Hi all, I’ve been lurking for awhile but have managed to figure out most of my building problems without having to bother you all with stupid questions, That said the current problem is so gross and weird that I can think of no where to turn but to your inspired selves.
(If you want to skip the background, the weird fly problem starts at the paragraph called, interestingly enough, “Weird fly problem”)
(unsure if appropriate or anyone cares I omitted a somewhat funny account of the remodel that kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger…promise no whining but a little bragging at the very end. Please advise whether I should revise and include)
Weird fly problem? I finished a large crawl space to make a workshop under my house. Grade, vap. barrier, slab, elec. etc approved by inspector. one wall still not finished so workshop open to non vapor barriered area under house. No moisture problems either before onset of rainy season or since. Anyway about two days ago I started noticeing flies, many many flies. Dull gray, extremely slow moving they seem to be dropping out of the air like well, err, like flies. (sorry) Have thoroughly searched for signs of nasty dead stuff , feces, or other stuff flies like, have found nothing so far. What the heck could be causing them to appear and what in the holy heck is causing them to coat my shop floor and workbench with their lifeless bodies. I mean I have to completely vacuum all surfaces every couple of hours? I suspect since we have had a couple of warm days the came out of hibernation(?) then as cool down they sought new place to hibernate and my as yet unsealed workshop was just what the doctor ordered. (For them not me) could this theory be possible? Any suggestions? If this is not the correct place for this post I apologize in advance.
Edited 12/19/2003 2:56:18 AM ET by constructioergosum
Replies
Hey Constructio,
I can't help you with your flies, but you should tell us about the addition that grew. In general, if you have a little project that gets out of hand and ends up making you proud, Taunton readers want to know about it.
If it involves any funny stories, we have to know about it.
With pictures.
As you will probably come to realize after reading this I have gone a little nuts during this project.
Continued from earlier post- Note to Tish-I promise I would not inflict this on you had you not asked
To make a long story even longer I guess I should tell you a little background. I began a complete remodel of my new (to me) house. being a first time homeowner in a somewhat neglected house you can imagine the host of disasters that quickly ensued. It all started with a simple deck repair. I requested bids from pro's, when they came back between a low bid of 14,000 and a high somewhere north of 39,000 I picked up my jaw that had hit the floor like a bag of ready mix off the top shelf at Home Depot and uttered those terrible and fateful words, "Honey, I bet I could do the work for a lot less money". And that was when the wonderful, terrible, confusing nightmare began. That was somewhere around labor day. Did I forget to mention my building experience to that point consisted of hanging a prehung interior door. What level? we don't need no stinking level) It took me a long time to convince my wife that doors are supposed to swing open by themselves.
So we loaded up the truck (a 1987 volvo sedan) and went to Home, Depot that is. I can't believe what a nag my wife is. when I got home about a million hours later with a compressor, framing nailer, a brad nailer, a finish nailer, a 10" sliding compound mitre saw, a sawsall, a left blade circular saw, scrolling jig saw, belt sander, random orbit sander, a couple of drills, a plunge and fixed base router with table and really cool fence, table saw, thickness planer, a collated auto feeding screw fastening system (makes me feel like a space ranger) various screw drivers, hammers clamps a few other tools and oh yea a new fire engine red FORD F150- 4 door Super Cab. My wife had the temerity ask whether I really needed all that stuff, today, or shouldn't we decide just what we want to do first? Always with the nagging. If she only new that only a few days later I was going to request an indefinite leave of absence to devote more time to building. (another month went by before the first piece of wood got cut)
(fill in typical newbie disasters, minor head trauma, one nail from nailer through hand, one fingernail lost, one, two week debilitating back injury and two or three falls from 20 feet (my wife says about 8 feet) )
Final result:
1100 square foot Redwood deck 12 feet high,
new granite slab counter top in kitchen, new plumbing and fixtures plus upgraded water heater with recirc system for instant hot water, all new stainless appliances
Travertine tiled foyer, new carpet, tile in bathroom ,counter tops, floors, shower, floated mortar bed myself
new HVAC with reconfigured ducting
Added two 300 square ft rooms (framed, poured slab, ran electric and plumbing, rocked, taped, and mudded, installed two 5/4 windows and storm doors)
Installed vapor barrier and insulation to bring up to R-19 walls and R-30 attic
Installed Auto timed sprinkler system(coverage ½ acre)
Bonus Mold and dry rot behind ledger on previous deck required that I jack up and remove 60 linear feet of siding and framing replace it with sound framing and siding then treat, prime and paint the whole house so it would all match;
Replaced seamless gutters and dug out foundation to install drains (house on side of hill, no existing drainage and downspouts drained straight into foundation)
Installed Crown molding and base board throughout and 3"casement w/ rosettes to all windows and doors
MISC: installed and configured Wireless DSL Network
Passed California BAR exam and rebuilt the front suspension on my wife’s Volvo (see above, volvo used to transport building supplies.
Man do I have a swelled head or what? If you are not totally disgusted I will be happy to fill in the painful, funny and sometimes weird details to the project that will not die.
Signed, This house is either, my rubber tree plant, or more dramatically, my white whale, you pick.
Finally willing to admit that I am in over my head and need an exit strategy, things just keep coming up, dad pointed out a serious roof problem (aren't they all serious when you do not really know what you are doing?) ((Never mind the fact that this house has stood on this exact spot since it was built 27 years ago. I wonder why that little nugget of information doesn't help me keep things in perspective and avoid starting a new project despite having 20 or 200 still unfinished?
Thanks! I really needed the laugh this morning! :-)
AnnL; MotherHen/Hobby Farmer
After all that work, I have just one tiny question: Labor day of what year? If you tell me that you accomplished ALL THAT in a mere 3 months, I am going to think that the law world is wasted on you.
As to the flies. There are horses on our neighbor's property, but no real fly attractors on our property. Before we replaced the unscreened porch with a sunroom, we always had a cloud of them on the porch. Seems after a nice rich meal of dung, they like to get out of the sun, relax, shoot the breeze. Your nice shady workshop seems like just the ticket.
Drop by any time I know my wife would just love to tell you all about all my hairbrained projects. A few admissions. Bathroom is still classified as "in progress" a few others as well but to be fair I left out a few things from the original list. Also, sprinklers finished prior to labor day. Thanks for the advice.
Great! What are you going to do next week?
I hope and I pray that I am going to do absolutely nothing next week. It's going to take awhile to get over the hectic insanity of the last few months. Then I will have to addresss all the short cuts I took and redo alot of things I did wrong. Judging by the tone of some responses to my attempted light hearted venting I will have to invest in a digital camera to document the craziness. Will see what I can do. I'm going out of town for two weeks but will provide affidavits from independant witnesses and will try to upload some before and after pics when I get back.
You sound like a perfect article for a future issue. Anybody listening at Taunton...?
Cheers,
Peter
pretty sure they are cluster flies.