November/December 2024 - Screens, Squirrels, and Trees
November began with replacing the screens on the front windows, then fighting squirrels and ended with the oak tree finally coming down.
November started with fixing the screens on the front porch downstairs. There are big windows, and it's part of the Ferndale rental laws to have no holes in the screens of rental places. I didn't have the right tools, so I ended up using a butter knife, spoon, and utility knife to cut and push in the screen components on the frame. Without the proper tools, this was much more time-consuming, but I managed to get it done. I think I made the screens a little too tight because the sides started to bow after I was done, but I was worried about them being loose since I was doing it for the first time and with the wrong tools.
Around November, I replaced most of the outlets and switches in the house. Many of them were old, super disgusting, and didn't match the new paint I put in. The wiring was a mixed bag between new Romex wire and old tar and cloth wires. Some of the copper was extremely brittle, so I had to be very careful. What I'm assuming was more handyman work added a lot of time to replacing these because they didn't use the screws on the sides of the outlets to fixate the wires. Instead, they pushed them into the sockets on the back, which is less time-consuming but a huge pain to work on later. Almost all the outlets were grounded, which I wasn't expecting—I assumed almost none of them would be.
In a previous post, I mentioned all the issues I had with the tree guy I tried to hire earlier in the summer. One of the other companies I talked to in the summer gave me a call to see if they could come trim any branches or do any other work for me during the winter when they have less work. I ended up negotiating with them to do the rest of the tree (basically the whole tree) for the same cost as the first guy, which I learned was quite low for a reputable tree company. Within a week, the tree was down. Some things are just worth the extra dollars for the sake of time and energy. It was pretty cool to watch and amazing how fast they did it!
Since purchasing the house, I knew I needed to fix the spot in the back where the cable/internet line came to the house. They were pulling the siding off, and there was a gap below the siding into the wall. The day before I was supposed to leave for a week, a fat squirrel got in and chewed its way up into the ceiling, running around in the attic and through the walls, building a nest. I removed the cable/internet line brackets and waited for the squirrel to come out. When I thought the squirrel was out, I tried to close up the flap in the evening. Turns out, the squirrel I had seen wasn't the only one in there—one of them was already asleep for the night. I woke up in the morning and heard it crawling around, trying to chew its way out. It ended up chewing much of the cedar shingle and underlayment. I spent the whole day closing and opening the siding, thinking the squirrel had come out when it hadn't or had chewed its way back in. Eventually, I watched it struggle to get out through the existing gap that I even propped open farther earlier in the day. Before putting the cables back up, I tightened the good one (it was sagging) and removed the other, which was an internet or TV line not in use anymore. After all the chewing, when I screwed back on the siding, there was still a small gap, and I was leaving, afraid the squirrels would chew on that and cause damage while I was gone. I remembered I had an oversized vent that I had removed from somewhere downstairs and ended up screwing that over the hole so there was nowhere for the squirrels to chew on and break through into the wall while I was gone. I added a small piece of wood beneath that to cover up the hole for heat and energy purposes.
