Garden Miracles

Today is perfect weather. How often does that happen? It's sunny, warm, with a slight breeze. Not too hot (yesterday was in the 90s), no rain (rare), and no stink in the air. I haven't been doing much gardening this year being unable to walk for a while and then preoccupied with construction projects so I didn't plant much. It's at the point where it takes care of itself and that's fine by me!

Peter's sun garden. Those sticks are where sunflowers are, but they aren't growing
fast enough and bugs keep eating them.

Pumpkin. Bug eaten leaf, but the others look fine!
That gives me hope.

Kabocha squash. Nice.

 

Zucchini squash. Nice.

 

 

 

Feverfew. This bush grew wild and now it's quite large.

 

 

I used to feed the roses to Peter. They are beautiful and smell lovely,
but they make me sad now.

 

Clematis. Taking over the deck.

 

First blooming poppy.

 

Apple tree is LOADED this year. I've never seen so many apples!
They probably won't be as big and juicy as last year's harvest
since there was only ten or so,
but now there are at least 100!
The rabbit manure (nitrogen) must be wearing off.

I Admit...I'm a Recipe Thief (Salmon Salad)

Have you ever been waiting in the lobby of a doctor's office, waiting, waiting, waiting. You decide to flip through a very outdated (non-smelly) magazine in the magazine rack just to look like you aren't bored and to avoid the others also waiting. There is a recipe in the magazine that actually fits within all the dietary restrictions you have. Of course, you have no paper or pen and a nurse will come out and take you away at any moment. You know once you leave, that recipe is lost forever. Or...you rip that page out of the magazine as quietly as possible, stuff it in your purse, and try to look innocent. Well, that's what I did. Good recipes are like gold: rare and precious. I don't know what's come over me. For a few brief moments I felt so guilty I almost changed my mind, then I just went for it. I never used to be like this. Anyway...Yatna the recipe thief.

Here is my modified version of the stolen recipe:

STOLEN SALMON SALAD

Ingredients:

5-7 ounces of salmon, cooked, cooled, deboned, chopped into little bits.
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped into tiny bits
2 tablespoons mayonnaise, the healthy kind, if possible
1 small clove of garlic, minced
5 pitted kalamata olives, chopped
2 green onions, chopped into tiny bits

2 ripe but firm avocados, cut in half, pitted
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted (optional)

Mix everything but the avocado and pine nuts in a bowl. Place salad on top of the avocado. Salt and pepper as you like and sprinkle with pine nuts. Eat.

Yum.

Closet Remodel: Color! (Part 4)

Several people have asked me why I want to paint the wood because it's so beautiful. First, the wood isn't that beautiful. Lots of gouges, dings, knots, holes where knots used to be, and imperfections. This is cheap, thin paneling wood not meant to be admired. Second, paint will cover up all the ugly I created with my poor construction skills. Third, painting it will match the rest of my house as there are no other walls or rooms of just plain wood. Everything is painted. And last, but definitely not least, WHAT? NOT PAINT? I'm fairly certain the only reason I really decided to remodel these closets is because I've run out of rooms to paint. And, OH! How I love to paint!

However, I don't like painting over the beautiful floors. If the previous owners hadn't plugged up the holes with putty and instead, used plugs they could have been saved. You can see the many years of scratches and wear (people sliding things in and out of the closet), but the wood is gorgeous. Below is the south closet just after it's 7th cleaning with the wood looking it's best (wet) and the holes looking their worst. I really love old wood floors.

When I first moved into the house I tried sanding all the floors, but there were too many problems with very deep gouges and scratches, holes, cracks and...horse hair. The living room floors still had the old glue from the 1930s and horse hair stuck to it from the old rug backing. They were gruesome and took me one whole day to get most of it off. Soft fir floors can get really thin really fast with as much sanding that needed to be done to restore them, I didn't think it would be good enough with the deep scratches. Then there is the dust, the toxic refinishing, and cost of the machine rentals so I gave up. Besides I didn't know what I was doing. Professional sanding from a man who was drenched in cologne would have cost $1800 for just the upstairs floors...the paint only cost $65. I was really poor at the time and I figured I could always strip them later. For the last eight years I've saved what was left over so I could someday finish the closets! That day has arrived!



South closet original floors.

First step, make sure all the floor holes are filled. I found one more crack in the wood that I think is too large. It's important that the floor is smoothed for as a storage space, one should be able to slide boxes back and forth without snagging on something that will hinder movement. So I filled the last hole with wood filler, let it dry, hand sanded it which kept the dust problem controlled.

