Media Hub

Before the drywall was installed back in September, we decided to wire every room for phone, cable and internet.  Since all the walls were open, it was a fairly easy thing to do.  What we were left with, however, was a big mess of wires in our utility room.

To try and organize things, we decided to create a media hub below our electrical panel.  We purchased a small structured media box that we could feed (and hide) the phone and cable wires into.

 

With the new label maker that Dave got for Christmas, we labeled the ends of all the wires before connecting them. 

  

We built a little shelf above the box to hold the modem and mounted a power bar on the wall.  Now we have a nice, neat area where all our phone, cable and internet wires are connected.

The Final Push Before Drywall

This past week has been filled with very long days (and nights!) as we’ve finished the final preparations for drywall.  Thanks so much to everyone who came by to help – Rich, Pat, Steph, Marilyn and Marty.  We couldn’t have got it all done without you!

Here’s a rundown of what we did:

We pulled communication wire (phone, internet and cable) throughout the house.

 

We had spray foam insulation installed on all the exposed exterior walls.  This will allow us to claim the highest value of rebate through the government home energy programs. We used Frank’s Spray Foam Insulation.

 

We installed sound insulation between our house and the attached neighbours, as well as between the bedrooms.

 

  The drywall is being delivered tomorrow and installation will start on Tuesday.  It is expected to take about ten days for drywall and taping.  Luckily, we’ve chosen to contract this work out, so we’ll be taking a break and getting ready for the next stage.

Moving on from the Ants

Cain Pest Control came by this weekend to spray our house to get rid of the ants. The guy sprayed throughout the inside, as well as around the perimeter of the outside. We thought we had done a pretty good job of getting them with our vacuuming technique the other night, but as soon as he started spraying the cold storage room, hundreds more ants came out of the cracks.

We had to be out of the house for three hours after the spraying, but when we returned this morning, there didn't seem to be any live ants left. Thank goodness! Cain offers a 1-year guarantee, so we can call them if we see any more.

Once the ants were dealt with, we were able to move on to the more important things - like cleaning up and getting ready for the electricians to start their work. The house was a bit of a disaster, so we bought some storage bins to help us organize things.


Our unwelcome houseguests also distracted us from the exciting new additions that arrived this week. Our new octagon window was installed in the bathroom and our washer and dryer were delivered!

Ants In Our Pant(ry)

Today we learned that you can't go through a major renovation without finding something unexpected behind the walls. And we're not talking about horseshoes this time.

In our basement, underneath the front porch, is a cold storage room. It was one room that we had decided not to demolish since it looked pretty clean and could be used as is. But, throughout the last couple of weeks, Dave started noticing a weird sound coming from that room. It sort of sounded like a dripping or ticking sound. We checked to see if there were any signs of water, but it seemed dry.

This afternoon Dave decided to take a crow bar to one of the walls to see what was behind it. He was greeted with ants. Since we already had a bin in the driveway, we decided that it would be best to pull down the walls and ceiling to see what we were dealing with.

So, we armed ourselves with our heavy duty vacuum and started pulling down the walls. It's hard to describe what we encountered. We're not talking about a couple of ants. We're not even talking about hundreds of ants. There were thousands of ants.



The wood behind the walls was totally chewed up and covered with ants. As the little critters tried to escape from the room, we vacuumed them up. Our pictures don't show the worst of it because we were too busy chasing the ants to take photos! After about three hours, they finally started to slow down. Here's what the inside of our vacuum looked like when we were done:

We sealed off the room with a sheet of plastic and will call a pest control company tomorrow to come take a look. Luckily, the problem seems to be isolated to this one room. We had gutted the rest of the basement already and didn't see any signs of ants.

A History Lesson

Our demolition revealed yet another interesting thing hidden behind the walls. Where the bricks were parged behind the kitchen cabinets, someone drew the symbol of the hammer and sickle into the concrete.

We know that the hammer and sickle appeared on the flag of the former Soviet Union and is known as a symbol of communism. According to Wikipedia "the two tools are symbols of the industrial proletariat the peasantry; placing them together symbolizes the unity between industrial and agricultural workers."

Knowing that our house was built in 1941, we did a bit of research and learned about a World War II battle called Operation Barbarossa:

Germany adhered to their non-aggression pact with Russia for the first two years of WWII. Once the Nazis withdrew from the Battle of Britain, however, their attention turned to the East. At 04:00 hours, on June 22nd 1941, Adolf Hitler launched the greatest land-air attack in the history of war – Operation Barbarossa. The assault comprised of 3 million troops, 3,500 tanks, and 1,800 aircraft...

...This gruelling war of attrition ground on until July 1943, when Germany was finally beaten. Ambitious from the start, Operation Barbarossa’s failure marked a downturn for the Nazi’s fortunes. But Russia’s victory came at a massive price. Up to 28 million Russians perished during WWII - most of them during this brutal chapter.

What's the story behind this symbol in our house? Who knows? But, it's interesting to learn something new!

Our Good Luck Charms

While removing some old wiring in the basement, Dave came across two horseshoes. They were stuck up in the ceiling, above the beam. We don't generally consider ourselves to be superstitious people, but something told us that we should probably leave them there! Here's what we've learned about horseshoes in houses:

The horseshoe is considered very lucky and used to be hung in many homes to protect and attract good fortune for the family residing inside. As with many superstitions, there are contradictions to be found with the beliefs associated with the horseshoe. For instance, many believe that to hang it with the ends pointing upwards is good luck as it acts as a storage container of sorts for any good luck that happens to be floating by, whereas to hang it with the ends pointing down, is bad luck as all the good luck will fall out. Others believe that no matter which way you hang the horseshoe, good luck will come. According to this superstition, the ends-pointing-down display simply means that the good luck is able to flow out and surround the home.