A few things on the horizon and a few things pending has slowed the pace of this blog a bit lately. But I thought I'd take advantage of this extra February day to briefly list a few teasers for topics over the next few weeks:
1. We had an HVAC person come out and try to suggest some solutions as to why our house heats so unevenly. He was so stumped that after more than 2 hours, he had to move on to the next job and said he'd think about it and talk with us later...
2. Next weekend we are going to begin to do an amateur renovation of the main floor bathroom, including re-grouting and paint touch-ups.
3. I have at least two pieces of furniture that I want to try to paint, since I had such good results with the gray living room dresser. It just has to get nice enough out for me to want to drag them out and sand them.
4. One day I'd like to get around to picking a decor for the basement and a color to paint the wall that we had to patch after the chimney people fixed our furnace flue.
5. Lots of cleaning!!!! The rooms we don't use much, particularly the garage, basement and the breezeway, are really a mess.
6. As an addendum to the basement cleaning, we bought a fiberglass wrap for our water heater last spring and *still* have not attached it. I know we missed most of winter, when the insulation would make the most difference, but this is still on the to-do list.
In a completely unrelated note (not that I would really call this post particularly well-organized and thematic), someone stole our compost bucket this week! We participate in a residential compost pick-up, so we have a hermetically sealed bucket for compost that we bring to the curb each week. And this week it wasn't there when we got home from work! Seriously who steals a compost bucket!?
Hope you enjoyed your extra day! See you in March!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
No Termites Here
I took action after our last post and called a few pest control companies. Some wanted to charge a lot of money just to come out and take a look (which could be credited to any service we purchased based on their recommendations) and one was free. Free is an easy commitment to make, so I went with that one, at least as a starting point.
The guy took a thorough look around the exterior of our home as well as our basement, garage and doorways. He pointed out a few spots that had signs of previous termite activity, confirming what we knew from our original inspection 2.5 years ago. Here was one spot on our basement wall with previous damage.
(Here's the zoomed out view for context--it's above the left side of the water boiler.)
We also have some sealed up tubes in the garage wall that I didn't get a picture of.
Happily, he saw no signs of an active population now, but couldn't date the last infestation and therefore the last date of treatment. He asked me questions about the paperwork generated from our home inspection. And to my surprise, I was actually able to find what he asked for--a document called a "Wood Destroying Insect Report." Unfortunately, it didn't shine any light on the last time our house was fully treated for termites (with a product called Termidor), which lasts about 7 years. So the verdict, at least with this company, seems to be that we just have to wait until we see signs of termites, and then take action, or at least check again in a few years. We can't get under a warranty until we treat for termites but he didn't advise doing it yet, since we could still be protected now if the house was treated recently. And of course it doesn't come cheap. It was nice not being pushed into expensive products we don't actually need.
I also described our other insect problems like spider crickets and centipedes and he recommended basic services that includes a one-time major interior and exterior application of insecticides followed by quarterly exterior services and any additional mitigation. It would cost about $350/year, so now I just have to decide how much I value not finding those little legs on our carpet during spider cricket season.
The guy took a thorough look around the exterior of our home as well as our basement, garage and doorways. He pointed out a few spots that had signs of previous termite activity, confirming what we knew from our original inspection 2.5 years ago. Here was one spot on our basement wall with previous damage.
Happily, he saw no signs of an active population now, but couldn't date the last infestation and therefore the last date of treatment. He asked me questions about the paperwork generated from our home inspection. And to my surprise, I was actually able to find what he asked for--a document called a "Wood Destroying Insect Report." Unfortunately, it didn't shine any light on the last time our house was fully treated for termites (with a product called Termidor), which lasts about 7 years. So the verdict, at least with this company, seems to be that we just have to wait until we see signs of termites, and then take action, or at least check again in a few years. We can't get under a warranty until we treat for termites but he didn't advise doing it yet, since we could still be protected now if the house was treated recently. And of course it doesn't come cheap. It was nice not being pushed into expensive products we don't actually need.
