Hidden Costs of The American Dream

The big little truck in our driveway.

Right now I am waiting for the workers who swore they would be here at 8 AM. It is no longer 8 AM.Then suddenly they're here--them and their giant truck, even though they said it would be a little truck parked in our driveway for the next five days while our attic gets insulated at a cost high enough to feed a Third World Country for a year.

Naturally the cats run for cover as the two scary strangers say things like "we'll try to keep the dust down but you might want to take those paintings off the wall" and "we'll let you know when it's about to get really loud."

Three years ago we bought a very pretty house with high ceilings and clerestory windows and skylights and lots of glass. This glassiness is the very feature that transforms our primary living space into a terrarium in summer and a freezer in winter. Apparently the then-rookie architect of this gem fudged the attic insulation. He also installed recessed can lights everywhere, but neglected to insulate them, so when it's hot outside it's hot inside because the air shoots in from the roof through those very same can lights. And when it's cold outside it's cold inside because of the same situation. But then, this is the same guy who opted for wooden gutters because they looked good, even though gutters are for when it rains and wood tends to rot when wet.

You see the problem. All of this may explain why, when I run into that very same architect at the post office, now much older and wiser, he never makes eye contact and always scurries off like he's late for something important. (A refresher course in building basics?)

After three years of putting up with this bull@#*!, we finally hired someone to fix it. It's happening now and it's not pretty. The thing is, when you buy a house, which the clever folks in the home-building industry (who are in cahoots with Wall Street, Madison Avenue and Uncle Sam) have named "The American Dream," there are always hidden costs that come out of the woodwork like termites later on. In fact, exactly like termites, later on. Memo to young people: Rent, don't buy.