Go ahead. Eat my pumpkins now, squirrels!

My garden hasn't had a huge yield this year. I have had pests like squash bugs and harlequin bugs. I had too alkaline soil. And the squirrels got some of my tomatoes. The only crop that had a ton of yield was my ghost pepper plant.

I was sad that I only had 2 pumpkins, but happy they were impressively large. Then I saw this happened to the younger of the two...

UGH! I hate squirrels. Luckily, my one high-yield crop is the perfect defense! I made a homemade pepper spray with a chopped up ghost pepper and hot water. I made sure not to touch the pepper so I wouldn't hate my life. I could smell the heat. The rest of the process was done on my porch b/c I didn't want to risk spicy vapors in my home. I poured the hot water over the chopped peppers in my measuring cup and after letting it soak for a few hours, I poured the water into a spray bottle. The soaked peppers went straight into my compost bin, where the squirrels also occasionally frequent. I thoroughly sprayed the pumpkins. The squirrels will better stay away or THEY will hate life. The exciting news is that I have at least 4 new, tiny pumpkins starting and they have been ghost-pepper protected too. I have some spray left to reapply as they grow or in case it rains. Hoping it works!

Repurposing ugly chandelier parts to make a new light fixture

Saturday was one of those unique days where I got to be creative AND handy.

My chandelier had been held up with painter's tape for almost 7 years so people wouldn't run into it in my tiny dining room. The chandelier was ugly and dated. I wanted to replace it for quite a while and recently took a stroll through the light section of Home Depot. I didn't see anything I liked. I knew I didn't want another chandelier because having a light hang low in such a small room didn't make much sense to me. The flush mount light fixtures were ok, but kind of boring. I figured I would keep working on other projects and eventually would make it over to Lowes to check their light stock. Until then, the ugly chandelier stays. However... as is often the case... my plans changed. One of my great friends, Kelli, was visiting me and suggested we take a trip to Habitat Restore to check for light fixtures. I had not been to the Restore since it moved 2 miles from my house, so I was long overdue to check it out. Plus I had some stuff to donate. It would be a win no matter what we found there. Well, I found inspiration!!!

On the left - ugly chandelier. On the right - you'll see the new light fixture that I created. I found the brown lamp shade for $5 at restore and thought, "I'm going to find a way to make this work." So, Kelli and I made a trip to Home Depot for the other supplies. I was hoping to find something already put together (ceiling mount, connectors, light bulb socket, wires), but that would be too easy. Instead, I came across the lamp-making section. I found a ceiling mount that I liked and from there it was like a puzzle to figure out what else I needed. I grabbed a package of zinc plated nipples (no, I'm not making that name up) and some sockets... and suspected I'd need to make at least one more trip to HD for this project (spoiler alert - I didn't!).

When I got home, I turned off the breaker to the dining room electricity and got started by removing the chandelier. I realized that this ugly chandelier may actually be useful... in pieces.

talk about a puzzle...

I disassembled the whole thing and realized that it had a nipple that wasn't entirely threaded (in other words, one that would look better). It also had some other pieces I could use... and I could save some $ by returning the unused ones pieces to HD. I took the wires out of the chandelier, scavenged some of the connectors, and began reassembling.

I attached the socket to the nipple that I got from the chandelier and threaded the wires though both. Using wire cutters, I stripped the ends of the wire to reveal fresh copper and I twisted ends. I attached the exposed copper pieces to the socket screws and slid the lamp shade over it all. Then I had to attach it to the ceiling mount. I ended up taking the bracket on and off a couple of times because after I put it up, I realized it would be easier to attach the nipple to the bracket before screwing the bracket into the electrical box, but eventually got everything situated.

I'd like to say it that was the end of the installation, but this morning Kelli and I both realized it would look better if it were slightly lower. I pretty much took it all apart, added more connectors from the old chandelier, and reassembled. Now it spreads out the light more and gives a better view of the ceiling mount... but it is not too low to knock most people in the head. My unusually tall brother may graze the bottom because it's now 6'7 from the floor, but he's used to ducking lights, so I'm not worried.

I may get a brighter light bulb for it at some point, but for now it's great!
I suppose I will have to take another trip to HD to return the unused nipples and extra socket, but I don't count that as an extra trip for this project because the returns aren't necessary for completing the project. Especially because I'll be back over there soon enough for my next project, I'm sure. Once I return the items, this project will have only cost me around $16!

