2011_10_17 A Fowl Job

I can't believe it's been since January that I updated this blog. In a nutshell, most of 2011 has been a year to recoup, focussing primarily on the family, but also on repairs and maintenance. The exterior trim efforts with the manufacturer ended up being a waste of time. Their lawyers, not their engineers, were the ultimate party to respond, wanting me to sign a document releasing them from liability, for a paltry credit toward the same product, which also held every party but the manufacturer liable (architect, window company, painter, home owner, etc.). I'm pursuing another builder to get the job done, so I can finish the house, and will explore holding the builder accountable later. At the same time, many things have needed repair.

In early September I took apart the wood stove to clean it (no small job, and it took me a week to put back together). In mid-September we had a cold spell, while guests were visiting, so we fired it up. It worked great. Early October I heard noise from it, and found a bird had somehow gotten in the firebox. I was eventually able to capture and release the wildlife, and thought the unusual situation was over (we've lived here 16 years and have never had wildlife in our fireplace or wood stove). Within a week, I heard more sounds from behind the firebox. Nothing ever came into the firebox so, eventually, I tried lighting a fire (after about a week). Smoke was not able to escape, and the fire kept going out. This weekend I took the firebox apart...again. First I found an unusual amount of soot, especially since I just cleaned the box. Eventually I found two dead birds, which were no small trick to remove. Apparently, in their flapping attempts to get out, the birds cleaned a lot of debris from the flue. Between the debris and the birds, the air duct was completely blocked. With that done, I'm planning on finiishing the rennovation by years' end.