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Page 4 2016 Fall Home Improvement LINCOLN DAILY NEWS SEPT. 27, 2016
Coping with home
improvement nightmares
A money pit almost seems like a living creature with an
adverse will, trying to swallow you up mentally, emotionally and
economically.
It usually starts out innocently enough. You naively begin what
seems like a simple enough project, and soon discover that this
single endeavor leads to another, and another and another until, at
least emotionally, it seems like you would be better off tearing the
whole house down and starting all over again.
The money pit conquers you mentally because you run out of
ideas of how to stay ahead of the problems. It conquers you
emotionally because it zaps you and steals all of your positive
emotional energy. And of course, it conquers you economically
when it takes more money to remediate each and every issue than
you desire, and maybe more money than the house may be worth.
Money pits should be avoided. But if you are already swallowed
up and entrapped in a money pit, you need some sound advice of
how to stop the avalanche of problems and regain control of your
house and your life.
In this issue of Home Improvement, we attempt to give you back
control of the home improvement process with some sound
advice from excellent sources. We present information on some
materials which might be best; how to deal with contractors; how
to do it yourself; how to avoid problems with the law while working
on your house; and even expert information on how to keep your
relationship together while doing home improvement projects.
The story of success with a money pit comes when you find
yourself at the bottom of the pit in despair, and all of a sudden a
friend jumps in and now there are two of you down there in the
dark. When you ask the friend why he did such a stupid thing,
he replies, “Well, I’ve been down here before and I know the
way out. Follow me!”