Thursday – A Little Personal

~ John W. Howell

One thing about living close to the Gulf is everything of metal is subject to deterioration due to salt spray, sand and the wind. This includes automobiles, bikes and houses. Of course, there are no houses made of metal but they do have metal roofs and fixtures. I thought you would enjoy seeing some of the effects of the elements on a few things around our house. The first is the outdoor lamps. These lamps are the most durable that we could find short of putting up vinyl. The material is stainless steel with enamel reflectors. Take a look.

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The patina is beautiful but we have ten of these lamps at various places on the home, and I can’t wait to come out and see them laying in pieces on the porches. The material behind the fixture that looks like wood siding is Hardy Plank, which is a concrete product.

The next photo is of one of door handles.

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These knobs are also stainless steel. You can see the same pitting that is evident on the lamps. The lock above the handle is also stainless steel but is looking like it is made of copper. The door material is vinyl so it is pretty impervious to the weather. The strikes on the right side are stainless and are now crumbling. I did not take photos of the knobs when they were new, but I did take one of the inside that will give you an idea of how they looked when installed.

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The final photo is of the front door knob. You can see rust on the top strike on the left. I replace the strikes once a year otherwise the door locks would have no place to go. When we ordered the hardware for the doors we paid additional money for a better grade. Since we have eight doors, replacing them might have cost a lot of money. The Kwikset company has sent replacements at no charge. I will have a good time this summer doing the replacements. Those pits in the molding on the right are in the paint and not the material.

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Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

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Published by John W. Howell

I have been working in business for over forty years and now have the time to work in special areas of interest. My passion has always been to create compelling stories of fiction. I have authored six novels and am working on my Seventh. The first novel is still in manuscript form and being utilized as a door stop in the laundry room. The second is a contemporary fiction novel of 89,000 words and is complete and I am currently seeking a publisher. I also write poetry but have not had the guts to share any with anyone. The one time I read a piece to a person their only comment was, “it doesn’t rhyme.” I will continue to write and hopefully my blog, Fiction Favorites at www.johnwhowell.com will provide some entertainment and an interesting thought or two. I live in the Austin area with my wife Molly and an assortment of loving pets.

24 thoughts on “Thursday – A Little Personal”

  1. Oh dear, this is shocking, very impressive images, John! I live close to the coast in Norway and also in North Norfolk (both salt water), but it looks no way like this. The patina looks great alright, but what a pain to have to deal with this all the time! Do you have a garage for your car?
    Now I can taste the salt water on my lips … 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I to live on the coast, in Southern England, and the evideance of the salt is on the windows just after heavy rain and the sun then comes out and drys everything up. However, when it snows you only have to travel 100 yards up the road from the coastline to encounter the snow. The coastline is usually kept snow free beacuse of the salt air although during very cold winters even the beach gets a good layer of snow.

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    1. Interesting. Our temps are lower in the summer and higher in the winter because of the Gulf influence. I like the idea of salt air keeping the snow away. Maybe some day we will get some snow and I can report the same findings. Thanks for the comment especially since you are broadband challenged.

      Like

  3. Wow. The power of an seaside environment. Tend to forget that metal can be defeated by some things. Is the part of the door handle that you grab and put your thumb on looking better than the other parts?

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  4. Interestingly we too live on the coast in the city of Muscat. While it does get pretty humid at times. we just do not have this corrosion problem which I have also been witness to just across the Arabian Sea in Mumbai. What would you say could be the reason for that?

    Shakti

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  5. Those are pretty dramatic photos John. It’s scary to see Stainless Steel being effected, given that I think that’s the recommended/required fastener to meet code in seaside areas. I wonder if we have anything better in the pipeline?

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  6. I’ve really been enjoying how you can make the mundane, interesting John. If I were you, I’d just tell folks that you’re going for that “shabby chic” look, so it all fits together as expected.

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  7. You’d mentioned the salt getting into everything before, John, and I thought I had an idea what things looked like. I was w.r.o.n.g. This is far worse. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words. Thanks for sharing. I learned something new again today. 🙂

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  8. Mother Nature… powerful in small ways too.
    I realize salt will damage everything… but just never thought about it to the extent of needing to replace fixtures like that. Wow…
    I’m amazed that you got the company to issue a replacement. Cool beans. Hugs.

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