House Projects

Recently, we had a wildlife guy come and do an inspection of the house to make sure it was tight.  There are a ton of wild animals where we are...we are already on an insect plan with a pest company, but I wanted to make sure we were ok to keep out snakes, raccoons, bats, etc. as well.  (This was precipitated by our discovery of the baby snake in the pantry a few weeks ago.)  The guy did a walk around and, thank God, the house is pretty tight already.  But he recommended putting steel wool in the corner boards of the house (they are hollow and lead a mouse right into the attic).  We had also patched up a few holes in the foundation (near where the foundation and the clapboards meet) already, so that was good.  The only other recommendations he gave us were to cut down the clematis on the back of the house (it's the perfect place to lead snakes up to the foundation and the clapboards--the space is just big enough for insects and snakes...) and get a chimney cap.  We had already been planning on the chimney cap, so we had him install it.  He had to special order one because our chimney is larger than normal.  But now it's installed and we should be bat, squirrel, and raccoon free in the chimney!  That's always a good thing.

Here is our next big project--trim our darn bushes!  They are so overgrown and misshapen.  My brother has hedge trimmers, so we will borrow his.  So, this is next on the list as soon as I can get my hands on the trimmers.  And I guess the clematis will go too.  I'd rather not have more snakes in the house.

The electrician did a bunch of projects, but most were things you wouldn't look at.  He was mostly fixing issues in the house!  First, he added a light to the downstairs bathroom.  I guess I should add a picture of that.  I will later.  While he was doing that, he found some bad wiring to the other light and extractor.  So he fixed that, but it took him a long while to rerun wires etc.

Then, he fixed some stuff in the garage he didn't like, outlet boxes that were wired incorrectly or something like that.  Then he switched out the light switch on the way down to the basement because it was hot to the touch.  Turns out though, we didn't realize until later, but that switch was somehow remote controlled by the switch near the exit to the garage.  Best we can tell, there were no wires in that box by the garage, it was just something with a battery that seemed to send a signal to the switch by the stairs to turn on and off.  So now that the switch was changed out, the remote obviously doesn't turn it on or off, so now we can only turn the main basement lights on or off from the top of the stairs.  Huge pain in the ass.  So, we are either going to have to reinstall that system or get lamps and the clapper to at least give us an easy way to turn lights on and off so we can see if we are just passing through from the kitchen to the garage with the boys.  Always something.

Then, he also got rid of an outside outlet that worked only by plugging in an extension cord in the basement!?  Also shoddy and unnecessary since there are already outlets outside.  Finally, he switched out the light in the kitchen.  He had to move the junction box, so for now, it's covered with a plate.  Later, though, we'll take that off and patch the ceiling.  I'm not in love with the way this looks because of the plate, although I do like this light from the Ikea As-Is for $8 better than the old one.  My mom gave us the light---thanks, Mom!

Jose the electrician still needs to come back to fix the wiring outside--he doesn't like the way the electricity comes into the house--it's the old way they used to do it, I guess.  And there is still work to be done switching out fixtures.  But it would be good for Carlos to learn how to do that.  YouTube videos, Amore?!?