It’s true. At least for me. I have never had to call a repairman for anything when the house was spotless. Of course, this could also have something to do with the fact that the house is never spotless, but whatever.
Friday I noticed it seemed cold in the house. Could have sworn there was a window open or something. Said screw it, and decided to just crank the heat up. Only to discover that the internal temperature of the house was 60 degrees. Oh joy.
Call furnace folks, one thing leads to another and the final answer is that there is an airflow problem that is causing the internal temp of the furnace to get too high and automatically shut off. The band aid fix is to have every air vent wide open in the house. The actual fix is to get the ducts blown out, which I don’t disagree with by any means, as this is a house filled with dust and every summer the windows are wide open, and the ducts haven’t been cleaned in ages.
Of course, this means a blitz cleaning in order to make sure that the estimator doesn’t have a coronary when he comes in (Tuesday at the earliest, so I have a tiny bit of time) and then ensure that all the vents are easily accessible when the cleaner comes to do his magic.
It’s not all bad at least, as I’ve been concentrating on at least getting all the basics done on a daily (or near daily) basis. 2 of the 3 bathrooms need nothing more than the floor swept up. (The other requires a real cleaning, as it’s been the bathroom for our new kittens over the fall. Kitty litter is amazing in how it can get EVERYWHERE.) 10 minutes tops for my bedroom. The guest room just needs a vacuuming. Kitchen is good enough, and I don’t see any vents in it anywhere as it is. I need about 5 minutes more in the entry hall and upstairs hall.
The problem rooms, in order of severity…
The parlor. It’s next to the entry hall and has become a dumping ground of “things I don’t know where else to put” – which really means I should probably toss them. The whole room is not stacked ceiling high or completely full, but the dumping ground prevents anyone from being able to go from the entry hall to the dining room.
The dining room. Same issue as the parlor, but it’s just crap in between the kitchen & dining room.
The guest/storage room. We’re keeping some things for friends that are out of the country. Mainly boxed items, but I need to get them rearranged so that the vent is easily accessible.
The office. Yikes. I’d actually started cleaning it out big time not too terribly long ago. But I’ve kept the door shut. It might not be as bad as I’m thinking right now.
Breakfast Nook. Area by the vent has 2 director’s chairs that get overloaded with stuff, and there is some minor crap on the floor. The other side of it tends to be yet another dumping ground, mainly boxes and such for the trash that never seem to get out to the trash can.
Living room. Actually not too bad – maybe 10-15 minutes.
The workshop side of the basement – just rearranging some things to make room, same with the laundry room, as it has the furnace.
Right now I am running on the assumption that no one will be able to come out until first thing Tuesday, and I’ve nowhere to be tomorrow, so I should be able to pull it off.
Let’s hope so.