Sidenote... at Restore I found some "retrofit recessed lights" that came with LED bulbs. I ended up getting 5 LED bulbs for $14 and I may be able to used the recessed light pieces in my basement eventually. SCORE!

Expanded compost bin!

I finished moving my compost into the new bin and even had a whole wheelbarrow load to add to front yard where I planted more tomato and pepper plants! Because I still had wood supports, mesh, and a large pallet, I added a second section to my compost bin. I figured I should share pictures.











I found some old plastic plant pots that fit in the tops of the pallets (see empty ones in picture to right), so I added compost and some small flower seeds to them. If they bloom in the shady section of my yard I'll post pictures of those. It could be a nice addition to this practical/functional part of my yard.

Pallet compost bin

My brother and I had put together an amazing compost bin in 2010 from salvaged trash in the industrial park near my house. Three and a half years of storing decomposing matter later, it was SPENT! Last year I flipped it over and used the top as the new bottom by attaching a new piece of plywood, but it was in very sad shape this year. This picture is after I pulled off one side of it in order to more easily move the compost. The decayed sides you can see used to be part of the bottom. I can't complain because its contents filled my gardens, which provided me with lots of food. But it was time to upgrade the bin.

Conveniently just in time, a neighbor had some leftover pallets from a materials delivery for a project he was doing. I used them and some mesh that another neighbor had put out for trash to make a new compost bin. The pallets had the wood supports (front and back of bin in the picture below on the right), so instead of removing them, I just left them to be part of the bin. The mesh keeps the compost inside the bin at the back. The best part is that I also have another discarded pallet and extra wood supports so eventually it will become a double-bin, which will make flipping the compost much easier. I may even extend it to a triple-bin with another two pallets, because that will be extremely helpful in the fall when there are a ton of leaves to compost.

I moved a lot of the compost into the new bin, but that stuff is heavy and I had enough of a workout putting everything together. I'll move the rest later and it will be ready for my garden next year!

Here's a descriptive source with more information to make your own.

Adventures in insulation - Phase 3-hour-workout

My neighbor's next-to-nothing insulation looked like this across her attic:

The temperature dropped to the 80s so we decided to tackle the insulation in her attic. It was still really hot up there and took some contortion in order to get the bundles in the back of the small angled portion of the attic, but we did it with the help of one of her friends in about three hours. Like many sports, we took time-outs and water breaks; we had our endurance tested and sprinted at the end; we had to think out strategy and execute; and got very very sweaty. I mean... check out my oompa loompa get-up.

Anyway, I'm pleased to post this picture of her newly insulated attic! We're exhausted, sore, and even itchy, but have planned to do this to my attic on Wednesday night. We feel like we have a good system down and are hoping to be able to do it in 2 hours this time! Wish us luck.

Adventures in (more) insulation - Phase Transportation

Both my neighbor and I need insulation in our attics. She has next-to-none and I need to supplement the foam insulation. We decided it would be most cost effective if we bought it together so that we can get the "contractor's discount" of 10%. Unlike contractors, we lack trucks. It took two trips to Lowes with 2 cars each time to transport our 13 bundles of insulation. They're heavy bundles and took some convincing to fit in the cars, but we did it! Only a few were slightly mangled, so they may not be as "sexy" (it's a safe link, I swear) as they once were, but they'll still do the job.

Car stuffed full!

Plus what you can see,
there's a bundle in the trunk of this car too

Determining the Problem with My HVAC System

Blog post 2 of 3 from guest blogger, Kelli.

As my previous post indicated, I'm having an issue with my home's HVAC system.  I first knew there was a problem back in April when I had people over and the house wouldn't cool down one evening (it got about 5 degrees higher than what I set it at). I turned it off and back on the next morning, and didn't think of it again until Memorial Day weekend when the same thing happened. When I pushed my thermostat down a notch, I could hear the outside unit kick on, but the indoor fan didn't make any noise. This same thing has happened three more times since then, but I've been lucky that it hasn't been as hot as usual for June in the South.

After I called my dad to ask him what could be wrong, he encouraged me to climb into the upper attic, which is where my air handler is located.  I immediately found a frozen pipe attached to the air handler, which is definitely a problem.   My system was freezing up, so when I turned it off (and its hot outside), the ice melted and it worked again. I did some googling and figured out this definitely means I had a leak of refrigerant which is why it was getting too cold.

