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December 04, 2009
Someone Has to Put the Closet Back Together
For the last couple years, I’ve been on this whole kick of attempting to take care of my house. I don’t know. I pay the mortgage every month. You’d think the rest would just take care of itself, but no. In fact, according to the History Channel, the earth can hardly wait to eat my house for breakfast. Constant vigilance, people. Constant vigilance.
Anyway, it’s long been my goal to do something about the insulation here because it is in various ways inadequate and I live in Western NY, where it is cold. Part of the reason I was avoiding doing anything is because insulation is expensive, but the real reason I was avoiding it was because I hadn’t been in my attics since before my late husband died (over five years ago now, in case you’ve lost count), and I had this mental image of them being kind of like crack houses with things dripping down the walls and trash all over the floor and squatters living in a corner. In order to even reach the one attic, I have to take EVERYTHING out of one of my closets, including the shelves, which I didn’t really know how to do. It seemed like maybe it would be best to just leave everything be until someone else took care of it.
Then the government started this whole business with the stimulus package and tax rebates and whatnot, and I did some research and realized that if you have some insulation issues to take care of, now’s a pretty good time to do it. So I broke down, had an energy audit done, and hired some people to take care of the insulation.
They installed it today.
As part of the audit, I actually went into my attics, and it turns out that it’s not at all like a crack house up there. There wasn’t enough insulation (in fact, in a couple key spots, there was NONE), but it was dry and relatively clean and nothing appeared to be living there. So that part was cool. The rest of it was terrifying, even though it all seems to have turned out very well. First of all, it’s just awkward being here while there are all these people running about doing heavy labor. Ella handled it by hiding in a closet. Benny handled it by hiding under the couch. I handled it by sitting in a corner of my office with my laptop. I really would have preferred to be under the couch with Benny, but I cannot fit there, and Ella did not seem inclined to share her closet and the other closet is the one I spent a half-hour taking apart this morning. (It was an hour-long project when I had to do it for the energy audit. I’m hoping to cut my time down to five minutes the next time I need to get up there.)
This house is a continual struggle, even with the help people give me. It’s too big for one person, and I’m a little out of my league as a homeowner, but I kind of love my house. I like my neighborhood, and I use all of my too many rooms. Right now, I feel kind of good. Kind of competent. Like maybe I am equal to this home after all.
Next thing to tackle: cleaning out the scary corners of the basement. Or maybe putting the closet back together. Or maybe going to see Fantastic Mr. Fox. We’ll see.
Posted by adrienne at December 4, 2009 05:03 PM
Comments
We have one closet in our house, and that has the hole that goes up to the attic by way of steep ladder. I've never seen the attic, but I do have to take everything out of the closet when the security guy comes to fix the wires that the squirrels chewed through. Thank you for revealing to me that the upside of not having enough closets is not having to clean out those closets. That's what I keep telling myself when I grumble about our small house... less to clean.
Not really. It all just gets jumbled together in the basement.
Congratulations on getting new insulation. May you be cozy this winter.
Posted by: Saints and Spinners at December 5, 2009 10:32 PM
You are absolutely equal to that house! My new attic has open beams that look like shaved trees and unfinished wood walls (but insulation on the floor). I think I could hold a barn dance up there, but we would all have to climb a ladder and go through a hatch in the ceiling of my new office!
Posted by: Heidi at December 6, 2009 12:04 PM
attics? i didn't know you had two... You'll have to show me sometime...
Posted by: jp at December 7, 2009 11:19 AM
Farida, I'd have a hard time with one closet, although there is something to be said for having a smaller place.
Heidi, I can't wait to see your new house! Have you posted photos anywhere?
Jason, Yup, one for the lower roof and one for the upper roof. There's insulation blown in all over the floor like great drifts of snow everywhere now, so you can't walk up there. You could look in, though. Well, you could look in to the lower one. I put the closet with the upper attic access back together, and I'm not taking it apart again until I have to.
Posted by: adrienne at December 7, 2009 12:09 PM