This Old #%&@*$ House

It's ok, don't be nervous. You did purchase the optional "please do not install wasp nests in my house" coverage, right?

Asterith wrote:

It's ok, don't be nervous. You did purchase the optional "please do not install wasp nests in my house" coverage, right?

Even if you did, good luck getting them to honor the claim.

Think of this thread as a cautionary tale that prepares you for the various possibilities. Hopefully everything will be smooth. When it's not, at least it's sort of expected.

As gross as it is, the wasp nest has by far been one of the easier, and cheaper, house problems to solve. The pool has been a much bigger, vastly more expensive pain in the ass.

Over the years I've had I think three yellowjacket nests in various wall voids upstairs and another in the ground as well as a couple run ins with ants and one mouse. Most were in the space of a few years. The worst was when in October a few years ago the wasps found a route to the warmth of the interior through a gap around the heating pipe and I had to kill about 75 slightly groggy yellowjackets in the room. It was a Sunday afternoon and I couldn't get an exterminator to come out.

The other fun one was when we moved the driveway to the back of the house and apparently disturbed a group of ants that decided to move into the house temporarily as they were packing up their sh*t. My wife came down in the morning to find hundreds of winged ants in the dining room.

Oh, also house centipedes, which are actually good at taking out spiders, bed bugs, roaches and ants but are super creepy looking. I pretty much leave them be.

Winged ants? Damn.

We had some tiny little scouts in the bathroom recently. Sprayed a bit outside near the windows and stuff but if they show back up going to have to call in the big guns.

For ants I have found this stuff works great. Just lay it down near where they are trailing, they all swarm it and take it back to their nest, and then they all die.

Stele wrote:

Winged ants? Damn.

We had some tiny little scouts in the bathroom recently. Sprayed a bit outside near the windows and stuff but if they show back up going to have to call in the big guns.

Basically when the colony was disrupted they sprouted wings to relocate (ants are freaking cyborgs), but a bunch of them crawled up into the house. The exterminator said they'd leave the way they came eventually.

LeapingGnome wrote:

For ants I have found this stuff works great. Just lay it down near where they are trailing, they all swarm it and take it back to their nest, and then they all die.

I took Leaps advice on this stuff and it worked wonders for me as well.

Pretty sure that's what the exterminators used back in our Florida apartment. Some gel like that.

Just have to be sure it's safe for our cats.

I use Terro (liquid bait) for those little ants that seem to show up every so often. It always knocks them right out. You can that stuff at Lowe's and HD and pretty much any big box kind of place.

Ever since my wife introduced me to it, we've used Ant Chalk.

Not to be recommended if you have kids, but amazingly effective.

Good luck finding it - we would go scrounge around SF China Town, but now we're in Florida I'm not sure where we'll find it.

jrralls wrote:

Heard some mice in the walls. ... advice?

Put cats in the walls.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
jrralls wrote:

Heard some mice in the walls. ... advice?

Put cats in the walls.

Sure they aren't wasps?

Chaz wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
jrralls wrote:

Heard some mice in the walls. ... advice?

Put cats in the walls.

Sure they aren't wasps?

As long as they're not rats he should be okay.

Wembley wrote:

As someone who recently purchased a townhome that is currently being built, you all are making me nervous.

Wasps are not that creepy. They can be an annoyance. Here in Sweden we mostly welcome the wasps because they will eat the mosquitos, winged ants and *knott*. I usually find two or three nest in house and/or garage.

Just spray the opening around 23:00h in the evening. Wait a day, put a box that you can close under it and cut it loose. End of story.

If in the walls or ceiling, call an exterminator and plan a day out. The exterminator will do the job.

Old and abaondoned nests: leave them! No new one will come in it's place.

Stengah wrote:
Chaz wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
jrralls wrote:

Heard some mice in the walls. ... advice?

Put cats in the walls.

Sure they aren't wasps?

As long as they're not rats he should be okay.

Just need bigger cats.

IMAGE(http://dnlyhpqx98dpk.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Siberian_tiger-1.jpg)

I was carrying my air compress through the back door, blowing out the irrigation system for winterization. Caught something on the air compress on a Grille on the glass of my back door, breaking the wood piece. One chore done, new chore added, no net gain. At least it's not negative, I suppose.

We got a few ants one night over the summer, and a line of cinnamon at the entry point scared them off.

I've got two big things that I need to have done, and a bunch of smaller things of course, there's always something! But, it's time for me to put some money into my house and I'm worried about the expense and also about getting the right company for each job. So, I'll probably share my quotes here and ask for guidance from some you more seasoned pro homeowners.

I need a new roof, I have one company coming out for an estimate. I know I need other estimates, but I'm having a hard time getting recommendations in my area. I'd like to go with a metal roof. Thoughts on this?

I have a very large tree that is probably dying, there are some pretty large dead limbs that are very high up. I've had some very good recommendations for a particular arborist with a well-known tree care service in the area who I'm waiting for a call from. This tree is huge and I'm constantly worried a limb is going to fall on my dogs. If it has to come down, it's going to cost a fortune I fear. I'll let you all know what the arborist says.

