Spring Cleaning and The Garage Door

Home improvement is a never ending cycle of cleaning, fixing, examining and wondering. I have come to believe that the most important facet in all of this is cleaning. Although, I have spoken about getting rid of spider sacks and webs and generally stepping up my cleaning game for the outside of the house, not enough can be said about the fact that cleaning improves everything. When I commuted Monday through Friday, cleaning of the exterior and interior of the house suffered. By Thursday, it looked as if a wind storm had swept throught the inside of the house as I busily made a list of things to do on the outside of the house for the weekend. Basically, finding time to keep things spic and span is difficult, if not impossible if you work a 9 to 5 job and have a significant commute. Now, since I am not commuting, I have had the opportunity to keep the home clean inside and tackle chores outside during the week. I am saying this for all the people who wonder why they can't get every chore that needs to get done during the week. Unless you have help; someone to clean the inside, trim the outside and make sure that everything that can go wrong in a home is immediately fixed, then cut yourself a break.

Being at home, I have learned a few things and made a couple of observations. Everything benefits from some cleaning. Even if it breaks while you are cleaning it, it was probably going to break anyway and probably at an inopportune moment.

I have an electric garage door opener with a torsion spring. The motor is mounted on the wall instead of the ceiling. Like many electric openers, it also has safety sensors located inside the garage, a couple of inches from the ground on each side of the door. The sensors have a beam that will either stop or reverse the direction of the door if it is broken. Unfortunately, the door would not always open fully when the opener was pushed, or the door would open very, very slowly. Sometimes, the garage door would only open about six inches and I would wind up pressing the opener until the door was at its highest level. I tried to trouble shoot the problem on my own, had other people look at it and finally paid someone to fix the problem. He told me I needed a new door and a new opener. It was very frustrating, eventhough I thought I was doing all of the required maintenance for the door.

One day, as I did my quarterly lubricating of garage door parts, I noticed that one of the rollers had come off of the track. I called my neighbor for help and as I waited for him to come over, I noticed a lot of dirt and cobwebs on and around the safety sensors. So, I grabbed my broom and began cleaning around the sensors.  My neighbor spectacularly put the wheel on track and then we tried the door. It opened and closed with ease. Later, when I used the door, it again  opened and closed with ease. A week passed and still no problem with the door. The light bulb went on for me. It just needed a good cleaning. The way the wind comes in, the door becomes a natural barrier, but all of the dirt and leaves, become lodged on either side of the door (where the sensors are). About a month passed and the door began slowing again. Then one day it stopped going up about half way. Again, I pressed the garage door opener and it went up all the way. Then I took time to clean around the sensors. Dust, dirt, and webs around the beams, seems to impair the function of the door. The manufacturer also stated that sunlight can affect the safety sensors. But I have not found sunlight to be the cause of my door not functioning properly. It's just dirt.

Although this means that there is one more thing to put on the "clean once a month list", it is certainly better than buying a new door and opener.

The Sound of Grass Growing

This week marks the arrival of the vernal equinox; for some of us, that means spring. Although, we are expecting snow on the vernal equinox,  I have been on my hands and knees cleaning the leaves left over from autumn. I could see the beginning of  flowers that will not bloom fully until summer. All of the plants were growing and pushing themselves into position for the warmth to come. I was impressed. But, this was also a call to arms. I have plants that I did not divide nor dig up in the fall that are already pushing themselves up and out. I am always a little behind on that sort of thing. Unfortunately, these are the plants that have the ability to spread without too much help from me. I am talking about tall grasses, like maiden grass. No, not short lawn grasses, like Kentuck Blue Grass, but tall grasses that are slowly overtaking everything.

I am not sure if this particular grass is an ornamental maiden grass and part of an invasive species. Because, I am in Illinois, we also have tall grasses that are native to the area. Grasses are particularly difficult to dig up, they have rhizomes that sends shoots laterally (hence, the squeeze on my other plants) and strong roots that prevent them from just being pulled up. This makes them particulary suited to this area, as in late summer we can go for weeks without rain. The strong root system keeps these plants alive.  No flowers or shrubs can stand in its way as it marches across my lawn. 
Maiden grass is beautiful and hardy. It comes in a variety of types and colors. Because it is a grass it can get very tall (three feet, at least); it seems to stretch several inches after each rain fall. At the end of last summer the grass was easily taller than the porch bannister and if I knew how to use a scythe it would have been easier to cut for the winter. It does very well in full sun, but does not seem to thrive as readily in the shadier parts of the lawn. It does not get bothered when it is very hot and we are in drought. It simply waits. Once the rain drenches it, the plant will grow exponentially. The other risk with this grass is that it will get very dry in between rain cycles and that can be a fire risk. Therefore, I am making the decision to dig up the grass that is directly in front of my wooden porch. I have another raised bed that has a grass plant in it that I will keep - for now.

