped in my mind so bare with me, thought out and put into action it might not work or look worth a darn:grinhappy:
By a kiddie pool paint the outside of it black or dark green, set it in a inconspicous corner of the garden. Take afore mentioned bag of rubble cover with some type of plasticy material to create mock rock wall, set it in kiddie pool....surround kiddie pool with plants, and rig a water hose up so that if trickles down over covered bag of rubble (ie mock wall). TA-DA! Pretty water fall / pond for the back yard! :bbeek::grinhappy: like I said dont know if it would work...but might be worth a shot if you can't get rid of it before "W" day.

[MrsDM]

I get that way sometimes with certain things. Minor OCD runs in my family, so before I leave the house, I have to check 3 times (not 2, not 4, but 3) to make sure if everything is off. If I don't, I'm panicing all the way to work that I forgot something and our house is going to burn down and our pets are going to die and people are going to sue us. :petrified:

Or, if I'm burning candles, I have to check 3 times to make sure they are off and I don't smell smoke in the house when I'm laying in bed.

My OCD also rubs off on my organization and planning of which I over organize and over plan, to the point where I drive myself insane. I can't let anybody else help me, otherwise its never done right even if its exactly the way I would have done it.

Anyways, you aren't alone! I'm glad to hear that things are getting fixed!! :D

[Ninedays9]

Or, if I'm burning candles, I have to check 3 times to make sure they are off and I don't smell smoke in the house when I'm laying in bed.


Hehe, I think I'm a little bit the opposite on that one... I once forgot I had lit 2 candles in my apartment and then walked down the road to class. I remembered midway through class... which also happened to be the very class when I drank my very first coffee... and got all fidgety. An hour and fifteen minutes later or so, when I got back, they were still going. I'll definitely never do anything like that again!

[mitch]

Hey mitch jsut a suggestion!Dont know if you have enough rubble to do it & This is just something that popped in my mind so bare with me, thought out and put into action it might not work or look worth a darn
By a kiddie pool paint the outside of it black or dark green, set it in a inconspicous corner of the garden. Take afore mentioned bag of rubble cover with some type of plasticy material to create mock rock wall, set it in kiddie pool....surround kiddie pool with plants, and rig a water hose up so that if trickles down over covered bag of rubble (ie mock wall). TA-DA! Pretty water fall / pond for the back yard! like I said dont know if it would work...but might be worth a shot if you can't get rid of it before "W" day.

I have enough Rubble here to make Ten of those.
And here's a pic to prove what i'm up against. Our Patio is under there somewhere LOL.
Each bag weighs more than i do.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w229/mitchymoomoo/DSC03665.jpg

Here's what i have thought of.

1, I did think about piling it up in the corner and inseting My Flower Tubs.
2, Digging a Flower Bed out. (We don't have any as such) and then using some rubble as an edging to the lawn.
3, Digging a huge hole in the ground and just burying the **** stuff. I did this at Our last House and used the earth i dug out in a raised Flower Bed. But i also ended up digging up a dead dog. :bbeek:
4, Hiding it in the shed LOL.
5, Painting it all bright colours and calling it a "Rock Concert".

[gwenshack]

Mitch, you kill me. :)

I definitely think there are termites. Especially since my homeowner's president told me that 3 other units in the building have them. But do you realize there are some jerk neighbors in this building who don't want to pay to have the building tented since it doesn't affect them yet? I'm going to have Orkin come and see if they can keep the situation in my unit at bay until the underlying building-wide problem is taken care of...but I doubt it'll matter much!

I'm having a really hard time taking this all in stride.

[Dani]

Total hypochondriac today! I thought I was doing something good, and washed the dog's bed (cover and actual bed)...well the bed kinda ripped in the washing machine (gee, my clue should have been that i had to stuff the darn thing in there). Well, I got it out of the washer and put it in the dryer. Once that was done...I swear, I have never seen so much stuffing in my life. I am surprised it didn't cause a fire or somethig! It was pretty much shredded. So, I cleaned the dryer out, put the new load in and start it. It sounds like there is stuff stuck in the hose or something. SOOOO, tomorrow is going to be fun trying to clean that darn thing out. Our laundry room is so small I am so not looking forward to it. Makes me wonder how we even got both the washer and dryer in there! Ugh.:irked:

[gwenshack]

I just wanted to state, for the record, that I have found the thing I am worst at. I have no concerns now about motherhood or being a wife - I can fail no worse at those things than I did this morning.
I, Gwen, am the worst at tile jobs. For the record.
I made such a mess with the caulk. I was laughing at the globs of mess that I made. I think I'm at the point now where I don't care so long as it actually retains water and I don't have any more leaking through cracked grout. My grout job seems a little better than the caulking disaster...but I am not cut out for manual labor or any sort of construction projects.
I have now confessed. Bless me OW, because I am a tiling disaster! :)

