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Monday, May 15, 2017

RANDOM FARM WEEKEND UPDATE

We've noticed that the farmhouse has an odd smell when we open it back up on the weekend.  It's always a week at least, sometimes two weeks if it's a monsoon raining weekend and so the house sits sealed up for days.  It has a musty kind of odor.  We always open the windows when it's nice weather and let the house air out but then it's sealed up again for another week or two when we leave and the window units turned up to a high temp so they don't come on often (lower electricity bill, ha).    

DampRid
So when I was at Home Depot yesterday, I picked up a few of these.  Has anyone ever used them?  They pull moisture (humidity) and supposedly odors from the air.  They come in several different scented ones.  I didn't know if we wanted the house smelling of lavender or something like that just yet so I chose fragrance free for now.  We'll see if they make a difference next weekend.

Hose under house
Here was a quick project that made all the difference.  We don't have a faucet on the back of the house.  We'll have one at some point (later this year) but until then we needed a way to get water to the back of the house for the fruit trees mostly, but also for cleaning the house. 


So we got a long hose, I attached it to the faucet on the front of the house and then I crawled under the house from the back side to grab it and then crawled back out pulling it with me.  

Now we have backyard water!

Before Wet and Forget
The siding on the North and shady East side of the house was getting a lot of mildew on it.  I've been putting that off until we had water back there.

Now that I made that happen, we bought a product called "Wet and Forget" (thanks Mike!) and sprayed it on the house.  I let it sit for a bit and then rinsed it off with the hose sprayer.

After Wet and Forget
It worked great!  No scrubbing, just used the hose to spray it all off.  Definitely getting clearer.  Since it was particularly heavy in some spots, I sprayed a second coat to let it sit and do what the name says, wet AND protect.  

Rust-oleum Golden Sunset
While I was at the store, I picked up two cans of spray paint.  Red and yellow.  For what?  Do you remember last year when I found a couple of metal chairs?  CLICK HERE for that post.


Here is what they looked like before...

Yellow chair
And here is one of them after.  I sprayed the first one in the Golden Sunset color and after it dried, we loved it so much, we decided to make both of them yellow (instead of one red and one yellow). Since I used almost a whole can on one chair, I'll have to get another can to do the other one.  Then we'll just have to put them wherever we decide.  Currently I've been using one in the garden when I take a break.  

There was more that got done, so updates on that coming soon.  Hope you had a great weekend!

30 comments:

  1. Love the yellow chairs. I finally got the tomatoes planted in the raised bed. Looks like our cool weather is over.

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    1. Yay for good weather to garden!!! Can't wait to see how it comes out for you. Thanks, the yellow chairs are awesome and will have a special place.

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  2. such an improvement on the chairs; and all with a can of paint!

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    1. And something someone was throwing away. They could have done the same. Oh well, their trash, our treasure, ha. Thanks!!

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  3. wow...i love that color on the chairs!

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    1. The color is called "golden sunset" but it's such a bright cheery color.

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  4. I have a similar condition -- a small, older house that is sometimes closed for 3 or 4 weeks at a time. I've tried various air freshener products, and some may have helped. But I still pick up that "closed house" scent whenever I'm first there. If your products work, I want to know!

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    1. Thanks, we'll find out this weekend. I've smelled it so often I'll know immediately if there is a difference. Stay tuned. Good or bad, we'll share!!

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  5. Thanks for posting your trial with the siding washing project. I have noticed the lake place looks a little (lot) grungy and I had much rather wash it than paint it this year. (I kinda lied there, I really do want to paint it because I hate the color but I cant justify whole house painting strictly for cosmetic reasons.)

    I love the way the chairs turned out. That yellow is a seriously happy color!

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    1. Ha, ours will be painted "someday", but for now, it's just white and that's the worst color for mildew. We'll see if it lasts (and if it gets better after a week, like it's supposed to). Yes, the yellow is VERY happy, ha.

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  6. We've used the Damp Rid products for years. The hanging type in the garage and closets, since we live in a high humidity state, I think they help.
    I especially think they smell nice, and there are several scents to choose from.
    Hope yours helps with the musty smell.
    ~Jo

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    1. Thanks for that. I hope it works. We chose unscented, just to see if it works and it's not masked by a scent. Then we might get some scented ones. Thanks much!!!

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    1. Thanks!!! They will definitely brighten our day.