Second step, clean all surfaces. Since the sander dust was out of control I wanted to make sure no residue was left on the surfaces. I washed ceilings and walls and then scrubbed the floor again and again and again!

Next, prime everything. I'm using Kilz on the ceiling and walls and the better quality Zinsser on the floor. The floors are very raw, banged up, and filthy so I made sure to clean them as much as possible and the primer will seal them well before I paint them the heavy duty "porch and floor" paint. This paint is toxic so I'm not looking forward to it. When I used it on the rest of the upstairs, it took about nine months for it to offgas. I'm using an air purifier, a fan pointing out the window and I've sealed off the bedrooms and put rugs under the doors to lessen the toxicity. I primed the floors twice in hopes of only having to put only one layer of the porch and floor paint.




North closet, primed.

Priming is important. My low-VOC designer paint, DEVINE, is really expensive and all that raw, untreated wood will soak it up if I don't seal it with primer. I also think primer helps balance out all the problems with the wood which leaves a very nice painting canvas finish. Primer, however, is really stinky so I have to wear a mask, glasses and gloves.

Color! Oh, be still my heart! I get so excited. Every room, partial room, and space that might even be misunderstood as a room is a different color in my house. I'm partial to cool colors: blues, purples, greens and some pinks. I've been planning these closets for a while and thinking they'd be dark (pre-electrification), small, rarely looked, at or packed with boxes and covered up, I figured I could use a wild color and still feel sane. So I'm opting for light yellow-orange and light red-orange, or "Mango" and "Cantaloupe". Then I got to thinking cantaloupes are more orange than red-orange so I changed it to "Cantaloupe" and "Melon" or "Habanero" and  "Coral" or "Goldfish" and "Salmon". I prefer fruit analogies  ARGH!



Color Samples: How many different oranges can I make?

If you are thinking, Good god, Yatna, just figure it out and be done with it! Who really needs to name their colors? Well, this is the fun part for me. I love color. I've already spent lots of time looking a color samples and now I can spend lots of time thinking about color and once it's painted, LOOKING at color! Such a small joy that is huge in my life!

Anyway, I think opening one of these little doors, clicking on the light, and seeing a burst of bright color would be a nice surprise. Like a beautiful sunrise. Or sunset. Hmmmm...if the closets were east and west I'd name them "Sunrise Closet" and the "Sunset Closet", but they aren't. These aren't rooms one would normally spend time lounging around in and I think most would say calling it a "room" is a gross exaggeration. However, once it's finished, I might hang out in there, close the door, and enjoy the color experience. I grew up in a huge farm house with big walk-in closets. I moved into a closet once, and as a teenager, there I lived like a recluse in solitude with my radio closed off from my noisy siblings. I am partial to small, cozy, cocoon or cave-like places. Yatna, the bat.

Part of the joy is mixing the paint and watching the colors create themselves. Problem with custom mixing is if you don't make enough and you run out, tough luck. But if you mix it wrong and waste all your paint, oops. It's a challenge. Of course, I kept mixing and mixing and then realized too late I was running out of yellow, a color I need for both. At one point I thought maybe I should forget about two different colors, mix what I have all together and paint them the same color, but that wouldn't be as fun. What I ended up with is fine, but I would have liked the one on the left a little more yellow so there is clearly a difference between the two.



The finalists. Vote for your favorite name combinations:
Cantaloupe and Melon
Goldfish and Salmon
Habanero and Coral
Sunrise and Sunset

Then a neighbor who is a construction god came over for an impromptu inspection. He took one look at the gapping holes between the walls and the ceiling and said, "You are going to put molding, right?" HA!  I had just come home from the hardware store overwhelmed by the choices of molding and unable to decide so I asked his advice. He ask if I wanted something fancy. "Oh, heck, no, they are just closets!" He gave me some wood he had in his basement that he custom cut for molding and never used. FREE MOLDING! Hooray! The molding, however, was a real pain. I bought some nails and nearly every one of them bent when I hammered it in so I started drilling screws to hold up the molding. Not easy as they are placed at such weird angles.

I found some old wooden door knobs at an antique shop for $1 each and I painted them.

For some reason I thought I needed three knobs on each door. This is because when I removed the old handle, it left two holes. This is just a way to camouflage the holes and do something crazy and colorful.

