Re: Up in An Attic In August in Yuma Arizona

[Jim Davis <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

On Saturday, August 18, 2018 at 3:49:33 PM UTC-4, ABLE1 wrote:
> >=20
> > Damn!
> >=20
> > Jealousy is a cruel affliction. I never have such luck.
> >=20
> > Generally speaking, most New Yorkers are pretty nice =E2=80=A6. particu=
larly in the suburban areas. It's just that we don't take any crap from any=
one and likely have a short fuse.
> >=20
> > My son describes me as:
> >=20
> > You're a nice guy
> > You're a nice guy
> > You;re a nice guy
> > You're a nice guy
> >=20
> > Then you're not.
> > .
> > But anyway, speaking of crawl spaces =E2=80=A6.
> > Reminds me =E2=80=A6.. Years (and years)  ago, one of my customers moth=
er, (who was not my customer), and who had an unmonitored alarm system had =
a problem with her system. My customer asked if I could take a look at it. =
Her house was on a canal and had a crawl space because of the proximity to =
the canal. When I got there I noticed that the house had a "smell" to it th=
at I just attributed to cooking or whatever but it didn't have significance=
 to me until later.
> > .
> > Trouble shooting indicated that there was an open in one zone. After ch=
ecking all the contacts I concluded that it was probably from a rodent chew=
ing on the wires in the crawl space. After searching for the key to the loc=
k on the outside Bilko crawl space doors, I opened it, probably for the fir=
st time in years. The crawl was about 4 feet high, (more than enough room )=
 but =E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6. the dirt floor was a complete solid sheet of jelly=
 like fungus (I guess ?) about an inch or two thick.
> > .
> > Being pretty young at the time I got my knee pads on and "waded" in. Fo=
und and repaired the chewed wire. I had to hose my self off and clean mysel=
f up with rags before I left and then had to go home to shower.
> > .
> > I gotta tell ya, I could smell that S*@%t for WEEKS afterwards. I told =
her son about the problem but I don't know if they ever did anything about =
it.
> > .
> > Probably made a fortune selling it to a laboratory to make penicillin o=
r something.
> >=20
>=20
> Now you see Jim, you are a nice guy.  You crawled into that muck and
> slop and did a nice thing for a little old lady.  :-)
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> BTW this is fun!!
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> Reminds me of a crawl space where I was installing stereo speakers in
> walls.  The customer wanted the speakers about receptacle height through=
=20
> out in a very old house. On the East Wing I cut out plaster and wire=20
> mesh for the speaker and drilled my 3/4" hole down to the crawl space.=20
> Inserted the wire enough that it was just dangling.  Went down to the
> basement and went to the hatch.  Used my flashlight and looked back
> about 25' or so and could see the wire hanging there. Yea!!
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> I got into the crawl space (just dirt) and started to crawl my way back
> to the wire.  After about 15' or so I noticed that the bottom of the
> floor joist were rubbing my back.  I had to lay down and slither like a=
=20
> snake.  Another 6'-7' I could barely move.  I was in wedge.  The dirt
> was rising.  I had a another 2' or 3' to go in order to just touch
> the wire.  I reached my arm out as much as I could and continued to
> slither.  Finally got the tip of my finger on the wire.  Just a little
> more.............. Had to take a breather.  That is when I realized that
> if I got wedged that tight and could not get out, nobody would know
> where I was since I was the only one in the house at the time. And
> that they would not find me until I started to STINK!!  Oh, and cell
> phones did not exist as yet, so calling for help would never happen.
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> I considered stopping at point and maybe come up with a plan "B".
> But, I was soooooo close.  I wiggled a little more and finally got my
> finger and thumb on the wire.  I then inched (1/4") at a time pulling
> the wire down until I had enough that I could grab hold in my hand.
> Then I had to reverse inch myself back out and pulling the wire.  It=20
> took me all but an hour from then time I went in until I got back out.=20
> I was a very happy guy at that time!!!  Sat on the basement steps for a=
=20
> while trying to relax.  It was T&M job so all was good.
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> Today, if I had to do it again I would use my R/C Truck to retrieve the=
=20
> wire with a hook.  Would be done in about 3 minutes.
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> Thanks Bob for starting this thread.  Good job!!  I guess it was good=20
> you sweated you ass off in your attic and decided to share.  :-)
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> Looking forward to the next installment to this thread.
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> Les

Yeah I can see how that view of the crawl space would be deceiving. Like on=
e of those "crazy houses" where things look bigger at one end and smaller a=
t the other.

In my "thinner" years I was in some pretty tight places like that but nothi=
ng that tapered smaller.=20

Ran into a racoon once. No story to it because I didn't stay that long. Ama=
zing how fast you can climb down a ladder when you're really motivated. Jus=
t told the owner to get rid of it before I could continue the job and his r=
esponse was=20
Oh, is THAT what's been making that noise up there"   Duuuuuh.=20

Bee's are another story. Been chased a number of times by bees.=20
.
Had a trainee with me one time and we had to check out a bell in an old Ade=
mco 1011 bell box. I told the kid to bang on the box before he tried to ope=
n it in case there were any bees in it. So he gets up on the ladder, taps o=
n the bell box a couple of times and immediately starts unscrewing the cove=
r that only had one screw in it. Well, if he would have waited a minute or =
so he wouldn't have had to jump the 10 off the ladder when the bees finally=
 got it together to swarm. Lucky for both of us he didn't break a leg. Look=
 of terror on his face.
Thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head.
.

I was far enough into my experience then that I had wasp killer spray in th=
e van to take care of it.
.
I'm thinking that he probably knocks on every door before he opens it for t=
he rest of his life.