Rural Ohio
Forty years keeping one 1890s farmhouse standing.
What forty years of keeping one old house taught us
The 75 jobs that cost you the most, house and kitchen both, done right the first time, with what each one costs and how long it takes.
PDF · 75 methods · every cost printed
No. I · The manual
We kept the same old house standing for forty years on a small paycheck. Walter learned which jobs eat the most money and how to do them from the ground, without a ladder and without a contractor. Betty learned how to feed a family of six out of a pantry and a garden, and how to clean a whole house with what is under the sink. That is all this is, the two halves written down.
01
Seventy five methods in eleven parts, one job each, plain and short
02
Pictures showing what to check and what to fix
03
What each job should cost, so no one overcharges you
04
How long each job takes, done right, from the ground
05
Which jobs to do first if money is tight this year
06
Warning signs that mean a small job is turning big
No. II · The math
That is two different sorts of money and we keep them apart, because they are not the same thing. Below is the first sort: jobs where the manual says what a tradesman charges to come out and do it. Every figure is printed in the book, in the job it belongs to. We took the cheaper end of both numbers, and we took off what you spend on materials, so the last column is what stays in your pocket.
Maintain a Hand Dug Garden Well
Replace Worn Boards on the Porch Floor
Patch Hairline Cracks in Foundation Walls
Shim a Sagging Floor Joist
Install Surge Protectors on Major Appliances
Set Snap Traps Along Wall Lines
Anchor a Loose Stair Railing
Seal Mouse Entry Points with Steel Wool
Grade the Soil to Slope Away from the Wall
Treat carpenter ant nests outdoors
Test Every GFCI Outlet in the House
Unclog Drains With Baking Soda
Bleed Trapped Air from Cast Iron Radiators
Flush sediment from the water heater
Repoint low mortar joints by hand
Caulk Gaps Around Pipe Penetrations
Apply Diatomaceous Earth in Wall Voids
Replace Outdated Two Prong Outlets
Replace a dripping faucet washer
Adjust a Settling Door Hinge
Plane Down a Sticking Wooden Door
Build Simple Root Cellar Shelving
Weatherstrip Every Exterior Door Frame
Remove Standing Water Breeding Sites
Label all breaker panel circuits clearly
Reglaze Loose Panes in Old Windows
Extend downspouts away from the foundation
Start a Rainwater Collection Barrel System
This is the second sort of money, and it is not the same as the first. You only keep it if the thing would have failed. We list it separately for that reason, and we never add it into what you save by doing a job yourself.
Add the two together and the manual answers $10,996 of bills across 75 methods. Every figure above is printed inside, in the job it belongs to, so you can check it yourself. The manual is $47.
No. III · What is inside
Eleven parts. Walter wrote the house, Betty wrote the kitchen. Every method is one job, start to finish, with what it costs printed at the end of it.
01 · 8 methods
by Walter Combs
02 · 7 methods
by Walter Combs
03 · 9 methods
by Walter Combs
04 · 8 methods
by Walter Combs
05 · 5 methods
by Walter Combs
06 · 5 methods
by Walter Combs
07 · 8 methods
by Betty Combs
08 · 6 methods
by Betty Combs
09 · 8 methods
by Betty Combs
10 · 5 methods
by Betty Combs
11 · 6 methods
by Betty Combs
No. IV · Who wrote this
I kept the grounds and the buildings at one place in rural Ohio for a little over forty years, and I have kept my own house longer than that. I never went to school for any of it. I learned it the way most of us did, by doing a job wrong once, then doing it right the second time because I could not afford a third.
Betty and I were married forty one years this spring. While I was out chasing leaks and shoring up the porch, she was running everything inside it. She fed six of us out of a pantry and a garden, put up food every summer since we married, and cleaned a whole house with what was already under the sink, because that was cheaper and she never trusted what was in the bottles.
We kept saying we ought to write it down before we forgot it. So we finally did, and we split it the way we always split the work. Heat, water, power, structure, the land and the pests are mine. The pantry, the recipes, the cleaning, the old remedies and the small daily habits are hers. Between us that came to 75 methods.
No. V · Order
$47
A PDF and an EPUB, so you can read it on a phone, a tablet, a Kindle or a computer, at whatever type size suits you, and print it if you like.No subscription. 75 methods, 265 pages, pictures throughout.
Get the manual for $47If this manual does not help you, tell me and I will send your money back. No questions, no forms.
No. VI · Questions
Mostly no. Each job lists what it needs, and most of it is a screwdriver, a caulking gun and a flashlight. Where a job needs something else, the cost is printed right there.
No. Every job is written to be done from the ground. There is a whole chapter on when not to get on a ladder at all.
It is a digital book and you get two files, a PDF and an EPUB. The PDF prints exactly as it is laid out. The EPUB lets you set the type as large as you like on a phone, a tablet or a Kindle, and the words reflow to fit.
The jobs still hold. I wrote it around an old house because that is what I know, but damp, drafts, gutters and mice do not care how old the place is.
Walter wrote heat, water, structure, pests, power and the off grid land. Betty wrote the pantry, the recipes, the household substances, the remedies and the everyday habits. Every method carries the name of whoever wrote it.
If this manual does not help you, tell me and I will send your money back. No questions, no forms.
No. VII · Free
A short guide you can read tonight. Put your email in and it is yours.
Last call
$47 once. Instant download, PDF and EPUB both. Refund on request, no questions and no forms. 22 of the jobs inside save more than the book costs, so one of them pays for it. First Edition, 265 pages, 75 methods, a photograph on every one.
Walter & Betty Combs · waltercombs.com