Done!

North Closet

South Closet

North Closet

South Closet

This project took longer and cost more than I ever expected. A few years ago a construction man gave me a quote. According to his calculations, it would have taken him only eight hours to do the whole thing. It took me two months not including the planning.

I'm glad the closets are done and now useful. Under a pile of supplies I found my shopping list, diagrams and the plans for these closets. I felt slightly queasy and thought, I'm so glad that's over. I don't ever want to do that again. It's interesting how motivated I always feel at the beginning, but utterly drained by the time it's finished.

Closet Remodel: Walls and Floors (Part 3)

I thought How hard can this be? Tongue and groove boards that fit together should be easy to install. I failed to realize the intricacies of a wall in the shape of a triangle. And walking up and down stairs with my bad foot has been a nightmare. Unfortunately, the first construction day I continued to baby the foot which placed much stress on my opposite leg...and my hip went out causing me to collapse on my garage floor. Lots of pain! Again, I was forced me to convalesce and take some time off. Consequently, this remodel is taking forever as I've slowed down in order to not overwork the appendages.

 

Anyway, back to the triangles. Lots of planning, measuring, measuring again, walking up and down the stairs to check the measurements, sawing, doing it all again if the board still doesn't fit. My first wall was OK, but the gaps started getting too big. I just couldn't get the angle correct. I'll cover them up with a nice piece of molding.

For the second wall I used a cardboard template and this worked wonderfully. This is the "Mango" closet (north closet), although I might rename it "Habanero". Below you can see the comparison between the right (first and bad) wall with the gap at the top, and the very nicely done left wall.

Once all the walls are in, it smells really nice, like healthy, untreated, natural wood. No more insulation smell! And what is really great is the closets don't get hot like they used to which means the insulation is working and this winter they also won't be cold. Love it!

See the little square box I built at the back left corner? It's covering the electrical box that I needed to keep open for access. Not a great solution, but it works. There were many challenges that a professional carpenter would know how to remedy. Most of the time I was just flying by the seat of my pants. I'm sure there are better ways to do just about everything!

In the above photo the floor issue is obvious. Someone recently told me drilling holes in a beautiful wood floor is or was the procedure for adding blown-in insulation to the floors of older homes. Then they filled them with some kind of putty but not all the way so there are still deep indentions in the holes. What an ugly mess! I have discovered in the last few weeks my house is packed with insulation. Even crawlspaces that should breathe are packed full. The roof should have been left with airspace at the top for ventilation and heat control, but it's packed. The previous owners did a lot of remodeling and I'm sure it's more energy efficient now, but the insulation is gross and I wouldn't have damaged these floors to do it.

 

I used wood filler and puttied the holes flush with the rest of the floor as I plan to paint the floors. Nasty stuff when you sand it. That dust got all over everything and filled the closet with haze. Then I used fans to suck it out the window, but had to clean the floors (for the fifth time!) and dust everything so it was too much work.

Cantaloupe (south closet) is coming along. (Soon to be renamed...what is a good name for a pink-orange color? I think "cantaloupe" is too yellow-orange to be a good color synonym. Maybe just melon, but I think that's too red.) The ceiling went twice as fast as the first closet as there are benefits to experience, but just when I thought I figured out the triangle wall plan and templates, I started getting gaps again! Damn.

I think the angle was off. You can see in the above photo I finally figured it out and got the angle back on track, but again, an ugly, gapping hole. I'll camouflage it with molding. One very important discovery I've made is I'm lazy. This is really nothing new. Some things I just don't like doing, and only do them because I like the finished product. I was constantly saying to myself, "Good enough. It's just a closet." A professional construction worker wouldn't say that...well...unless they are from Rathole where there is a lack of professional anything which is why I'm doing this myself in the first place! And it's saving me hundreds of dollars in labor.

Another challenge are the teeny weeny boards I have to cut to create a wall on the sides of the door. These are about 8 1/2 inches long but because my house is so odd, they start at 8 1/2 inches and get progressively smaller the higher they go! UGH! Still, they are square. Much easier.

Then there is the other side. These boards are about five inches long. The challenge is trying to use the left over smaller pieces of wood and use the circular saw to cut them! The proper tool would be a table saw or chop saw but those are hundreds of dollars. I'm doing what I can with what I have. Looks nice though, uh? I'm getting better at this!