I also need some deck repairs, but I'm going to tackle these two big jobs first.

I'm about to install a whole house water filter. 3 Stage. Does anyone else have one? If so, what size are your filters? What type of filters do you use?

I hemmed and hawed for a bit and ended up ordering a 20 inch by 4.5 inch filter. I went with a 5 micron sediment, 5 micron GAC, and a 5 micron Carbon Block.

I know a small amount about metal roofs, since my parents put one in a bunch of years back. They ended up loving it. The price was good and in the winter the snow just slides right off, which is awesome. We had a winter maybe 7 or 8 years ago around here where there was so much snow that I had to actually get up there and shovel it off for fear of a cave-in. With a metal roof, that never happens. They put it in of course the year after that.

One thing with it is that when it rains it can be loud. If you have good insulation and an attic or some good space up there, it probably wouldn't be a huge problem. I believe metal roofs also last an incredibly long time.

I'm also concerned about the loudness. Two of my dogs are terrified of storms and one of them is even terrified of heavy rain. There is an attic, though not well insulated, and we mostly stay in the basement, which has access to the backyard. So, I wonder if, with added insulation, the sound of the rain on a metal roof would be much of an issue. How loud is it compared to shingles?

astralplaydoh wrote:

...5 micron Carbon Block.

The Carbon Block is going to remove all chlorine from the water. Not a bad thing and maybe what you're after but I have a cautionary tale. If you have any water lines that won't be getting regular use that are downstream of the filter, they will incur growth. A guest bathroom would be a good candidate.

You may want to remove the carbon filter from the house filter and add one in-line to (and close to) bathroom and kitchen sinks.

The metal roof is actually not that much louder than the shingles that were previously there. I think I remember noticing it the first couple times it rained, but after that, not really. I just did a quick google search and found a site that had actual decibel ratings, and the metal roofs were only barely louder than shingles in most cases. If you're all the way in the basement you probably won't notice any difference at all.

What I did find though was that everyone was saying metal roofs are WAY more expensive than shingles. I remember my parents saying it wasn't bad at all. I think they found a really good deal though, and possibly just got lucky.

I get to unclog a bathroom sink for the first time ever this weekend. Yuck.

Yes I would call apartment maintenance for that before I had a house because I could.

Stele wrote:

I get to unclog a bathroom sink for the first time ever this weekend. Yuck.

Yes I would call apartment maintenance for that before I had a house because I could. :P

It's pretty easy, get those bright yellow clog clear mini snakes if it is just through the Utrap/Ptrap. Or if you want it easy just bend a coat hanger and use that. Cleared several out that way. Wear gloves and prepare for gross. You may need to unscrew the drain raiser, might need pliers for that.

Mine always grew on hair that had gone down the pipe and looked like a cat tail in mud.

Stele wrote:

I get to unclog a bathroom sink for the first time ever this weekend. Yuck.

Yuck indeed. I had the misfortune to have to do this on our boat. Not only did I have to take apart the u-bend, I also ended up having to pull out the plug. The sinks have these "push plunger in the back to close" and there was a bunch of gunk in there as well. Nasty.

Speaking of roofs:

My ex is debating replacing her roof. There's nothing apparently wrong with the current roof aside from some visible lifting of some shingles in a couple of places, and it's about 14 years old. The inside of the roof as visible from the attic looks pristine - no sign of leaks or water damage.

So is it worth replacing? I fully expect every roofing company that takes a look to recommend replacing it (nothing like vested interest...). So I guess the question is how do you know that you should replace your roof?

If I were in that position, I would save up for solar panels for a few years and do both at once.

Hobear wrote:
Stele wrote:

I get to unclog a bathroom sink for the first time ever this weekend. Yuck.

Yes I would call apartment maintenance for that before I had a house because I could. :P

It's pretty easy, get those bright yellow clog clear mini snakes if it is just through the Utrap/Ptrap. Or if you want it easy just bend a coat hanger and use that. Cleared several out that way. Wear gloves and prepare for gross. You may need to unscrew the drain raiser, might need pliers for that.

Mine always grew on hair that had gone down the pipe and looked like a cat tail in mud.

Moggy wrote:
Stele wrote:

I get to unclog a bathroom sink for the first time ever this weekend. Yuck.

Yuck indeed. I had the misfortune to have to do this on our boat. Not only did I have to take apart the u-bend, I also ended up having to pull out the plug. The sinks have these "push plunger in the back to close" and there was a bunch of gunk in there as well. Nasty.

Decided to investigate tonight and success!

Actually only had to remove the stopper from the back. Everything (my wife's hair ) was gunked up right there. Snaked it all out and didn't bother with the U. Maybe someday I'll have to go farther but it's all good for now.

I recently had a full master bath remodel and noticed water dropplets falling from the exhaust vent when I'm running it during a hot shower. There will be a bunch on the toilet below after about 10 mins.

Any thoughts on what's causing this and is there a quick/inexpensive fix for it?