construction purgatory continues
Sep. 6th, 2011 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thanateSo, I just hunted down the breaker to cut off power to the back porch light, which the contractors are presently tearing out. It turns out to be #8, which is one of two labeled "living room" and while it did not in fact cut off power to anything in the living room, it did get the two outside lights in the front and the utility outlet at the back of the basement (which was running the box fan we were using to vent icky basement smell.) Possibly it's about time I learned to re-wire outlets, too, so we can tag-team getting the rest of the house sorted out, particularly since grauwulf has developed a sudden debilitating allergy to something in the basement. He went downstairs to clean the catbox on Sunday night and his entire sinuses swelled up; it was rather miserable. Fortunately, whatever it is doesn't seem to be the same thing that bothers me (and my "I must be allergic to this ---ing house" spells are much less dramatic) and so I've finally been able to start cleaning dealing with the basement corner that needs organizing now that (er) I don't have someone hanging over my shoulder insisting on trying to be helpful when he physically *can't* be. Somebody's having that problem with having forgotten how to relax...
Anyway, icky basement smell is probably a combination of several factors; I did find some mold at the bottom of the scrap wood pile, but I'm pretty sure that's from the sump pump switch failure last weekend followed by the power going out instead of running the dehumidifier last week, so nothing terribly long-standing.
Also, the water heater, which was last *serviced* the year I was born, (and is soon to be replaced!!! with a high-efficiency tankless unit!) is the sort that has its air intake from a collar around the vent out, so there's no actual physical barrier between the exhaust and the basement, which is not so helpful as one might like. I can't imagine it helped that they pulled out the entirety of the water heater vent tube when they dropped the chimneyon our heads, so we're back to having a working gas appliance venting into an unlined (and ancient) brick chimney... which is now roofed over. I'd be more worried about that if the roof had sides at the moment.
And of course, the cat is showing his displeasure with the ongoing chaos and some-time water issues by deciding that various basement corners are fair game as alternate cat boxes. The entire current basement is going to be cleared out, revamped, fitted with storage shelves, and freshly scrubbed & drylocked (with a possible side order of killz on the rafter beams to brighten things up) in another month or so, so I haven't been as good about seek & sanitize as perhaps I could have been. Aside from the former back-door doormat, which got immediately rinsed & moved back outside because I caught the cat trying to bury his mess & picked him up & dumped him in the catbox, he hasn't done anything actively destructive that I've found. Ugh. (And the cat box is coming upstairs to the utility room where it'll be easier to clean & less humid overall, so I'm hoping that'll also help.)
But anyway, generally ugh.
Meanwhile, the guys next door have apparently been scared away by the rain for today (leaving, um, open windows with sheets of drywall leaning up against them...) Our contractor had made some comment earlier about them not having a very good reputation in the business (to which I said, yes, they weren't getting a very good reputation in the neighborhood, either... with "mold removal specialist" printed on all their vehicles, you'd think they'd at least have breath masks for the crews.) but apparently they hit a new low the other day when one of their guys started asking our contractor questions about how to do his job. In case you were considering it for some reason, do yourself a favor and don't hire East Coast Contractors & Mold Removal Specialists for anything.
What with all the banging & suchlike, the front door finally got to the point where it refused to shut without violence, and so we went through on Sunday and pulled off all the slowly dying weather stripping and discovered that underneath all that, the real problem was that the screws holding the hingeplate in had rattled themselves out. Two minutes with a screwdriver later, and we suddenly no longer have to put a shoulder to the door to close it. Crazy. So, that's nice.
grauwulf has developed a sudden debilitating allergy to something in the basement. He went downstairs to clean the catbox on Sunday night and his entire sinuses swelled up; it was rather miserable. Fortunately, whatever it is doesn't seem to be the same thing that bothers me (and my "I must be allergic to this ---ing house" spells are much less dramatic) and so I've finally been able to start cleaning dealing with the basement corner that needs organizing now that (er) I don't have someone hanging over my shoulder insisting on trying to be helpful when he physically *can't* be. Somebody's having that problem with having forgotten how to relax...Anyway, icky basement smell is probably a combination of several factors; I did find some mold at the bottom of the scrap wood pile, but I'm pretty sure that's from the sump pump switch failure last weekend followed by the power going out instead of running the dehumidifier last week, so nothing terribly long-standing.
Also, the water heater, which was last *serviced* the year I was born, (and is soon to be replaced!!! with a high-efficiency tankless unit!) is the sort that has its air intake from a collar around the vent out, so there's no actual physical barrier between the exhaust and the basement, which is not so helpful as one might like. I can't imagine it helped that they pulled out the entirety of the water heater vent tube when they dropped the chimney
And of course, the cat is showing his displeasure with the ongoing chaos and some-time water issues by deciding that various basement corners are fair game as alternate cat boxes. The entire current basement is going to be cleared out, revamped, fitted with storage shelves, and freshly scrubbed & drylocked (with a possible side order of killz on the rafter beams to brighten things up) in another month or so, so I haven't been as good about seek & sanitize as perhaps I could have been. Aside from the former back-door doormat, which got immediately rinsed & moved back outside because I caught the cat trying to bury his mess & picked him up & dumped him in the catbox, he hasn't done anything actively destructive that I've found. Ugh. (And the cat box is coming upstairs to the utility room where it'll be easier to clean & less humid overall, so I'm hoping that'll also help.)
But anyway, generally ugh.
Meanwhile, the guys next door have apparently been scared away by the rain for today (leaving, um, open windows with sheets of drywall leaning up against them...) Our contractor had made some comment earlier about them not having a very good reputation in the business (to which I said, yes, they weren't getting a very good reputation in the neighborhood, either... with "mold removal specialist" printed on all their vehicles, you'd think they'd at least have breath masks for the crews.) but apparently they hit a new low the other day when one of their guys started asking our contractor questions about how to do his job. In case you were considering it for some reason, do yourself a favor and don't hire East Coast Contractors & Mold Removal Specialists for anything.
What with all the banging & suchlike, the front door finally got to the point where it refused to shut without violence, and so we went through on Sunday and pulled off all the slowly dying weather stripping and discovered that underneath all that, the real problem was that the screws holding the hingeplate in had rattled themselves out. Two minutes with a screwdriver later, and we suddenly no longer have to put a shoulder to the door to close it. Crazy. So, that's nice.