At this point I realize I don't have the stamina to build a house myself, even a tiny house. Hammering makes my wrists and hands hurt, and bending, lifting, holding the circular saw makes my whole body hurt. The dust makes my lungs hurt and I'm not really fond of breathing insulation even if this is the less toxic version. It's a slow process. Even though I get really compulsive with my projects so they tend to go very fast, I'm not as fast as I used to be nor as physically resilient. It would probably take me years to get a house built and I really don't know if I want the stress. This has been a good learning experience though and I'll enjoy the finished product.

Next step: PAINT! I can't wait. I'm pretty sure my whole reasoning for remodeling these closet is so I could paint two more rooms!  I found this low-VOC designer paint called "DEVINE". Incredibly expensive, about twice as much as other brands, but it seems to be very non-toxic which is what I wanted.

Corsets R Us

 

 

Today for a break from construction exhaustion I stopped at a garage sale. I didn't really plan to buy anything, but you never know when someone might be selling reclaimed wood, windows, doors or other possible construction supplies. It was more of a free sale than a garage sale as this woman was cleaning out a friend's storage unit and giving most of it away! I snagged about ten brand new gift bags which I'll add to my already huge collection. Since I so rarely give gifts to anyone, I'm not sure why I thought I needed them, but they were pretty. I also found a lovely woven, straw hat that would make a good sun protector or garden hat, a small rug that I might use in one of my newly remodeled closets, wooden beads, a book on the history of television, a large plastic bowl, and a beaded hippy necklace with a cross made out of blacksmith nails. I love free stuff. I figure if I decide I don't want it, I can try to sell it in my next garage sale or put it in my free box and give it away.

As I'm digging through the boxes hoping to find more treasures, I pulled out...a corset! A real corset. The sale organizer was nearby and I exclaimed, "WHAT the hell is this??" as I held it up for all to see. She laughed and said, "Oh, take that, it's free." I have no idea what possessed me to want used women's undergarments, but it's absolutely fascinating. It is a little discolored so it's not in perfect shape, but more importantly, it doesn't smell musty or laundered so it was a safe curiosity to explore.

Front view with laces and eyelet side.

As you can see it laces up the front and along the sides there are about fifty eyelet hooks. Parts are elastic or rubber, there are stiff "ribs" or boning in the back to hold you posture perfect, garter belts (!) for stockings, the fiber content is cotton, rayon and rubber, and the design of the material is a very pretty pale pink floral pattern. It's a size 44 so it wasn't for a petite woman. I wonder how old it is?  Ah! I love historical research!

Back view with ribbing.

Rubber has been around since the early 1800s and rayon since the late 1890s. Zippers were first manufactured in 1913, but I don't know if zippers were ever really used for undergarments. According to the tag it was manufactured by Carol Brent who was a designer for Montgomery Ward in the 1950s and 1960s. There are vintage garments for sale online by this designer, but this contraption seems a little archaic for the 1960s. I'm not that familiar with underwear history so what do I know? The lacing in the front, eyelets on the side and the position of the elastic which is along the sides and under the lacing makes me wonder if this isn't a maternity corset? Although I'm not sure why anyone would want to wear a corset while they are pregnant. Maybe it was fashionable? Maybe it was supportive and comfortable? Hmmmm.... There is a hook underneath the breast area, but I can't tell where it hooks and what it's for unless there is a missing piece.

Fascinating. OK, I've had my fun. Now what do I do with it???????

Let There Be Light! (Closet Remodel, Part 2)

For nine years I've been hand-sawing wood with my $1 yard sale hand saw while dreaming of something a little more speedy.

 

I've always wanted a circular saw, but avoided buying one because I wasn't sure if I wanted to be weighed down with a garage full of tools. Where does a tiny home dweller store the massive numbers of tools they accumulate in the building of their tiny home if the whole point is to downsize? Man tools are heavy and take up space. Still, I'll need them if I want to build or repair anything. So I bought myself a new circular saw!

 

So awesome. A new toy that will save me all kinds of time and energy. And I picked out a lightweight model so I don't have to fight trying to control it. I've watched incredibly strong construction workers wield them with one hand, but there is no way I can hold a heavy board with one hand and handle an instrument with a sharp blade with the other hand. This one's a girl saw...lightweight and pretty! I've borrowed many circular saws over the years and they've all been used and well-worn. This one is clean and sparkly. It also has a laser light on it. Cool. It took me about an hour to read the instructions and figure out how to attach the blade and the whole time I was thinking it would take a construction guy about two seconds to do this! I got it working which made me giggle like an idiot and I practiced by making two cuts on a piece of 2 x 4 board, then...it stopped. Nothing! I was so disappointed. The laser light still worked so I knew it wasn't my newly remodeled outlets nor my newly remodeled extension cord. (I've been doing a lot of electricity lately. 'Tis the summer of electricity.) I ended up having to exchange the saw for another.