I looked on Angie's List for a company who had a coupon for a maintenance and cleaning coupon - $89 for a Precision Tune-up and Professional Cleaning for your A/C system for only $89! This service includes up to 2 lbs of refrigerant and is normally priced at $327, saving Angie's List members $73%! (for new customer only). I was heading out of town for the week so unfortunately it was a week before they came out to my house. Within 20 minutes, they told me that I had a leak, that it wasn't worth fixing it ($200 for detecting where the leak is, 9 out of 10 leaks are in the compressor which costs $1800-2000 to replace, and $300-$600 worth of refrigerant to replace what was missing because the EPA had drastically reduced supply of R-22 available since it is so bad for the environment).  They were pretty quick to tell me what the problem was and suggest a new system, and very fast to recommend someone to come take a look at what I need. They "only" charged me $45 for coming out to my house that day so my coupon was irrelevant. I scheduled an appointment for the next day with their "Project Manager" aka their Sales guy.

In the meantime, I quickly realized I knew nothing about how much this would cost or what I was even getting into.  I looked online and the Air Conditioning Contractors of America was helpful at understanding the scope of the work needed to be done. The site does a good job explaining the supply of R-22, the switch to R-410A in all new systems, and helped me think through the questions to ask a contractor. From their site, I was also able to search an incentives database (connected to DSIRE, a database from the US Department of Energy) and find out that while I will not get any rebates on my federal taxes for putting in an energy efficient system like I would have in 2011, I DO get a $200 rebate from my energy company if I put in a 15 SEER system or higher (more on this later).  I double checked the info about taxes with my accountant.  There ARE some discounts but they are currently for solar energy and geothermal heat pumps (read: expensive).  I also really liked Energy Star's website from the EPA and found their Contractor Bid Comparison Sheet to be VERY helpful as I started to get bids for a new system.

After this research, I realized I was probably going to want more than one quote. I went back to Angie's List, which now has over 1 million members who write reviews about various corporations. I've used it several times as a homeowner and when I was considering a new vet and a new dentist. You've probably seen some of their relatively low-budget ads on TV since they recently went public. I do like them, but it feels arbitrary as to why some companies have many so many reports and others have none. I also went to colleagues at work and asked as many people for references of good companies, and I cross referenced those with Angie's List. I ended up getting 4 quotes total, as I disregarded the first one - and you'll quickly see why.

When I met with the first contractor who I found from Angie's List (who had about 50 reviews with an A rating), I figured out how they have SO many ratings - not only does this company give a discount for Angie's List members, they told me (1) a good review was written in as part of my price negotiation process, and (2) I shouldn't put EXACTLY what I paid for my system on Angie's List but instead inflate it by $1000. What's funny is that their reviews sound a lot like my experience - "I called because I thought i had a problem, they told me I did and suggested a new system, the project manager came right away and got me all squared away."  Well, this company's Project Manager was extremely pushy and wanted me to make a decision immediately. I had to tell him 3 times that I wasn't going to agree to a price and schedule installation that night before he would leave my house. He told me all sorts of personal information as he tried to convince me that his company was the best, and even tried to explain that I should sign an agreement so he doesn't have to come back out to my house. Once I got him out of my house and talked to other companies over the next week, I realized a few problems with his quote:

-He didn't do a load calculation - didn't do ANY calculation! He should have measured my house, my windows, my duct work, and taken many notes - which he didn't really do. He basically said my old system was the right size for my house, without taking any of his own measurements. The industry calls this a "Manual J" load calculation which is recommended. Other contractors took many measurements (in varying amounts) and taught me a lot about my system -- ie. my return air ducts are 12 inches wide and could be larger, but work fine as they are.
-Didn't look at my circuit breaker for my house or my thermostat to know if either of those needed to change with a new system using different wattage. All three other contractors went to look at my circuit breaker for the house in my garage and showed me what they were looking for.
-Wanted me to sign something scratched out on paper, without even giving me the model number of the unit - and when I asked for it, he texted it to me with a typo so I couldn't even find it! Other contractors wrote down model numbers and pricing, either in email or on paper.

sketchy... in more ways than 1

This first project manager then called me the next day, didn't answer my email which I did want him to answer, sent me 26 texts, and has called or emailed me every other day since then.  Needless to say, I will not be selecting that company, and I do plan on writing an appropriate review of the work they did.

Starting Seedlings

The mild winter has put gardening on my mind for a variety of reasons. Flowers are appearing early. The yard is already starting to go crazy and I'll need to pull out the mower soon. It's too nice to be inside.

