As I'm typing this blog entry, I can hear the sheets of rain hit our windows. I keep looking up the ceiling and at our built-in cabinet anticipating to see water leaking into our house. It has been a rough few weeks of house expenses and repairs!
Approximately 2 years ago, Kyle and I began to hear some scratching and squealing occurring along the ceiling of the bathroom that's attached to our bedroom. Our master bathroom is a dormer that was converted into a bathroom a few years prior to Kyle and I purchasing the house. The noises would generally occur at night as we were beginning to fall or asleep or we'd hear them in the morning. Naturally, they were always present when Kyle would be out of town for the night! In December of 2010, we had an exterminator come out to our house. At that time, it was determined that we probably had bats, but that nothing could be done about them in the winter. You see, in the state of MN, bats are classified as a 'protected species' and they cannot be exterminated in the winter. Completely dumb, huh?! The exterminator did reassure us that the bats could not access the inside of our house through the attic. That statement does have merit, as we have yet to see a bat in the living areas of our house. We fully anticipated having the exterminator come out last spring, but the squealing and scratching noises seemed to stop, so we figured the bats had moved on. This was not the case! A few weeks ago, I was ironing in our guest bedroom one evening, when I heard the same noises behind one of the walls. That was enough! Last week, we called a new exterminator - Orkin - in to assess the situation. As a side note, they drive white trucks with big red lettering describing the extermination services the company provides. A few of our overly observant neighbors have made the point to ask us about our 'infestation'. Orkin clarified that we do have bats. Only $1800 later, and our house should be bat-free and have new insulation in the attic! Today they came to install one-way doors along the corner of our dormers to allow the bats to leave, but be unable to return. They also sealed up any potential areas of interest. Finally, they reiterated the horrible shingling job that was performed.
The roof situation continues to royally frustrate me! Our roof looks terrible! Every evening I will take Brutus and Micah for a walk after getting home from work. During those walks, I look at everyone's shingles, and ours are definitely flawed. They don't lay well, and you can tell that they were put up quickly and by an amateur crew. Kyle and I have learned our lesson with future contractors. We have a call into the roofing company that laid our shingles and they will be coming back in early April, so until then we wait and pray that our shingles will stand-up to the rain.
Finally, on Sunday night our washing machine decided to quit. Looking back on the detailed house records that the previous owner left us, it was installed in 1999. Washing machines generally only have a 12 year life-span, so ours had put in its 12 years of service. A new washing machine was purchased on Monday, and it will be delivered in 2 weeks. Thank you Lowe's for having a great sale!
Despite all of the house repairs, life is good. I truly believe that these repairs are a blessing in disguise. We currently do have some extra money to cover the costs without tapping into our savings or home equity loan accounts. Plus, Kyle and I are getting closer and closer to putting our house on the market. We want to leave this house in good condition, so these repairs are an unfortunate necessity. More to come on our house hunting, as well as other events in our lives.
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