This is nothing new. Nearly every piece of equipment or supply I've had to return at least once. I returned one outlet three times because I kept buying the wrong type. The hardware stores are an hour's drive so any errors in judgment are not quickly remedied. It's very time consuming. I doubt if experienced construction workers do such stupid things. Still, this is how one learns and I'm learning a lot!

I added 2 x 4 boards to the top of the studs to support the ceiling and I ELECTRIFIED the closet!


Two by four boards added to support ceilings.

View without lamps because I bought the wrong type of lamp! UGH!

It wasn't easy. I thought I felt confident until I realized the old wiring didn't match the new wiring and I wasn't quite sure what to do with an extra wire. Then, of course, I realized I bought the wrong type of lamps and had to exchange those. UGH! With every electrical venture I end up bleeding. I keep stabbing myself with the screwdriver as I try to force the skinny, slippery, little wires into place. If I start to bleed, I know I'm doing it right. HA!

 

But I have electrified my closets!!  Yatna, the Courageous Menopausal Warrior is now an ELECTRICIAN!

So beauteous...like a light from heaven!

 

Next...the ceilings and walls!!

Closet Remodel: Let the Summer Projects Begin! (Part 1)

I have a list of projects I want to do this year: new heating, removing old heating, re-roof my garden shed, build a cement step, and line my closets. These are the extracurricular activities that keep me sane while living isolated in the middle of no where. My plans began weeks ago. Unfortunately it was in the middle of unloading supplies when I stopped to swing at bees and slammed my foot into the cement. Projects were delayed while the foot healed. I'm now ready to go!

This year the theme of my summer construction is: "Practice for a Tiny House." I figured since I'm not quite ready to start building a tiny house as I have no land to put it on, I'd learn some of the skills I'll need to know on my current house. I've often said this is my "practice house" and I've done some major screw-ups all in the name of learning.

 

I have two unlined hall closets at the stair landing on the upstairs level outside the bedrooms.

Right side.

 



Left side.



"Cantaloupe" (right side)



"Mango" (left side)

Yes, that slanted ceiling is the roof line and each closet has one side that is an exterior house side. Someone told me these closets were probably used for cold storage in the old days. I believe that. In the winter they are damn cold! I've never used them for anything so it would be nice to make them usable. And pretty.

When I first moved here both were lined with raw, formaldehyde-soaked, toxic fiberglass insulation although someone forgot to enclose it all with walls. I couldn't stand the thought of something so toxic so close to my sleeping area so I ripped it all out. I'm pretty sure throughout the years much of my winter heat has escaped through these closets. The floor insulation is still showing and anytime I go into the space my lungs and sinuses start hurting.

The second step was to use caulking and plug up the holes in the wood. Yep, you could see outside through the holes! They weren't big, but big enough for a bee, hornet, or spider to get through. (I can't even imagine what the rest of the house looks like!) The great thing about these old houses is they are built with good, solid, beautiful, un-treated wood. Another awesome thing about old houses is they breathe. They breathe because they aren't sealed up tight like new construction and that also makes the indoor air quality less toxic. Unfortunately, the breathability also means they lose heat and allow in all kinds of critters not to mention rain and weather. (Untreated wood means they are susceptible to house-eating bug infestations, but let's not talk about that and I'll continue to keep an eye on everything!)

My plan is to line the walls with insulation and cover it with paneling so there are real walls. Constructing walls is something I'll need to do with a tiny house so this will be good practice. I also plan to add lights to these closets. Learning electricity will be a huge challenge, but filled with enormous benefit. If I get electrically comfortable, I'll replace my own heating and not have to rely on electricians and heating guys who just don't bother showing up! I'm ready to do this! I am BRAVE!

So let's get started...

Someone on Freecycle gave me a half roll of free roofing felt/tar paper to line the walls (and to use on the garden shed roof). The cavities are all unevenly measured, something you might not find in a newly constructed house. Most houses these days are 16 on center so the 2 x 4 studs are spaced 16 inches a part. Tiny houses use 24 on center to reduce the weight of too much wood. The wall cavities in my closets are 12 inches, 14 inches, 14 1/2 inches, 15 inches, 22 inches, etc. Weirdness. Makes it really difficult to measure as there is no consistency.

Next step, add insulation. I've been reading a lot on different types of insulation. There are concerns when packing walls, floors and ceilings with filler: fire, mold, bugs, and chemical toxicity. Here are the types of insulation I've found so far and some of their properties:

Fiberglass with Formaldehyde  This stuff is as toxic as it comes, even cancer causing, but really cheap which is why it's so popular. It's also easy to install and has a ready-made plastic vapor barrier. I hate plastic. I will avoid this type of insulation.

Fiberglass without Formaldehyde This stuff is half as toxic, but I still don't want to breathe fiberglass particles. I had enough problems with my fiberglass-constructed heating system.

Cellulose Blow-in  Cellulose is made from recycled newspaper, cardboard, cotton, straw, sawdust or hemp. Yes, it's a natural product which makes it a huge fire hazard so to compensate it is treated with toxic ammonium sulfate. It also will slump in a wall cavity and mold, but I've heard it's good for flooring insulation, aside from the toxicity. It's normally blown-in so you have to own or rent a blower.

Denim This isn't recycled blue jeans that have been worn for years by people; it's denim remnants, or left over pieces of fabric from clothing manufacturers then treated with borates for fire and pest protection. I was really excited about this when I first heard. Who doesn't want to recycle? Unfortunately, I couldn't find a store that has it in stock as it must be specially ordered. What a pain. I got online and ordered a free sample swatch from a company. Then I was reading the blog of a chemically-sensitive tiny house builder who said after using this insulation she became sensitive to cotton. I've known people to be allergic to cotton, but everytime I hear of someone who says they've "become sensitive", it's usually because the cotton has been treated with chemicals rather than the cotton itself. Like my "organic" sheets. "Blue" jean material is dyed with some really nasty chemicals and then saturated, like most new clothing, with formaldehyde and other mildew resistant chemicals. This jean material wasn't well-worn and washed multiple times allowing lots of time for offgasing. It's brand new. Who knows what else they are doing to it once it's mushed up into insulation. Hmmm...I wondered about this. The sample arrived a month later. It has a nice feel and I stuck my nose into it. No strong smell, but it did give me a "ugh" feel. I also read denim insulation slumps and can have mold/mildew issues due to its weight. Tiny houses due to their small interior spaces can have condensation issues which can result in mildew/mold. It's also only 2 inches thick and most cavities are 3 - 4 inches so it doesn't seem very effective. It also comes in strange widths and some have complained trying to cut it and install it is a nightmare.

Wool  Wool is fire resistant, bug resistant, and mold/water resistant, but unfortunately it's really expensive. As high as ten times more than anything else. One company sells it for $35 - $59 (depending on the thickness) for one batt (about 12" x 22"). I think wool would be great if you had access to sheep and could get it free. I don't know if wool slumps nor if it's as effective as other types of insulation. Cob house people love using wool and it's natural.

 

Stone Wool  As I'm shopping the hardware stores, I came across Roxul Insulation. It's stone wool, or spun rock (?) with added recycled material although the type of recycled material is not listed. It's fire resistant, bug resistant, water repellent, and "planet-friendly" with certification for indoor air quality. They advertise its use for hospitals and baby rooms for noise resistance and low toxicity which caught my eye as well as having a fairly high insulating efficiency. The salesperson told me it was brand new in the store which accounts for why I've never seen it. It's also three inches thick. Great marketing campaign. Look at that sweet baby! Someone knows how to sell! So I get online to research what they might not want me to know. They use formaldehyde in the adhesives, but only 5-6% and the company claims it's is offgassed in the heating process. Right away I'm leery, but this product seems to be the most hopeful and I feel adventurous. It's about the same price as the pain-in-the-ass denim, but it's right in front of me so I don't have to special order it and of course, it's the same price as the wool insulation only I get 11 more batts! I come to the conclusion there is no perfect insulation and I'm working on these closets as an experiment so why not be brave and make some discoveries? If it all goes wrong I could rip it out and give it to someone else. I buy one bundle which is twelve 47" x 15" batts. I'm told by the salesperson to cut it with a bread knife as using an exacto knife would mangle it. Hmmm...OK. Weird, but in a cool way. I wore a mask and gloves because it still has an itchy, creepy feel. Cuts like butter, easy to install, and no smell at all! In fact, prior to its installation, being in the closet with the floor insulation made my lungs hurt, but once I got this stone wool insulation up, I didn't seem to have as much of a problem, but it still bothers me. We'll see once I get the walls up if it affects the air quality.

I pretty much gave up on getting a denim insulation sample so I bought the Roxul before it came. Here are the stone wool and denim side by side for comparison:

The denim is so much softer than the stone wool, not as scratchy and oily feeling, but it doesn't feel as strong or rigid. It's like cotton balls. Hmmm...I like it, but would it really work inside a wall? It seems to have sagging potential which I wouldn't like. The smell isn't strong, but this is a fairly small piece.

It looks like they are the same thickness, but the stone wool on is more compressed. It tends to expand more once out of the package. The denim is light and airy...like a big cotton ball. I wouldn't think it would be as efficient as the stone wool. I do like the idea it's recycled material, though.




Here is the stone wool insulation cut to perfect size and fitting snuggly. It even stands in place by itself and that makes it easier to install. I think the denim would be sagging all over making it harder to install. I think the stone wool was a good choice.

Then I had to consider what kind of wood for the lining. I didn't want anything that was treated or smelled. Everyone suggested cedar because it smells good and because of this popular for closets. Cedar is also fairly bug resistant, but I don't want smelly stuff. Cedar is also more expensive. Not only that I want to paint these closets to match the rest of the house which would negate the cedar-y smell. For a tiny house, I'd probably use knotty pine, but since these are closets I got the knotty pine panels which are a little thinner, but still wood. They are untreated and smell good to me, like wood.

Pine is so pretty! And this is without paint.

Thinner panels are cheaper, too, and cheaper means less quality, but I'm experimenting. For the second closet, I might be getting old tongue and groove oak flooring from a remodel job which I'm really excited about. I'll have to sand it down, but it's free so I'm not complaining. Of course, oak is awesome quality so I can't decide if I should use it for the second closet or save if for my tiny house. I'm interested in learning how to create a wall using tongue and groove wood, how it works, the best way to attach it, and problems I'll encounter.



See studs at sides? They don't go all the way up.

I'm already freaking out about how to attach the wood. Do I do the ceiling first or the walls?  Screws or nails? The studs up the walls are not flush with the center stud in the ceiling so how do I line up the ceiling panels? What is the best way to measure a wall that is the shape of a triangle? How do I get everything to line up so it doesn't look like crap. How do I get around the electrical wires that weren't embedded into the studs? Should I wire for lights first or do it after I install the walls? Jeez. Never fear. I am getting loads of information off the internet and I have a construction friend who is giving me advice.

 

Electrical wire and box wraps around the stud instead of through it.
I was told to leave a hole for access. Darn ugly, if you ask me.

  

Now to work out the logistics...To be continued...





War of Stinging Things, Part 2

Plugging up the holes along one side of my house didn't do any good. The crafty bees have found another tiny hole and continue to go in and out. Bees are smart and will find a way in or out no matter what I do. So I searched online, called a pest control company, and found a beekeepers' club in my area. I also found an all-girl bee removal company out of town.

While waiting for my bee guy appointment, I did some more bee research. The pest control woman said they might be mason bees which are common. I got online to look at photos and read about different kinds of bees. Mine look mostly like bumble bees, but bumbles make nests in dirt, not in houses. Carpenter bees will make nests in houses, but they are more brown and black. My bees are brown/black with yellow and rust colored markings:

See tiny bee...click on photo to make it bigger for a better view.

What are bumble bees doing in my house and not in the ground in my garden somewhere? I really hate freeloading roommates. Doesn't matter if they are opossums, rats, mice, spiders, flies, mosquitoes, or...bees. Doesn't matter how beneficial to the earth or how helpful they are in my garden.

 

Bee guy emails me and says there are all kinds of honeybees. I can tell he's very hopeful that's what I have. I hate to tell people they aren't honeybees because no one seems to care about anything else. Bee guy comes and he's looking at the bees. He finally agrees with me they might be a type of bumble bee. OK, I was afraid of that. No one wants bumble bees; they want honeybees. Bumble bees are pollenators and, like honeybees, necessary to agriculture. Some species of bumble bees are endangered. Does this matter? Hmmm...bee guy looks a little disappointed, but he doesn't desert me. Yet.