It's seedling starting time! I am trying some new methods and hoping I don't have a seedling fail again. Over the year I saved yogurt cups because they're deeper than egg cartons. I drilled 3 little holes in the bottom of each cup so that they could drain well. I also did a fair amount of reading about seedling temperature and light. I covered the large container that I placed the yogurt cup seedlings in with saran wrap to keep the moisture and heat in. I keep a desk lamp on over that set of seedlings and may check freecycle.com to see about getting a small florescent light for the ones I started today. The new set of seedlings are planted in a large strawberry container, which already has holes along the bottom edges for drainage. I made separators using the free newspaper that gets delivered on Sundays. Another great thing about this container is that it has a top that will keep in the moisture and I won't need to use saran wrap.

One of my favorite seedling starter tips is to put some of the seedling starter mix in a bucket and add water. Mix it and let it sit for 30 minutes. Mix it again to make sure the water is absorbed and use the wet starter mix to plant. It's much easier to use wet soil to begin with than to water them after.

Whomp Whomp Take 2

Darn this house and its water issues that cost lots of money. My roof is drippy. I need to get it replaced before it gets snowy. I suppose it's an ok thing that I procrastinated on putting more insulation in my attic after doing the foam insulation because I was able to discover the leak before it damaged my ceilings. I heard the water dripping against the foam, which I wouldn't have heard with other insulation (cellulose or fiberglass).

So my next project will be hiring someone to replace the plywood and shingles for my roof. I need to meet my neighbors who just moved into the other 1/2 of the duplex to see if they are having similar issues so we can get it done at the same time.  Half roofs can be done, but getting it all done would probably be better.

Then, I'll get to add more insulation to my attic like I've needed to for a while.

In other news, I got nail guns today. Another step in the direction of new baseboards!

New Leaf Compost

It's FALL! The leaves have fallen and it's getting cooler.

This past weekend the temperature was just right to spend some time outside cleaning up some of those fallen leaves. Most of my neighborhood raked or blew their leaves to the curb... or more likely bagged the leaves and put them at the street. The city's loud truck came through and sucked them up to hopefully turn them into mulch and compost on a much larger scale than I will.
My next door neighbor and I put our leaves in my compost bin, but that quickly filled, so I put together a new leaf-only compost bin. The leaves were slightly damp from the drizzly weather we've been having, but it's good to make sure that the pile is damp throughout. I used my chainlink fence as one side of the pile and had some plastic plant posts (whoa there alliteration) and chicken wire to make the other 3 sides. I secured 3 of the posts and left one side open to rake most of my leaves and neighbor's leaves into the pile. When it got too high to rake more into it. I secured the last side with one of the posts and used an old recycling bin to put the rest of the leaves over the top.
Here's what my bins look like after some more rain and gravity settling a few days.

Finally able to sleep in... and saved money making Blackout Curtains.

I have a south-east facing bedroom with 3 huge windows making it extremely difficult to sleep past sunrise. It wasn't too bad in the winter, but now sunrise is around 5:30 in the morning and it's bright!!! The blinds gave me privacy, but don't block out much light.

Solution: Blackout curtains! I got 3 long panels of brown blackout curtains (yes, they come in colors other than black) and did a little sewing with a borrowed sewing machine. From the 3 panels, I was able to make 6 curtains that fit my wide windows. I plan to add some sort of detail or tie-backs to them eventually. I'm thinking about integrating the teal color. For now they can be plain as long as they block out the early morning sun. Bonus - Blackout curtains are energy efficient b/c they prevent unnecessary solar heat in the summer, which lead to less AC use.

I believe I paid $10 each for the 3 panels, which would probably have been comparable or cheaper than buying blackout fabric from a fabric store. Tip: To save money on window treatments for shorter windows buy 1 long panel to make 2 curtains.

 

I've had two people ask me where I got the curtains, so I figured I would add that information to the post. I bought them at Anna's Linens. I think they were these.

How I saved $150

My uncle had some mini blinds that he intended to install in his old house, but never got around to it before he moved. He remembered he had them when I was discussing window treatments for my new windows with my family and suggested that I wait until he checked the size of them before I bought blinds. Conveniently he had 5 sets of blinds and I had 5 windows of identical size in the bedrooms of my house.

Inconveniently...
The opening size of my windows = 34 inches. The size of his blinds = 33 inches.

Seriously? An inch too small?