I also described our other insect problems like spider crickets and centipedes and he recommended basic services that includes a one-time major interior and exterior application of insecticides followed by quarterly exterior services and any additional mitigation. It would cost about $350/year, so now I just have to decide how much I value not finding those little legs on our carpet during spider cricket season.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
A Thousand Little Feet and Other Critters
We had a termite inspection when we bought our house and found out that there was some old termite damage and that our neighborhood had a termite problem generally (is there a neighborhood that doesn't have a termite problem). The company sprayed but said that we didn't seem to have an active termite population. We didn't sign any kind of maintenance contract with them and we haven't noticed any signs of termites since. However, the possibility of an infestation has been in the back of my mind since then, so I've been meaning to get on some kind of annual maintenance plan, just for peace of mind.
Another creepy critter in our lives right now are these (not the cat--the tiny specks on the floor): millipedes!
I guess even with a sump pump and a dehumidifier, our basement is attracting these nasty little things, which makes me nervous that we're not as tightly sealed as we should be. Or something...
Honestly I'm not really sure what they mean. Maybe they're just an inevitable inhabitant in a basement? They're not really so bad--a quick pass with the vacuum every few days and they're gone. Or maybe they suggest a scary problem that we need to repair? I've been reading mixed information. I know they're getting in where the wall and floor meet (or at least that's how they're getting past the drywall--I don't know if there are...ick...lots of them lurking behind the wall). But is sealing that space up so necessary? It sounds like it would require that we completely gut the basement...
In any case, both of these issues have made me determined to have a pest control company come out and take a look. Or two. I guess it depends on the advice we get and whether we think we need a second opinion. If you have any advice for us, please leave a comment!
Another creepy critter in our lives right now are these (not the cat--the tiny specks on the floor): millipedes!
Honestly I'm not really sure what they mean. Maybe they're just an inevitable inhabitant in a basement? They're not really so bad--a quick pass with the vacuum every few days and they're gone. Or maybe they suggest a scary problem that we need to repair? I've been reading mixed information. I know they're getting in where the wall and floor meet (or at least that's how they're getting past the drywall--I don't know if there are...ick...lots of them lurking behind the wall). But is sealing that space up so necessary? It sounds like it would require that we completely gut the basement...
In any case, both of these issues have made me determined to have a pest control company come out and take a look. Or two. I guess it depends on the advice we get and whether we think we need a second opinion. If you have any advice for us, please leave a comment!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Leave a Light On
Well, we always knew that the bathroom posts wouldn't last forever. Fortunately we still have other things to talk about, though posts are obviously going back their normal, irregular frequency.
This Christmas, my "overdone" decorations made me realize something--I really liked having a light on when I came home at night. You see the Christmas lights were all on timers because I knew I would be too lazy in the evenings to turn them on. It was of course nice to have the soft glow of the tree. But even better--the white twinkling lights near the door made it so much easier to get in, avoid stepping on cats, and get my bags down without having to fumble for a switch. We decided a year round timed light might make sense.
Even better, we managed to snag a free GE LED bulb last month (a promo for the energy initiatives we completed last spring). They usually retail for about $30, way more than we would ever spend on a bulb, even accounting for the electricity costs. The 40 watt equivalent was too low for most of our lighting needs, so when we realized we wanted a light in our doorway, we realized that we had the perfect bulb for the task.
The bulb was about the same size as a regular incandescent (except with the additional wings on the side) but was much heavier--weighing in at almost 125 grams, compared to the almost weightlessness of a regular bulb or CFL.
The light is a little cooler than "warm" CFLs or standard incandescents, but warmer than "daylight" CFLs. In it's cute (and cheap) Target lamp, it's the perfect light to come home to. Plus being LED, it apparently should only cost about $5 annually for 3 hours a day, which is more than we're running it. A good addition to our energy efficient lighting.
This Christmas, my "overdone" decorations made me realize something--I really liked having a light on when I came home at night. You see the Christmas lights were all on timers because I knew I would be too lazy in the evenings to turn them on. It was of course nice to have the soft glow of the tree. But even better--the white twinkling lights near the door made it so much easier to get in, avoid stepping on cats, and get my bags down without having to fumble for a switch. We decided a year round timed light might make sense.
Even better, we managed to snag a free GE LED bulb last month (a promo for the energy initiatives we completed last spring). They usually retail for about $30, way more than we would ever spend on a bulb, even accounting for the electricity costs. The 40 watt equivalent was too low for most of our lighting needs, so when we realized we wanted a light in our doorway, we realized that we had the perfect bulb for the task.
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