Power Washed
Today I am doing something sensible for a change. I have noticed that my two palapas, the one on the deck and the one on the patio, have become somewhat soiled. My normal approach to something like that is to replace the fabric, which is some sort of Sunbrella mesh fabric that lets wind and rain through it to minimize the stress on the material out in the elements. So, I found out who the initial provider was and I measured the coverage area of each. These were put up somewhere between 7-8 years ago, so I thought that was a reasonable life for the shades. The vendor did not have records that old on hand, but he told me to send him the details. He also asked me why I was feeling the need to replace them. That immediately made me feel guilty about saying that they were dirty. That was like throwing out a pair of socks rather than washing them. So, I sent him the dimensions and he sent me an approximate cost of replacement. I had built in some cover for myself by saying I might want to change the color of the shades. Don’t ask me why I felt I needed that psychological excuse for my extravagance, but the truth is that if I replaced them I would, indeed, probably change the color from white to caliente red to match the big shadesail we have over the parking area. The price he quoted me was $5,600 installed which did not surprise me, but was higher than I was hoping. I paid more than that for the installation of the big shadesail, but that is MUCH bigger and involved a big installation project.
That all caused me to wonder if I was being too extravagant and should rather go about cleaning the shades to see if that solved the problem for a few more years. In fact, the vendor gave me some advice about how to wash the shades and suggested that using regular dish soap an a low-setting powerwashing would be the best way to attack the problem. I was impressed that he seemed serious about giving me tips so as not to damage the shades and get the maximum life out of them. It occurred to me that I wished all vendors were so friendly and responsible.
You may recall that for the first 15 months of my residence here on the hilltop, I permanently employed Handy Brad to help me do a never-ending array of projects around the house to get the place more or less where I wanted. You may also recall that after that, I took a break and even went so far as to take on very ambitious projects like the Hobbit House, more or less on my own. In the old days, Handy Brad would act as my contractor and go so far as to source day laborers when we needed them from Home Depot. He would also rent and/or buy whatever tools or resources we collectively did not own and needed for the task at hand. During my Hobbit House stage, I took over as contractor and added to my tool inventory as well as trying my hand at selecting and hiring day laborers to help me when needed. The truth was that Handy Brad had gone and gotten very handy for another customer that lived near him. A major criteria for Handy Brad’s choice of jobs is some combination of loyalty and proximity. He has a radius of operation that makes him unwilling to drive very far from home to take on jobs. I am within that zone of proximity, but I was neither current in my loyalty sphere, nor was I as proximate as this older woman who was throwing him lots of work.
Then Handy Brad fell off a ladder at that job and had his foot in a cast for what turned out to be a very long time. At that point Handy Brad had secured a somewhat permanent helper in a fellow named Omar. Some things he could have Omar do under his direction, but otherwise he was at risk of losing Omar’s availability since there were many jobs he could not take on due to his injury. On several occasions, I gave Handy Brad a task that he came over and supervised Omar to do. He very much appreciated the opportunity to help keep Omar gainfully employed through him.
This week I have had occasion and need to reestablish my Handy Brad connection, including Omar. To begin with, Kim smelled a strange smell in the laundry room which she characterized as a slight skunk smell (I thought it was an even more slight chemical skunk smell). Google told her it was either a gas/propane leak or some leak in the HVAC system. We had Amerigas come over for $290 to do a full leak check. It turned up nothing. The smell lingered and bothered Kim. It so happened that the HVAC people were scheduled to visit anyway this week so I put them to the task as well. Their service guy looked to be about 12 years old and knew nothing about leaks, but he tried his best to pretend to search out the source of the leak to no avail. that caused me to recall Amerigas and ask for a different service guy. Naturally, they sent the same guy back who, fortunately, did not have too big a chip on his shoulder about being recalled. In the course of that investigation, he felt that it might be a blockage in the dryer vent (that cost another $290 to discover). Enter Handy Brad. He came over and spent two hours cleaning out the dryer vent, which had a lint ball the size of Betty stuck in it. Since that was technically a potential fire hazard, it was good that it got done even though Kim thinks the smell is still there. More on that later once we go to the next chapter in that story.
In the mean time, I enlisted Handy Brad and Omar to come and power wash the two shades. I don’t know what that will cost me, but it promises to be about 10% at most of the cost of replacing the shades sooner than they need to be replaced. I am sitting here at 8am on a Saturday morning waiting for Handy Brad and Omar to arrive and start the process of attacking the palapas. One thing I know for sure is that Handy Brad will come with several tarps to cover things where he will be working. he is nothing if not careful to keep things neat and tidy while he is fixing things. I am going outside right now to take a “Before” picture of the shades so that I can accurately compare how much cleaner the process leaves them. That will inform me about how effective my attempted solution to being sensible will be.
It’s good to be back to the Handy Brad program, somewhat because Handy Brad and his wife Adele have become family friends at this point, but also because I feel like I’m keeping up on my property maintenance in good order. I won’t need to go rent or buy equipment because we collectively have two power washers and Omar, not to mention Omar’s ten-year-old son, Iker, who gets $20 from me when they depart for just being a patient good boy. From what I can see at this stage, the power washing is getting out about 95% of the dirt and grunge, which suggests that this solution will be sufficient for at least this and perhaps next year. It will feel good to be fully power washed when we finish the day.