Got my Ducts in a Row — RET-ADD.com

Howdy all,

Yesterday (2020-5-15) was a GREAT day here. Well, maybe not for everybody. Yes, it rained all day, and was humid as heck. But, the duct cleaning service was here…

Believe it or not, those are the vacuum cleaner bags in the back of the truck. There are 6 of them, and at one point, all were full of air and pointing straight up.

That is one noisy vehicle. The vacuum hose is pretty much 1 foot in diameter, and was either hooked into the ducts for pushing out air, or in the return ducts. The operator would block off all other openings but one, and then insert a high pressure air hose and cleaning brush gizmo in the opening and blow the bugs and debris down the line for the vacuum to send them out of the house and into the truck.

Here is the hose next to one of the ducts in the Family room just before he ran it through.

By the way, that is the Roomba I7 and its docking / emptying station. Get one. Use my Amazon link.

It took almost 6 hours to clear out the duct work in this place. — Although one of those hours was spent trying to get the vacuum in the truck to inflate with the rain pouring down.

And, probably 1 1/2 hours was prep and cleanup time. Have to get everything loose, and then taped shut, and move a lot of equipment in and out. Not to mention that most of the registers are sitting under furniture needing to be moved.

Emser’s did a fabulous job. Totally recommend them.

Two other projects got completed this week. — By me…

The fire pit manufacturer sent the replacement parts for the pit. Of course they sent parts for a different model, but I made do. The fire pit I bought had a top of black glass, and 1 of the four top pieces was totally shattered, while 2 others had either minor, or major blemishes in the glass. Well, the sent 3 BROWN top pieces (no glass).

I used 2 of them and 2 of the black glass model, to assemble the top. Looks pretty good. Of course the brown ones were just a teeny bit different size/shape because they don’t have the extra glass. Had to work around the expected assembly holes to make things fit. And they do.

See that light colored board on the deck? More coming on it in a bit.

And I didn’t even blow myself up when I turned it on.

The other major project was a mushy board on the deck had to be replaced. The deck does need a good painting, and I’ll get to that if we ever have summer days that are dry.

Anyway, here is a picture of the board removed, and one of the many pieces I pulled off the deck board with my hands.

And after getting the new board to the right length, screwing it down, and cleaning up, I had this:

Yeah, I know my first plunge cuts with the circular saw caught the boards on each side, but I’ll putty before I paint and nobody will ever be able to tell.

I did do a bunch of other things outside this last week, after the cold weather left. I have planters on the deck with raspberry and blueberry plants. You can see them in one of fire pit shots above. Also, today I put out some flower seeds in self watering pots and added more flowering plants to the area around the deck.

And, moved a few other plantings around too.

Another important project was spraying castor oil around the yard to try and chase the critters (moles/voles/gophers) that are tunneling under the yard, killing what little grass there is. I’ve also put down enough grub and bug killer that any critters staying will be hungry and go elsewhere anyway. At least that is the hope.

The last contractor project to be done is the tree trimming and putting down hundreds of pounds of lime and such to try and get rid of moss and allow grass to grow. That contractor keeps promising to show up, but hasn’t made it yet. Way too many excuses.

Elsewhere, in the continuing move to Ohio during a pandemic, saga, the state is opening up slowly. In about 10 days the BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) is possibly opening. Then I can fight with the hoard that have needed to get there for the last 3 months, so I can get my driver’s license and truck title/registration/plates done. Really looking forward to that. It is the last piece of the move.

That’s about it for today. I hope your world is also opening back up, so you too can..

Enjoy Life