[MrsDM]

I just wanted to state, for the record, that I have found the thing I am worst at. I have no concerns now about motherhood or being a wife - I can fail no worse at those things than I did this morning.
I, Gwen, am the worst at tile jobs. For the record.
I made such a mess with the caulk. I was laughing at the globs of mess that I made. I think I'm at the point now where I don't care so long as it actually retains water and I don't have any more leaking through cracked grout. My grout job seems a little better than the caulking disaster...but I am not cut out for manual labor or any sort of construction projects.
I have now confessed. Bless me OW, because I am a tiling disaster! :)

Somehow, I can just see you sitting there cracking yourself up! But, I give you credit, I won't even attempt those jobs, I'm so glad FH knows how!!

[mitch]

I just wanted to state, for the record, that I have found the thing I am worst at. I have no concerns now about motherhood or being a wife - I can fail no worse at those things than I did this morning.
I, Gwen, am the worst at tile jobs. For the record.
I made such a mess with the caulk. I was laughing at the globs of mess that I made. I think I'm at the point now where I don't care so long as it actually retains water and I don't have any more leaking through cracked grout. My grout job seems a little better than the caulking disaster...but I am not cut out for manual labor or any sort of construction projects.
I have now confessed. Bless me OW, because I am a tiling disaster! :)

If i lived nearer Hun i would have been round to do it for You.

I can do most things around the House. Painting, Wallpapering, Tiling, Laying Carpet, Laminate or Floor Tiles. The only thing i wont do is the Electrics because that stuff is invisble until it almost Kills You. I only have to look at FH to see the proof of that pudding. :bbeek:
FH is a Painter and Decorator by Trade so He does the Plastering better and quicker than Me.

I had a productive Weekend and Painted My Fence panels. 6ft x 6ft and there's 22 of them. Plus Two Sheds and about 20ft of Trellis Fencing. I also took down some rather ugly Trellis that was running along the top of the Fence. The Squirrels love it. But it is a pain in the rear to paint so i ripped it off. LOL
Then Today and got rid of Two Thirds of the Rubble. :ura1:

Loaded the car up as much as legally possible and drove the Two Mile to the Recycle Yard and dumped it there. It took a few runs and it was raining too. And not one Guy at the Recycle Yard offered to help Me unload the car.
I would have got the last Third out but i filled their Skip up to the top. So no more until the Weekend when a new one comes in.

My back is jumping. My Spines disconnected but i see Patio and a light at the end of the tunnel.

Tired but Happy. :D

[gwenshack]

If i lived nearer Hun i would have been round to do it for You.

I can do most things around the House. Painting, Wallpapering, Tiling, Laying Carpet, Laminate or Floor Tiles. The only thing i wont do is the Electrics because that stuff is invisble until it almost Kills You. I only have to look at FH to see the proof of that pudding. :bbeek:
FH is a Painter and Decorator by Trade so He does the Plastering better and quicker than Me.

I had a productive Weekend and Painted My Fence panels. 6ft x 6ft and there's 22 of them. Plus Two Sheds and about 20ft of Trellis Fencing. I also took down some rather ugly Trellis that was running along the top of the Fence. The Squirrels love it. But it is a pain in the rear to paint so i ripped it off. LOL
Then Today and got rid of Two Thirds of the Rubble. :ura1:

Loaded the car up as much as legally possible and drove the Two Mile to the Recycle Yard and dumped it there. It took a few runs and it was raining too. And not one Guy at the Recycle Yard offered to help Me unload the car.
I would have got the last Third out but i filled their Skip up to the top. So no more until the Weekend when a new one comes in.

My back is jumping. My Spines disconnected but i see Patio and a light at the end of the tunnel.

Tired but Happy. :D


Sounds like you were super productive! I do feel a sense of accomplishment, having done the work myself, as I did the work myself the other day repainting the wall that needed done, but I do wish I could snap my fingers and it would be done - and done better than I did it! Hahahahaha!

[mitch]

Sounds like you were super productive! I do feel a sense of accomplishment, having done the work myself, as I did the work myself the other day repainting the wall that needed done, but I do wish I could snap my fingers and it would be done - and done better than I did it! Hahahahaha!

That sounds like Me Hun. I want everything done YESTERDAY. :bbeek: :D

Sometimes i think We should have booked the Restaurant at the Hotel i work in for the Reception. But then the cost comes back into My head. So having it at Home is the best option even if it kills Me LOL.