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  8. I want yellow chairs, but since yellow is the color that attracts stinging insects, I cannot make myself paint them yellow. But, yours are so pretty. I put a splitter on my one outdoor faucet and can have the water at the chicken's coop and at my place where I will plant things. I bought the expensive brass splitter and the splitter froze and burst at the seam. Maybe you would not get such a hard freeze where you are if you did that.

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    1. I'll let yo know about the stinging side of things (well, hopefully not "firsthand", ha). We don't get too hard of a freeze but last year I did remove it anyway just to be on the safe side.

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  9. We've used the Damp Rid or similar product for years in our rv that's closed up for the winter. It really makes a difference!
    Just be sure to set it in or on something that won't get damaged if it gets wet, the damp rid will absorb a lot of water which will collect in the container and sometimes will spill over accidentally. Good luck!
    By the way, love the yellow chair!

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    1. Yay! Thanks for the info. Fingers crossed. I didn't know about setting it in something, I don't think it will be overflowing in a week and then we'll get it in some saucers. Thanks much for commenting.

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  10. What a difference a little paint can do to a project.
    Yes, wasps are very much attracted to the color yellow. Hummingbirds are attracted to red. As much as I like hummingbirds I do make sure that I don't wear a red T-shirt when working outside. Have done that once and haven't done it since. :}
    I was wondering how you where going to water the trees without having to drag the garden hose from the front all the way to the back cause looking at the photo showing the back of the house I noticed there was no water connection back there. No back door either. Should make watering the trees much easier now with your hose coming from under the house.
    All I can is; I'm sure glad that it was you crawling down underneath and not me. I wouldn't want to run into a big spider web or spiders for that matter or even maybe a snake. You're one brave guy for crawling under there.
    Have never tried Damp Rid but have used those plug-in fresheners in the bathrooms.

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    1. Ian'r it though? We also have some metal shelving on the porch that I'm eyeballing. It's black now but hmm, might be nice it a bright color. We'll see. Yes, the watering was not easy, well, it wasn't terrible, I filled a watering can a few times, ha, and carried it around when we didn't have rain. But not it's super easy. We'll have a faucet sometime this year, 2nd Family's "R" will do it for us but he's been busy so we'll wait. Now with this it's not urgent.

      Oooh, the plug ins are a thought. Didn't think about that. We'll see how this damprid works.

      House wasn't too scary underneath, it's high enough up that I can "see" anything creepy crawly.

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  11. I love that yellow chair - so bright and happy!
    Hoping the DampRid product works. I wonder if baking soda in each room would help.
    Your fruit trees look like they are doing well.

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    1. I've always thought yellow was a happy color these are definitely going to be 'happy', ha.

      Baking soda is a good idea (and cheap). We might try that too. Thanks!! Yep fruit trees have grown and leafed out (and I pinched off the buds/blooms).

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  12. Love that sunshine yellow chair. How could you be sad seeing that?

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  13. Wow, are you ever brave to crawl under the house! Not worried about snakes or spiders? Love the bright and cheery chair makeover!

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    1. Ha, it wasn't too bad. It's high up (well I still have to be on hands and knees and back at some points) but I can see around me (sunlight coming under). Cheery chair, I like it!

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  14. 1st Man,

    I have to say you're pretty brave to be crawling under your house. That usually where spiders like to hide or snakes, field mice/rats, and other critters. I put straight up peppermint oil around every opening under the outside of the house to deter these critters and I still won't crawl under the house.....that's Bulldog Man and Tanks job!!! LOL

    Love just love your chairs painted in the yellow color, now you're ready for summer :-)

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    1. Peppermint oil? Hmm, interesting. Just spray it around the ground? I might try that. Thanks!!!

      The color is pretty awesome, I picked it based on the cap color of course but on the chair, in the sunlight and against the green grass and trees, it's SO awesome.

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  15. I did use the Damp Rid, the big container in the car when it got wet inside after it rained and I left the windows down. At the first bit of musty smell, I put one in the car. It filled with liquid.

    Why not buy a dehumidifier? It would provide continuous protection. You could put the hose outdoors and never have to empty the contained or worry it quit working because it was full. Mine got full and did not quit dehumidification. So, I just transferred the water in the air to a huge puddle on the floor. You can buy cheap and small dehumidifiers that in the long run would keep the place dry and not have to be continually replaced like the things to take humidity out. I feel bugs in my hair after reading you crawled under the house!

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    1. You know, a dehumidifier is not a bad idea. Will look into that. I need to see how this works out, we'll see this weekend, hopefully anyway, ha.

      No bugs while I was under there, it's all good. :-)

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