The "To Stain, or Not To Stain" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was staining the house. I was using an opaque stain which is fairly thick. Stained the house twice since we have lived here and it was due for another coat. This time I decided that maybe we should put siding on the house so I wouldn't have to worry about it ever again. Carol said that would be fine with her so I had four estimates for the job. Wanted to keep the integrity of the house the same, so I wanted all the different angles that we now have with the cedar siding. That was going to be hard to do I was told four different times. OK, I know, but give me your best price for the way that I want it done. Couldn't use horizontal siding anywhere on the house. Had to use all soffit pieces. Well, the prices were all over the place with $14,000 the cheapest. Yep, the cheapest. Holy Cow! Maybe we could do just half this year and half next year Carol said to me. OK. I called Century Siding, the least expensive, and asked if he could come back and give me a price for just two sides. When he arrived we walked around the house and I gave him my idea about what I wanted to do. "Why don't you just stain it again?" he said to me. "I know that I'm here to sell you siding, but this house was meant to have cedar siding on it, not vinyl siding. Won't look halve as nice if you put it on. Think how many times you can have it stained for the price you'll have to pay me for the vinyl. I don't think you'll be here that long." Gee, thanks a lot. Yep, he talked me into it. Stain the house. Carol nixed the idea of me doing it myself because of the heights and my age. I did get an estimate and had scheduled a time for the staining to take place, and then while talking about it with my son, Tad, he suggested he could help do the high spots for me. So here I am, for the third time since we moved here, applying stain to the house. Two coats will help it last longer. Taking my time, but will have it done before the cold weather sets in. Already have gone through 8 gallons and I'm only half way there. And, it's only costing me for the stain and the labor for my son. Looks great again! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - I'm in top photo and Tad is in the bottom