Sigh, fixing a lousy attic hatch in the house and found a roof truss with termite damage. (though... not surprising, 60-80% of homes in Southern California have termite infestations, the last time I checked). #termites#homerepair
Sadly Paul Stamets was never able to bring THE termite solution to market. But his patents are open source now. If you feel like growing some mushrooms.
tldr: it's a common fungi that kills ants & termites, but they know it so stay away. Paul's innovation was figuring out how to make stealth spores they are actually attracted to so they'll take it back to the nest. Spores infect the next killing all the termites, who then sprout mushrooms which emit normal spores which termites will avoid in the future. i.e. permanent protection.
Lousy design of a roof hatch at my house. Turns out it was glued to the roof trusses, it's loose and rattling around. No nails! No screws! Drilled a few holes in it and secured it to the wood.
Considered changing this out, but it has an integrated light which also serves as the hallway light, so it's not a quick swap/fix. So, I've purchased some insulation material (aka styrofoam) to place on the sides and top of this up in the attic, so it will actually work. I have discovered, however, that I did not do a great insulation job up there, so am likely going to go buy some more insulation for my own roof 🙄. Good thing I have some $$ saved up for this kind of thing.
Aha, this is why my attic hatchng is so horrible. It was designed in 1965!!!! (or before). 58 year old design!!!
"Ceiling panel doubles as hall light and trap-door to attic. “Lite-A-Way" fits ceiling open- ing leading to an attic. Inside the panel is an incandescent lamp and reflector unit that pivots upward to light the attic when the panel is removed for access. Translucent ceiling pan- el clips into frame; reflector panel hinges upward into the attic."
@wotsac LOL I will put a kill-o-watt on that sucker when I power it up. I once got the grand idea to use a free Dell rackmount server, but quickly abandoned those plans when it sounded like I'd parked an idling jet in my office (and it was pulling 400W or so on idle!!!)
@dougfir Ha! Well, I did build some doors for a "Little Free Library" out of some scrap plexiglass earlier this week. Lots of scratches, but the "headlight cleaner" I have did the trick (fine sanding compound!)
@ai6yr My house in Casas de la Senda was finished in ‘71. The original interior paint was warm gray, avocado, and orange. I assume shag carpet was involved.
@BakerRL75 LOL everyone was grumpy here last night (except me and the dog). Sorry to disturb your sleep pattern, LOL. I go down rabbit holes when there isn't a lot of disaster/weather activity I am tracking....
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