Well...Where's the fun in having things work out perfectly? I thought about it and decided that saving 30 bucks a pop was worth exploring other options to make the 33 inchers work. Besides, the new vinyl windows have a good inch border around the glass, so having 1/2 inch gap on either side of the blinds wouldn't inhibit privacy. I started the search for 1/2 inch wood blocks that would fill the space where the blinds would attach, but couldn't find any smaller than 3/4 inch.
My M.O. for house projects has been to have a couple small ones going on at a time so I was also in the process of removing trim from the doors. The wood trim was very plain about 1 1/2 inches wide and the length of the door. It also turned out to be about 1/2 inch thick so when I was cutting the trim down to manageable sizes with my miter saw. I got to thinking that if I cut pieces the width of the inside of the window frame and painted the wood white, then I might just have a solution. I ended up having to get longer screws in order to ensure the blinds were secure through the block and into the frame, but it worked and isn't noticeable. Once I put up curtains they won't even be visible.

A lil' ingenuity saved me a nice chunk of change.

Ceiling fan installation

The DC area seems a bit confused about what season it is. One day it feels like spring, then we get a taste of summer, we think we've jumped straight to fall, but then we're back to spring. I'm not fooled though because I know summer is approaching so I decided to prep my room for humid summer nights. The house has central air, but I grew up in the south without AC, so I'm well versed in the benefit of air movement via ceiling fan. I also think it looks nicer than this light.

I won't go through the whole installation process because fans have instructions included. There are some tips and tricks that will make the installation process easier.
My first tip on ceiling fan installation: Don't do it alone. This is important for 2 reasons: dealing with electricity is never a solo project and there are too many pieces for 2 hands. I got Emily to help me tackle this project for her first visit to my house (she'll have the opportunity for revenge since she just bought a home).
Second tip: Turn off the power to the light at the fuse/breaker box. Dealing with electricity is much safer when you cut the power. Electrocution is bad.

Since I was doing a flushmount installation with the ceiling fan, I had to insert some small screws at the very top of the fan. The ceiling got in the way. More than a couple of times, we dropped the screws... that wasn't a big deal until one fell into the fan. I had to disconnect the wires, remove the fan, get the screw out with needle-nosed pliers, and essentially start over. This happened twice when my patience ran out and I covered the holes before trying again. Save yourself the hassle and use this better plan: before starting installation, use some masking tape over potential holes in the fan that screws may fall into.
Another problem with the close-to-ceiling screws is that the threads didn't want to line up. The needle-nosed pliers came in handy again. I used them to hold and guide the screw while using the screwdriver, and it caught the thread and glided in.
The end result is this awesome fan.

I should also warn you that ceiling fan installation does require upper body strength. Be prepared for a good shoulder workout.

Water line fixed

I'm happy that my house is no longer purging water through a 60 year old service line. Turns out that in the 50s the standard allowed for there to be multiple pieces of pipe that were soldered together. The standard now is to have only one piece of copper line. Good news is the new pipe should last over 60 years! Even though there was some corrosion on the old water line, it didn't have holes or anything. Here are some before and after pictures.

My wallet hurts a little from this expense, but luckily I made sure to save up before buying the house. And I keep telling myself that it makes the house more valuable. Really, it pays for itself in just a couple of years because the leak was pretty bad. I'm hoping my water bills will be at least a third of what they are now. For a couple of days this was the view out of my front yard.

I watched them do a little of the work. They duct taped the new line to the old line and used chains and the backhoe to pull the old line out and the new line through without digging up much of my yard. Yes, duct tape proves to be very useful again!

Plants Galore!

As my previous posts would indicate, I'm pretty excited about the tulips that I didn't have to plant. Well they've bloomed and are beautiful:

Most of them are dark pink, but there are some red ones along the driveway.
But why call this post "Plants Galore!" and not "Tulips Galore!"? Because last Friday, I received PLANTS GALORE! that my mom ordered for me online.

I've planted all of the plants that I intend to put in the front yard for now, but still need to plant the "shade" plants and hydrangea bushes in my backyard. I've got a gardening helper who will help me with my backyard this weekend. It'll take be a while before the plants show themselves since most of them are bulbs, but eventually they'll be beautiful! At least I'm assuming they will be... in reality I don't know what most of them will look like. It's a pretty safe assumption though since my mom picked them out. Thanks Mom!

