Baseboards
As the housedaughter (as opposed to the housewife or househusband), I get asked to do all sorts of tasks--the more obscure, the better, in my mother's eyes. This week, she asked me to clean the baseboards downstairs, the ones surrounding the wood floors. They get these dark spots on them, and since they're white, well, the spots show clearly. I figured they had to do with my father not finishing the floor project all the way, but mom said they're definitely dirty, as she's gone around and cleaned them before. As it turns out, it appears we're both right; it takes some scrubbing, but the spots do go away. However, had my father not half-assed the job, we probably wouldn't even be dealing with them. See, he'd painted this trim--the main part of the issue, as the actual baseboards are fine--before attaching it over the floor. The trim was then nailed to the baseboards or whatever, but he never repainted/put a second coat on. The spots we get are basically where the nails are, but they're all sorts of shapes and sizes. Upon closer inspection, it looks like dad either spackled or puttied the holes, but not well, and he didn't bother to sand them down or paint over them. These spots are rougher than the surrounding painted wood, so dirt gets attracted to them. Nice. This is just one more way that he neglected to do that job properly. And he wonders why mom doesn't want him doing any more projects. Or why I didn't want him helping me when I painted my room.