So... What are YOU doing? - Part 6

[Lamb]

Got a late notice from our trash company but never received an invoice! AND you need the invoice number before you can register the account online. They make it very difficult for their customers.

 

[tango]

I managed to get into my dark corner with a can of foam. It turned out cold air was seeping in through many small gaps and cracks. I used up the entire can of foam, then got busy with my caulking gun to block a few gaps small enough that I couldn't get the foam in there any sense. Hopefully that will help until I can get at the brickwork outside and patch it up. What is handy is that the afternoon sun hits the area I need to work so hopefully it will dry out quickly.

I still have a few small gaps that are letting a little cold air seep in but I ran out of foam and didn't feel like opening another can just to fill a couple of small spaces. It almost makes me wish I'd got the professional foam gun rather than the regular spray cans because that lets you use a little at a time, as long as you use up the can within about four weeks. I can probably use it up within four weeks....

 

[NewCreation435]

I missed Sundays sermon so listening to it online tonight

 

[tango]

Found a cold draft coming in around one of the new windows. I might as well have hired an ape to fit the windows given what a bad job the guy did. Thankfully this was a quick fix, I just had to pry the side trim off, run some tape around behind it, and nail the trim back into place. I have a nail gun which made that job nice and easy, and meant I wasn't swinging hammers so near the windows.

It's not a long-term fix but it keeps the cold air from seeping in. I think it took me longer to get the tools together and clear up afterwards than it did to do the job.

I really wish I could measure how much heating oil each individual job saves - it would be fascinating to see just how much difference a quick job like this actually makes. The funny thing is that what led me to the window was that I heard a strange noise that came from the window so I went to investigate, and only then did I notice the cold air seeping in. Had it not been for the noise (which I suspect was just something moving a little with thermal expansion and contraction) I wouldn't have noticed the air seeping in.

 

[tango]

Got a couple more windows tweaked with tape and freshly nailed trim. Some of the trim is showing its age and it may be easier to just cut new trim than to try and fix up what's there.

 

[Lamb]

Eating breakfast.

 

[NewCreation435]

Spent the morning cleaning. I'm going out soon to take some library books back and go to the gym

 

[tango]

Fixed a couple more windows and then had to stop because I ran out of my wide masking tape. Some of the gaps are wide enough that I don't know if I can cover them with my remaining (narrower) masking tape. It's good to get some more use out of my nail gun.

 

[Lamb]

Waiting for that sun to warm up my part of the country/world so I can go outside and walk!

 

[tango]

Waiting for that sun to warm up my part of the country/world so I can go outside and walk!

It's getting there for me. My unheated room dropped as low as 39 degrees during our cold snap. Now it's holding steady at 50 degrees. It's handy that it faces mostly westwards because it means the afternoon sun warms it up.

 

[Lamb]

My daughter's guinea pig loves when the sun comes out and shines through her window in the mornings. Today she was waiting on top of her tunnel for it to reach her! She was about 15 minutes early. Then she moves to the see through plastic house when the sun moves in that direction. The other day it was not sunny out and I didn't open her curtains. When I walked in the room she kept looking at the curtains and grinding her teeth in anger. She has no idea I can't control the sun!

 

[NewCreation435]

tomorrow is my last day in this office. I have just about said good bye to all of my clients except a few. It's kinda sad. I have a full case load waiting for me though on Wednesday with another agency

 

[tango]

Had planned to walk in the woods today but woke up to cold and fog so decided to leave it until tomorrow.

Now I'm waiting for the sun to hit the side of the house so I can do some external brickwork. Hopefully this will seal up the gap that has proven particularly elusive in my work space. It's curious to think that, having spent so much time inspecting the bricks from the inside hunting for gaps, the problem turned out to be coming in from outside and from below.

 

[Lamb]

It's in the mid-40s and feels really hot outside! My daughter and I went for one short walk but got too hot in our winter coats. Next time we go out we'll only wear light jackets!

And I'm making Chex Mix right now.

 

[Andrew]

It's in the mid-40s and feels really hot outside! My daughter and I went for one short walk but got too hot in our winter coats. Next time we go out we'll only wear light jackets!

And I'm making Chex Mix right now.

It's 65 here in Texas, skeeters are out again lol im sure you would burn up here in the summer for sure

 

[NewCreation435]

I had a moment of panic when I couldn't find my old training certificates that they are going to want a copy of at my new job. Then, I found them. It is a good thing I never throw any paperwork away.

 

[tango]

I wore a short sleeved shirt this evening for the first time in a fair while.

 

[Lamb]

It's 65 here in Texas, skeeters are out again lol im sure you would burn up here in the summer for sure

I'm usually very cold all the time. My body hasn't quite figured out what to do yet with the thyroid hormones I'm taking so being extra warm yesterday during my walk was kind of new.

 

[tango]

Got a bit more work done on the house. I needed to fix some mortar on the outside, so got busy with some of that once the sun started to hit the area. I got a few patches fixed - not as much as I wanted but one large brick needed a lot of work and I was afraid it would fall out if I chiseled away all that I wanted to replace. Then I got a couple of gaps around windows sealed from the outside. Chances are the long term plan is going to involve bricking up the windows but for now I just want to stop drafts getting in around them.

Now I just need another cold snap so I can run the thermal camera over the areas that were causing trouble to see if the issues are resolved.

 

[tango]

I became The Gray Man for a time this afternoon. There are a few patches in my brickwork where the bricks are too uneven to get insulation panels back far enough to put drywall over the top. So today's job was to take my angle grinder and slowly grind back the concrete to the point where I can put panels in place.

Needless to say it's an incredibly dirty and dusty process. I was wearing a P100-rated respirator, safety glasses and a face visor over the top of it all. What was particularly fun was working on a ladder trying to see what I was doing, given the combination of working in my own shadow, the visor getting covered in dust and the glasses misting up and getting condensation on them.

I got a lot done, and stopped when my angle grinder's thermal cut-out triggered. Along the way I ran the shop vac numerous times to get the dust up off the floor. For some of the time I managed to wedge the shop vac in place so that it could catch a lot of the dust as the angle grinder threw it off the wall. By the time I was done you could see lines on my face where the assorted shields, straps etc had gone. It took a while to clean up in the shower afterwards, just trying to get the dust out of my hair was a challenge.

Now I've got most of that horrible dusty work done in that room at least. There is probably a little bit more that needs doing but it can wait until the battery for my angle grinder is recharged and everything has cooled off. Maybe that will be tomorrow's job. I'm really looking forward to getting this stage done - it's a hideous job to have to do and once it's done I can finally get on with installing the insulation panels I've wanted to get in place for months now.