Just wanted to shine a light on the new link I've added for Wind and Weather.
You can find them here:
They have all sorts of lovely garden items to add sparkle and shine and just very unique things for your home, yard and patio.
Love them!
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Wasps n Bats in the Belfry...er Attic Crawl Space
As I was having my master electrician and his assistant come over to the house to install some ceiling fans and other electrical items, they were going to go up through the attic crawl space. Now this entry point is just 12 x 12 and so the assistant was going to cut the entrance wider so he could get up there. Before he did, he had the forethought to peek up there to see what he was going to cut first. I was at the ladder as this space is inside a closet in one of the rooms upstairs.
Then I heard him say, "Uh oh".
I replied, "Uh oh, what?"
He came down a step and looked at me and said, "You have bees up here. You have 40-50 beams going across and there is a nest about the size of my fist at every junction, some places, two."
Then we heard a squeak! He looked back up and said, "And you have bats."
Holy crap!
He called for the master electrician to come over and have a look and he poked his head up there and sniffed and could smell bat guano and said, "Yes, bats." He started to say he did not want..and I quickly finished his sentence and told him, "No, no, I don't want you up there either dealing with that. I'll have to get rid of those first so let's hold off on these ceiling fans for now."
I called the pest company I had previously signed with and they sent someone out to look. They also referred me to the wildlife side of their company and arranged for someone to come out to see about the bats. When the pest guy arrived, he looked and he saw two bats looking at him from behind one of the nests. He told me I probably have close to 100 nests of wasps or hornets up there.
So here goes the quandary, a conundrum for sure!
The pest/bee guy couldn't spray because of the bats. Bats are endangered and you don't want to kill them anyway as just one bat will eat a 1,000 mosquitos in one night! You just don't want bats in your attic crawl space as the guano and all is very bad for your health.
The bat guy didn't want to go up there into the attic crawl space and deal with the bees. These were not honey bee nests as again, you wouldn't want to kill those as we need the honey bee to survive on Earth. But they are hornet or wasps nests. I believe paper wasps. The good news is that some of those hives may not be active as they won't re-inhabit an old nest. Interesting there. The bad news, is that you can't tell if it is an active one or not.
Just to make things interesting, we need the 12 x 12 space widened in order for anyone to get up there.
The bee guy said when you go to make the hole wider, you have to hope you don't get too many bees mad at you at the same time. LMAO!
My thought to resolve this was for them to work together and to utilize bee keeper suits!
So talking to the bat guy, they gave me a quote. Very expensive ($1,100 over the phone to start with they said) for them to remove the bat and seal up the entry points so that it allows the bats to leave as they will each night to forage for food, but they can't get back in. It is a mesh they caulk in place and they can do it from the outside and not have to go up there. Then, he said they could cut the hole larger too on that day but that was another cost and after figuring things out, it was going to be $2,100 as I have such a large roof and it's two story and then another $6200 for them to remove all the soiled insulation and clean up the mess in there plus put back other insulation (better stuff too than what I had and that was one of those things I needed to have done that was on my checklist from the home inspection), a whopping total of $8,300! I was able to get a bit of a military discount and they were able to let me make payments, thankfully.
Now yes, I could have had Joe-Smoe do this for a helluva lot cheaper, but somethings I just needed to have done by professionals and this is one of them. They are giving me a 2 year warranty as well instead of 1 and I didn't want to worry about them being bitten or stung either.
So this is what they will do:
1) Bat people descend upon my house, stuffing mesh and caulking it into place all around the roof where there are crevices. They will also cut the hole bigger too for the entry point and we'll close it back it up with a board or piece of dry wall.
2) About a week later, the pest guy will return and get up into the attic and take care of the bees and remove the nests.
3) About 2 weeks after that, the bat people return and clean up the soiled insulation and the area up there and they will then blow new insulation in there.
Now something I will want is to see about having the holes filled and sealed up and then vent holes made in the sides of the house and proper ventilation/screening so that the bees can't return nor the bats.
Plus, I will want the entry point made to seal and framed out nice.
To answer a few questions I received from friends:
Didn't you have the house inspected?
Yes, I did have the house inspected and he did take a picture of the attic crawl space but it was only of the insulation to show I needed to have more put in there. He did not cast his camera upwards, otherwise, if he had, he would have seen the bee nests and possibly seen the bats or their guano on the insulation. This was mostly because he could not get up there as the opening is just 12 x 12, so when they opened up the hole, he just stuck his camera up there.
What happens to the bats afterwards?
I did buy a bat box/house kit and will put it together and then we are going to get a board and attach this to a tree, far away from the house that gets the morning sun. I also bought an attractant spray but the bat guy told me to wait to put this up until they go to do the clean up as they could rub some bat guano on it to let other bats know that bats had been there. Otherwise if I just put this up now, I've just put up a bee home as the bees will quickly take that over.
Someone asked me wouldn't the bats eat the bees?
Yes, if they happen upon some wasps or bees, the bats might eat them. However, what is happening here is what I like to call the "Ladyhawke syndrome". For anyone who has watched that movie, you'll get right away what I am talking about. If you haven't seen it, do so, it's awesome!
You see, during the day, bees/wasps are active but bats are sleeping.
At night, the bees/wasps are sleeping and the bats are active.
One other note is that bats are migratory so they will leave when it starts to get too cold. But I can't wait til then as all the damage they could be doing up there, just with the guano alone is a health hazard.
Bats also have their babies in the summer. So I have to hope there are no babies up there as the babies can't fly. I'd have to wait longer I believe to get them out.
Not a good situation.
The bat guys will be here next week to start this process so as I learn more, I'll share! :)
As I say on my Halloween blog...
~*Bugs n Hisses*~
GP
/|\
Then I heard him say, "Uh oh".
I replied, "Uh oh, what?"
He came down a step and looked at me and said, "You have bees up here. You have 40-50 beams going across and there is a nest about the size of my fist at every junction, some places, two."
Then we heard a squeak! He looked back up and said, "And you have bats."
Holy crap!
He called for the master electrician to come over and have a look and he poked his head up there and sniffed and could smell bat guano and said, "Yes, bats." He started to say he did not want..and I quickly finished his sentence and told him, "No, no, I don't want you up there either dealing with that. I'll have to get rid of those first so let's hold off on these ceiling fans for now."
I called the pest company I had previously signed with and they sent someone out to look. They also referred me to the wildlife side of their company and arranged for someone to come out to see about the bats. When the pest guy arrived, he looked and he saw two bats looking at him from behind one of the nests. He told me I probably have close to 100 nests of wasps or hornets up there.
So here goes the quandary, a conundrum for sure!
The pest/bee guy couldn't spray because of the bats. Bats are endangered and you don't want to kill them anyway as just one bat will eat a 1,000 mosquitos in one night! You just don't want bats in your attic crawl space as the guano and all is very bad for your health.
The bat guy didn't want to go up there into the attic crawl space and deal with the bees. These were not honey bee nests as again, you wouldn't want to kill those as we need the honey bee to survive on Earth. But they are hornet or wasps nests. I believe paper wasps. The good news is that some of those hives may not be active as they won't re-inhabit an old nest. Interesting there. The bad news, is that you can't tell if it is an active one or not.
Just to make things interesting, we need the 12 x 12 space widened in order for anyone to get up there.
The bee guy said when you go to make the hole wider, you have to hope you don't get too many bees mad at you at the same time. LMAO!
My thought to resolve this was for them to work together and to utilize bee keeper suits!
So talking to the bat guy, they gave me a quote. Very expensive ($1,100 over the phone to start with they said) for them to remove the bat and seal up the entry points so that it allows the bats to leave as they will each night to forage for food, but they can't get back in. It is a mesh they caulk in place and they can do it from the outside and not have to go up there. Then, he said they could cut the hole larger too on that day but that was another cost and after figuring things out, it was going to be $2,100 as I have such a large roof and it's two story and then another $6200 for them to remove all the soiled insulation and clean up the mess in there plus put back other insulation (better stuff too than what I had and that was one of those things I needed to have done that was on my checklist from the home inspection), a whopping total of $8,300! I was able to get a bit of a military discount and they were able to let me make payments, thankfully.
Now yes, I could have had Joe-Smoe do this for a helluva lot cheaper, but somethings I just needed to have done by professionals and this is one of them. They are giving me a 2 year warranty as well instead of 1 and I didn't want to worry about them being bitten or stung either.
So this is what they will do:
1) Bat people descend upon my house, stuffing mesh and caulking it into place all around the roof where there are crevices. They will also cut the hole bigger too for the entry point and we'll close it back it up with a board or piece of dry wall.
2) About a week later, the pest guy will return and get up into the attic and take care of the bees and remove the nests.
3) About 2 weeks after that, the bat people return and clean up the soiled insulation and the area up there and they will then blow new insulation in there.
Now something I will want is to see about having the holes filled and sealed up and then vent holes made in the sides of the house and proper ventilation/screening so that the bees can't return nor the bats.
Plus, I will want the entry point made to seal and framed out nice.
To answer a few questions I received from friends:
Didn't you have the house inspected?
Yes, I did have the house inspected and he did take a picture of the attic crawl space but it was only of the insulation to show I needed to have more put in there. He did not cast his camera upwards, otherwise, if he had, he would have seen the bee nests and possibly seen the bats or their guano on the insulation. This was mostly because he could not get up there as the opening is just 12 x 12, so when they opened up the hole, he just stuck his camera up there.
What happens to the bats afterwards?
I did buy a bat box/house kit and will put it together and then we are going to get a board and attach this to a tree, far away from the house that gets the morning sun. I also bought an attractant spray but the bat guy told me to wait to put this up until they go to do the clean up as they could rub some bat guano on it to let other bats know that bats had been there. Otherwise if I just put this up now, I've just put up a bee home as the bees will quickly take that over.
Someone asked me wouldn't the bats eat the bees?
Yes, if they happen upon some wasps or bees, the bats might eat them. However, what is happening here is what I like to call the "Ladyhawke syndrome". For anyone who has watched that movie, you'll get right away what I am talking about. If you haven't seen it, do so, it's awesome!
You see, during the day, bees/wasps are active but bats are sleeping.
At night, the bees/wasps are sleeping and the bats are active.
One other note is that bats are migratory so they will leave when it starts to get too cold. But I can't wait til then as all the damage they could be doing up there, just with the guano alone is a health hazard.
Bats also have their babies in the summer. So I have to hope there are no babies up there as the babies can't fly. I'd have to wait longer I believe to get them out.
Not a good situation.
The bat guys will be here next week to start this process so as I learn more, I'll share! :)
As I say on my Halloween blog...
~*Bugs n Hisses*~
GP
/|\
When Choosing a Moving Truck
When choosing a moving truck, size really does matter.
It can often be very misleading when you look inside a moving truck and try to picture your things in there and wondering if it will at all fit.
Check out these guides and tips from UHaul:
I had two storage units, one 10x20 and one 10x15. It was not packed to the rafters and I still had plenty of room in each one, almost would have been able to combine them into one. I was able to fit all of those, mostly boxes mind you, into one 26' truck.
Then, I had a 3 bedroom apt with hardly any furniture, only 3 beds (1 queen, 2 twin) and 2 movie chairs and one small dresser, some benches, and a tv stand. The rest was folding tables and then lots of boxes. Of course I also had the garage of boxes and then a few bulky items like the Cauldron Creep and the Time skellie I had made.
Due to the bulky items, I was not able to get it all into the 26' foot truck and now, will have to go back and rent a 10' to pick up the rest of the items.
You can have more than what you think!
One huge tip tho' is to box as much as you can. Try not to have any loosey-goosey stuff. Your things will get there more in tact and not as broken.
Plus, don't force or shove things in between, more than likely they will get busted up in the shifting as you drive.
Again, the plywood really makes a difference in helping to compact your stuff so it does not fall onto each other or shift.
What is also nice is that the rental companies will have dimensions of the truck, inside. This is very important when you are getting plywood and also in putting your items in there to be sure you get a large enough truck.
Try to make sure you have a low truck and with a ramp at the very least.
After your things are packed, you will want a lock that fits.
You will also need to think about the route you are going to take to your new home to be sure a truck can travel on the road and there are no low bridges.
Make sure the a/c and heat work too before you drive away with that truck.
Little things like that can really throw a monkey wrench into your plans.
Planning is key and good research will always serve you well!
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Choosing a Moving Truck for DIY Moves
It is never easy to choose whether to move yourself and try to save yourself some expense or to shell out the money and have someone pack your things and move your stuff for you.
There is a lot to look at. This is what I have learned thus far out of all the moves I have done.
Having someone move your things for you:
Many of my moves in the past were with the US Air Force who came in, packed your stuff and moved it for you and then they would deliver it and you unpacked yourself.
Having packers pack your stuff means they are not going to be as careful with your things nor will they really pack relevant things or worry about fragile things being under heavier items. They will fill the boxes and use tons of paper wrap for nearly everything. If you left an orange out, they'd wrap it and put it in there, a booger, yep, they'd wrap it and put it in there.
Now the bad thing about this is that your boxes could have some mismatched items and not be labeled with what you deem is more important so you know what's in it. The movers tend to put on the boxes where it came from, what room.
The other bad thing is the cost. Hiring movers is very expensive to do, professionals do not come cheap.
The good thing is not having to move anything heavy on your own. Plus, they will pack the truck very tight so as to avoid anything from falling or getting broken. They don't usually use bubble wrap however so the getting broke part can be questionable.
Moving yourself can also be expensive but not nearly as much as hiring someone if you shop around.
But, you will have to get all your own boxes, tape and then try to find a cheap moving truck and guessing how big you need to move all your own things.
The bad thing is if you have heavy things to move and unless you have help, it can be quite difficult to not only move it, but to get it up into the truck and then you have to secure it. It can be daunting of a task and a lot of hard work so much comes down to what you are physically able to and if you have help.
