I don’t like spending a lot of money on home improvement projects if I can avoid it.
When I fixed the porch deck outside, I tried to utilize as many of the existing planks of wood that I could.
I only replace the ones that seem to be rotting the most. Some people would argue that you should go ahead and replace the entire porch at once so that you’re not having to do repairs or replacement work again in the future. Right now, I just don’t really have the luxury to do that from a financial standpoint. I have to make my money last the best way I possibly can. That’s why I’m also opting to repaint my fence with the cheapest paint I can possibly find at the hardware store. That means looking at the clearance bin of paints that were mixed but either rejected by a customer or left and not paid for. Sometimes you can get a gallon of paint for 50% off the original price just by getting a color that you didn’t choose ahead of time. That’s why when my brother the HVAC technician told me my ductwork was poorly designed, I asked him right away if there was another solution that did not involve replacing the ductwork itself. To get new metal ductwork for a house of this size, you would need to spend upwards of $10,000. He told me I could put dampers in the ductwork that work to redirect air in the places it needs to go. It’s as simple as blocking too much air from leaving one portion of the ventilation system and thus starving other portions of the ventilation system. That way every room is the same temperature.