Whomp Whomp

What's the last thing you want to discover after tilling and reseeding your yard? Oh that's right... You have a water service line leak and potentially your front yard will need to be dug up. The service line leak has been confirmed by the 2 plumbers who came to give me estimates this afternoon. So much for my tax refund... and then some. The water service line is the pipe that goes from the meter to my house. Since the meter is at the curb, the service line runs from the curb to my house and according to the utility company... it's my responsibility. The plumbers say that the piping is probably just old and deteriorating. My guess is it's original to the house, which was built in the 50's. Hopefully they won't have to dig up my yard. They're going to try to pull the old pipe by digging a hole near the meter and near my house. There's a possibility that won't work, but I was told it does 95% of the time. Here's hoping!
The first plumber gave me an estimate that was about what I was expecting. The second plumber is checking with his supervisor about matching the first estimate. I guess if that's the case I'll be making my decision based on who can do it the soonest. Other thoughts I should consider?

My tips for people looking to buy a home... check the water meter to make sure it's not moving when the water isn't being used. It's doubtful that the home inspector will do this, especially if the meter is on the curb. If that little triangle is spinning, then there's a leak somewhere. I knew the leak wasn't inside the house b/c I shut off the water main and then checked the meter. It's also a good idea to know average water usage. Around 3000 gallons a month for a single family is a good estimate. Something is definitely up when a single, environmentally-conscious person who showers at the gym the majority of the time uses 17,000 gallons of water in a 90 day period!!! Yeah. That's pretty indicative of a serious leak.

Is your hot water heater naked?!

The hot water heater that was in the house when I first put my bid in was not up to par, but the bank that owned the home wanted the home to meet appraisal so they put in a new one. Like a proud parent posting a picture of his child in the bathtub, here's the embarrassing picture of the naked hot water heater.

It lives in my basement near the furnace. I don't spend much time in my basement, so I have closed the vents and it gets pretty chilly down there. To state it bluntly... the hot water heater has a difficult time keeping the water above 100 degrees. Even if I did heat my basement, it would still have to work hard to keep the water warm. Some people opt for tankless hot water heaters because those don't have to maintain high temperatures for 40 gallons of water, but I didn't have a choice since the bank replaced the hot water heater for me (I'm not complaining about not having to pay for new water heater though). I did the next best thing for the environment (and my gas bills); I wrapped my hot water heater in a blanket. An insulated blanket costs between $20 and $30 dollars. It's a roll of fiberglass with a plastic sheet to hold it all in. There's also tape included... and instructions. It's pretty simple to do:

1. clean top of heater
2. cut blanket to size
3. cut out space around heat dial
4. wrap around heater and tape according to instructions. 

Dealing with fiberglass is horrible, but do you really want a naked hot water heater purging your money just to stay hot? It's indecent on so many levels :)

Way ahead of Obama

If you read my old posts you would know that I've been trying to make my house more energy efficient. A couple of months ago I re-insulated my attic and I've also replaced windows and doors. I knew insulation was energy efficient... I had no idea it was sexy. - Check it out.

New Windows!

Even though my walls desperately need a good coat of paint, I've decided to focus my energy and money into winterizing and greening my home. I knew that I would need to get new windows eventually, but the ones in the basement were original windows to the house built in the 1950s and had to go ASAP. I actually had to tape one of the windows so that it wouldn't open. Classy, huh?

I scheduled an appointment with my good friends Home Depot to get quotes on window replacement. They're getting installed sometime this week, so I'll post some before and after pictures.

Attic Reinsulation - muscle building, but dirty job

I researched attic reinsulation and found that foam insulation is the most energy efficient because it creates an air seal that blow-in and batting insulation do not. Although in order to do foam insulation in an attic, you have to create a clean surface. I spent my first weekend in my home being very itchy because I had to remove the old fiberglass insulation and a large nest. The insulation had obviously been there for a long time and the squirrel skeleton indicated that the nest had been too! I don't think I could have handled a recently dead squirrel and am extremely glad there were no live ones either! So there's looking on the bright side.

If you do choose to remove old insulation, make sure you wear long sleeves/gloves/mask and don't pack the bags full like I made the mistake of doing. Its too hard to get them out of the attic, and they're more likely to split and then you have to double bag them anyway. Just fill them 1/2 to 3/4 full and tie them tight.

The following Monday I realized that squatting in an attic for a weekend makes for a really good glut workout.

Here's a picture of my cleaned out attic


Using the spray foam insulation was actually pretty easy. I was lucky to have the perfect temperature day to do it (70 degrees) and my attic now looks like this: