Bugs and Bats

So I have been up in the attic a few times of late. I have bugs up there and I don't want any more. They are cocoon like mud nests, I think a type of wasp. None are alive, it is just a ton of mud coccon's at each end of the house, which means I have cracks. I went up in the attic and decided to pick up as many cacoons as possible, I filled up two bags worth on one side of the house. Also I spray foamed the cracks from inside the attic, basically where the siding meets the soffit on the gable ends of the house have a quarter inch crack reveal allowing bugs and wasps to get in. I could see that spray foam was not the best method for this, so I only did the one side of the house attic.

I decided to caulk the cracks from the outside, so out I went and cut away all my excess spray foam and caulked away. This will all be painted soon enough.

So off I went to the other side of the house, where I did not venture into that side of the attic. This side also has the chimney and the same gaps and even larger. So right away I noticed bat Guano and stain marks on the white siding where the bats had been entering and exiting. This is a larger gap, half inch or so, between the chimney and siding. So I caulked everything but those gaps and decided because there was no backing I needed to go back into the attic and add some wood support for filler.

Mask, hat gloves, flashlight, tools and wood, back up I go. I get all the way to the other side of the attic and find the large gap area, it is tight, so i get crouched down and worked my way to the wall. I pulled back the tar paper to reveal the crack area and there in my face is two bats hanging upside down and screeching at me. I froze and they froze, we chatted for a bit and I told them I would be right back. I got out of there and came right back with a plastic Animal Crackers cookie jar. Armed and ready, I went back up there, got close to them and put the jar on the wall trapping them, they were pissed, screeching and flapping their wings, and they would not let go. I managed to get the lid on and had a look around, one whole wall cavity was full of Guano. Guano can be toxic and considered a bio hazard, so best to leave it untouched. I plan on removing all my insulation at some point and will remove the Guano and bugs at the same time.

I put some holes in the lid and put them outside. Bats will come back unless you are 100% positive you have sealed up your house and there is no way inside. Hard to do for sure sometimes. I read they will try for days and days to get back in, and even if you drive a few hundred miles away they will find there way. 

I decided to glue corner round into the large gap areas and then caulk the area. This worked perfect. It sounds simple, but the whole job took me a few days. 

My insulation is only 2" thick and I am going to remove it all when I re-do the hosue wiring. At that time I will be adding new batten insulation to a R value of 50 which is a few layers for sure. This means I need vents between each roof truss. So I bought 50 of them today and it means another day up there, not sure when, stapling each one to the roof.

Revised Deck Drawing

This is the revised deck drawing. Basically the firepit, seating area is now in the middle and the spa tub is off to the side.

New Deck

This is a concept drawing of the back deck. I am changing it around a bit, but the idea is there. Basically, it will have a covered area for sitting or a BBQ station, a swim spa tub and a gas fire pit seating area. The garage door you can see in the picture is a fourth bay door at the back of the garage, this is to get the tractor out, and have an open door to the backyard when I am working in the garage.

Emerald Green Cedars

Wow, what a ton of work to get a fence done and a row of cedars. It has actually been non stop for me since removing all my trees, just trying to get my yard back in shape has been a real challenge and the mud makes it all that much harder.

So the neighbors line is now done, I can move on to the other fence and finish clearing the yard and leveling it. Today I purchased and installed 10 Emerald Green Cedars from a farm that I goto once in the while called "Never Say Die Nursery". In fact I purchased 100 Western Red Cedars from them for my old property. Fe was so nice to me today, she gave my a dozen free range eggs, jam for my boys and a jar of her delicious pickles. I still need more trees for my other fence line, probably about 40 Excelsa Cedars and maybe a few more Emeralds, you can guess where I will be purchasing from.

Today finally stopped raining as I was planting my new cedars, I dug a light trench and then a small pit for each root ball as I went along. The whole area was kind of dug out as I had removed two tree stumps from that area so I really needed some fill. I went to Meadows Landscape and filled my trailer three times with free used dirt. This is the dirt that they take from people that do not want it, it is free and perfect for what I need. Half of the dirt I got today was from grow-ops, really nice dirt, even had some plants in there too. So three yards later I had all the balls packed nicely with fresh dirt and strings on both sides of the Emeralds in case it gets windy, which it will.

This is what it looked like last week.

115 Foot Cedar Fence

I decided to replace the fence between myself and my neighbor. Since I had the excavator rental, now was the time to do it. I ripped out the old fence, cement balls, and railroad ties with the excavator. Once the line was clear I recruited my friend Steve for help. I had all the materials delivered and we got started right away. We set our string line and began at the back, post, panel, post, panel and so on. With all the previous work I had done ripping out the old fence and then we had rain and snow, we were working in pure mud, which makes everything twice as hard. Your boots hold pounds of mud, your tools get dirty, and so on. The second day, Steve recruited his friend Aaron to help us. We finished the majority of the fence that day and went for a nice lunch at a nearby pub. I let a few days go by so the ground would firm up a bit, and today I removed all the supports, finished the neighbors panel and gate, cut all the posts and put caps on. Just a note, I use a 2" reveal for my caps and mark two lines on the post with my square. Using my very sharp chainsaw, I cut the posts perfectly and easily. Then I pre-drill two holes in all the caps, then glue and screw 'em.