Say bye-bye money...

I've previously written how we just purchased the house we've lived in for the past 8 years. This past week we signed a contract to have all the original 25 year-old siding replaced with vinyl siding. Everything that isn't rock or concrete will be covered. It's a bargain(yeah, right) at a mere $13,000. That includes replacing bad siding with plywood then covering the house in 3/4" insulation backer board, then vinyl over that. That includes all the soffits and facias also. It should lower our AC/heating bills as it adds another R-5 to our insulation. We went with vinyl for its very low maintenance and the lifetime warranty. No painting. Ever. Only maintenance is washing it down once a year. When you work two jobs and get off one day a week if you're lucky like I do, you don't want to spend those days off working on the house.

Now on to the even better news. When the guys showed up to start work today they started poking around the old siding and found termites. Fuck. I looked for them but never found them before. We called out the exterminator for an estimate. He found they were coming into the house along an interior water pipe. That's why I didn't find them before. One usual telltale sign of termites is a tunnel on the outside of the foundation. I couldn't find one because they found another way into the house. Well, shit, there goes another $1K to kill and treat for the little fuckers.

Ah, the joys of home ownership. Can someone tell me how much better is is to own rather than rent again?