 

Bee guy climbs up into the crawlspace above the laundry makes all kinds of exclamatory sounds...about the insulation and how thick it is. This goes on for five minutes and with every "ooooh" or "aaaahhh" I think he's found bees and I get excited. I know he doesn't want to be in the crawlspace as he mentioned before it's difficult to get bees out of a crawlspace, but he continues to look around. FINALLY, yes, he sees the hive! I have him take a photo of it:

 

The yellowy stuff.

 

He said it's sealed so there is no entrance into the house that he can see. He calls a beekeeping friend and they talk. We send photos to him. Bee guy confesses he doesn't know anything about bumble bees, but his advice is to leave the hive alone and in the fall he'll come back to see if it's grown. I get the feeling he's just trying to talk me into being satisfied with not having him do anything. That doesn't seem like a very good solution to me. I don't want it to grow! I also tell him I'm interested in selling the house so having a bee hive growing in it is not a good selling point. I try to discuss other options and he confesses he doesn't feel knowledgeable enough to remove them, nor young enough. It's obvious he just doesn't want to do it. Who cares about bumblebees?

 

I'm going to have to keep looking around for some help with this. I don't want to poison them, but I don't want to leave them alone to grow either. There should be a better solution.

 

In addition, this the first year in a long time hornet's are trying to make nests under my house eaves. I've knocked down two so far. My fake hornet's nests are useless. I'm very disappointed.

 

UPDATE: Bee Guy spoke to his Bee Guy friend and they decided if I wait until winter when the bee boy-workers all die leaving the queens in the hive, they will remove them and dismantle the hive. Bee Guy friend who knows bumble bees well said they are very opportunistic and they have found an abandoned wasp nest to use for the season. We don't want to kill them, just remove them from my house. I can wait. I'm happy to have them pollenate my garden.

 

 



My Garbage Can Stinks (A Haiku, sort of...)

 

Purchased new garbage can.

 

Scented. Stinks. Gag.

 

Returned it.

 

The End.

 

NSAID Breakfast-Style (A Cautionary Tale)

I've been abusing the NSAIDs. I do feel fortunately this is one drug I can tolerate at low levels. They sure help if one has a migraine or in my most recent case, a bum foot. Ibuprofen is my drug of choice, the generic rather than the more expensive and popular Advil.

In my youth I lived on ibuprofen taking massive quantities in place of the prescribed Motrin for carpal tunnel pain. I was also prescribed a drug called Tagamet to compensate for the stomach-eating side effects of ibuprofen. I can only imagine what this pain killer addiction did to my insides.

Now my strategy is to take ibuprofen only when absolutely necessary, in the middle of a very large meal, and then wash it down with a very large glass of water. This seems to work, but I still need to watch how much I take and for how long or I'll start feeling queasy.

One of the advantages of ibuprofen besides pain relief is it works as an anti-inflammatory. With any injury, it is imperative to get the inflammation and swelling under control in order for healing to begin. I started popping pills right away determined to heal quickly and survive this inconvenience.

Yesterday I made a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs which is a really good ibuprofen buffer due to the fat content. I chopped and diced the onions, peppers and garlic into colorful piles, whisked up the eggs, and set the table. I have a very methodical approach to food preparation. As the pan heated I removed one pill from its bottle and laid it on the counter. I try to take the pill in the middle of the meal and this reminds me not to forget. I scooped up and sautéed the chopped bits then added eggs.

What is that smell???? I look around to see if I left something near the burner. Maybe it's old food that was dribbled down in the burner pan, but I see nothing. It smells metallic, plastic. Toxic. Not a normal kitchen smell. Not finding anything suspicious I think nothing of it. It dissipated quickly. I serve the food and eat. Yum. Wonderful. When half of it's gone I get up to get the ibuprofen pill on the counter. It's not there. I distinctly remember getting it out of the bottle so I wouldn't forget to take it. I wonder if I'm having a senior moment. Am I old enough to have senior moments?

OH MY GOD! I scooped it up with the onions and sautéed it with the peppers! That plastic smell!

I searched the remainder of my breakfast for any large pill-like shapes. Nothing. Why didn't I taste it in the food? Why didn't the eggs crunch? The pill must have melted in the pan. I was a bit worry about the chemical reactions of heated ibuprofen, but found nothing online but overdose warnings. I threw away the rest of the food.

A half an hour later I felt incredibly queasy and nauseous. My stomach doesn't like sautéed NSAIDs.