Recessed Lighting Is Not My Friend

Things are just never as easy as they seem. I have recessed lighting throughout my home. It's been great in closets (no spare bulb hanging by itself with just a string or metal pull to keep it company)and in the kitchen. And for the first time since I moved in - a bulb blew. I thought that it would be a quick and easy fix. Climb onto the counter and change the bulb. NO. The bulb was so tight in the housing that I couldn't get my fingers around it. Then I thought that perhaps there was a hinge and I could pull it down. I saw the dust coming from the trim, and nothing, nothing bulged. And when it did, it seemed as if the housing was actually going to break. I stopped pulling. I hate to break things...anything. Okay. I climbed onto the counter top and tugged at the trim again and...nothing. Just more dust to clean up and a defeated ego.
I was just disgusted. To make myself feel better, I went to my local home improvement store and bought somethings to make life easier this spring. For some reason, I did not bring up the subject of changing a bulb in a recessed housing to any of the helpful home improvement store people. Stupid. But, I bought a wagon (for the garden)and felt pads for the bottom of my kitchen chairs. I thought for sure the felt pads would be my win. I was protecting my wood floors. I was improving my home!
I decided to do that little project correctly. I was not just going to slap the felt on the feet of the chairs...I was going to clean the feet of all debris. I got a bucket, warm soapy water and plopped each rubber foot into the bucket. Then I noticed the big black stain on the carpet. Oil from one of the chairs. Did my not facing the recessed lighting debacle lead me to wanting a win so badly, that I stained my beige carpeting with oil? I finished putting the felt on the chairs. Then I bought out another cleaner to work on the carpet. Defeated again. And still, my light bulb was not changed.
That night I hit the internet for hints. I learned how to install recessed lighting and the importance of not tugging at the housing - oops. So, I cleaned off the counter and climbed on top. Using a technique I can only describe as, pushing in and turning counter clockwise with only my finger tips, the bulb began to turn and eventually dropped into my hand. Success! With the bulb in hand, I went back to the home improvement store I visited earlier in the week and bought a replacement bulb. Happily, I now have a full lighting in the kitchen and a healthy respect for recessed lighting.

Mushy Ground

I am starting to see more of the lawn as the snow slowly recedes; I am excited. We are far from a final frost, but this is just a beginning step as spring slowly creeps in. I really just can't wait. Today, even as the sky remained overcast, the temperature broke 32 degrees fahrenheit and I found myself in the garage...cleaning and preparing.

Eventhough, I did a fall cleanup there was plenty to do, and of course less spiders to worry about. I also thought that it was a great time to clean off any old webs and spider sacks before the weather warmed up and I had scene from a bad horror film. Yes, bugs are a recurring theme with me and I want to tackle them without always using a pesticide. For spiders, it's important to keep areas clean and wipe away spider sacks.

I still don't know what to do about the ants that are a real nuisance in the spring, summer and fall. Unfortunately, I have raised planting beds up against the house; that is a point of entry for some insects and it also creates a good habitat for many to live in. Again, because I want to use as few pesticides as possible, it's important to consider the changes I need to make in order to have a less hospitable habitat for them. From roly-polies (pill bugs), yellow jackets, ants and centipedes...all of these animals play an important role in the environment, but they can also make us miserable at the same time.

It also means that I have to step up and make sure that I am keeping the garage and outside of the house clean; seal cracks and other holes that bugs may set up house in; educate myself on the insects in my area and what attracts them. For instance, a while back, my father had a leaking pipe, the following year there was an exponential increase in household centipedes. Yuck! They are not insects, but relatives of shrimp! They needed the water to survive and thrive. Leaking pipe = more centipedes. The leak was fixed and the centipede number dwindled. So,that is my pre-spring cleaning plan. Find the "leaking pipes" that make my home or surroundings so hospitable to insects and fix them. In that way, I will use less pesticides and potentially harmful chemicals while enjoying my time outside in the yard or inside my home.