The problem with help is that everyone has their own ideas as to how to do it best and usually not in agreement with how you may want it done.
But, to do it yourself, here is what you want to do:
1) Find a good moving truck, Uhaul or Penske as they seem to have some good prices if you can get a good deal from them, military discount is always bonus. Look for extra days, convenience of location for drop off and extra mileage. Often they will let you use a dolly for nothing or the moving blankets and you can get boxes from them, although they are cheaper to get the boxes from Home Depot or if you have a great restaurant that tosses out boxes in good condition, you can get those for free possibly.
2) Start to pack months in advance if you can. Buying boxes over time makes it seem less painful to the wallet when you start to pack your things. You also can figure out what you really NEED and what you really don't and can do without.
3) Once you get a truck, go right down to Lowes or Home Depot and buy some moving cargo straps and some sheets of plywood. This is the trick we learned, especially when you have odd pieces or just a lot of things. Using a 26' truck, measuring inside it, we realized that the sheets of plywood that are 4 x 8 won't fit in the 26' truck but will if you have HD cut a foot off the 8 side. Then you can stand the plywood up and overlap the middle a bit. So what you do is pack it as much as possible and in the 26' truck, about half way is a cut area between the wood rails and this will fit the plywood perfectly. So when you pack to that point, bring in two sheets of plywood and stand them up and then use the cargo straps and secure the plywood sheets in place. Then you can go ahead and continue packing as high again as you can. We used a step stool to help get to the top as well and then like Tetris, you fit your boxes in as tight as you can. Then we added two more sheets of plywood with more cargo straps when you get close to the end. This helped us tremendously and stopped a lot of our things from getting broken or shifting too much. Felt like professionals at that point!
4) Try to make sure you pick a place to return your truck that has a 24/7 drop off to where you can just drop the keys into an overnight box. This makes it so convenient!
5) Don't use too many old boxes or ones that have been used as they are weaker and not as rugged or sturdy. I know it's tempting in trying to save some money and some boxes might not be in too bad of a shape but...on the whole? No, best to get new ones.
6) Get not only a tall dolly, but a furniture dolly for moving those heavy items. I recommend 2 as you can get them at Lowes or Home Depot for $20 a piece! Great price!
7)Use bubble wrap. You may think it's frivolous, but it does help to cushion the more fragile things.
8) Good packing tape and something that cuts off easy so you are not having to mess with it. Can't ever have enough packing tape.
9) Get a nice big black Sharpee so you can mark your boxes how you wish to.
10) Save your own blankets for furniture blankets if they are not too fancy or you can use some old towels as well.
Those are the big tips. You can get friends but best to just get one or two that will do as you want and not rush you. You need to pack it so you feel good about it. Last thing you need or want is to be arguing or such about it. The less frustrations and stress, the better.
Also, give away all your spices or food items to your neighbor. This is the best time to share that stuff so you are not taking it with you and can start fresh when you get to the new place. It's less to pack, less to unpack.
Which truck company? Get quotes for prices. We used to use Penske trucks as we didn't like the Uhaul but this time we went with Uhaul and were very happy with the price and of course the staff was top notch!
Penske was nice and one thing to do, is to always get the insurance! Yes, it's an extra cost but little did we know when we left Texas, was someone had stolen the catalytic convertor right off it! We got as far as Tennessee and boom...truck went kaput! Called Penske and they had a husband and wife team come out with a new truck and moved them end to end with no room in the middle, perfect fit and then they did what they called the "Tennessee Hot Swap" they swapped the contents from one truck to the other. We didn't have to lift a finger, it all came with the service! Awesome! Loved them for that!
The bad thing with Penske when we rented again from them was that the a/c didn't work and they wanted us to take it somewhere to get it fixed and wait or not have a truck or something? It was bad as we had reserved a truck, we'd expect the a/c to work! So as we did not have time to dilly-dally around with that and we were in a rush and all, we just McGyvered the a/c with a nail clipper to make it work and pressed on!
Uhaul was awesome, extra days, mileage...just really awesome and they had a great area above the cab we could pack stuff into! They were really great!
The biggest thing this comes down to tho', is what your abilities are. You have to be honest with yourself and ask those big questions. Are you up for it? Do you want to even mess with it?
The choice is yours, but take notes with each move you make so you have a reference for the next time. This is probably the last move we will make on our own as we are not getting any younger. Its a stressful situation no matter how you slice and dice it.
The choice is yours, but take notes with each move you make so you have a reference for the next time. This is probably the last move we will make on our own as we are not getting any younger. Its a stressful situation no matter how you slice and dice it.
Just be careful if you do it yourself and don't push yourself too hard. Know your limits. :)
Good luck to you!
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