In this final installment of the briefest of mini-series’, the author leaves the basement of his home reno project and goes right to the top – the attic.
OK, so call me fussy. My wife insisted the new light I installed in the kitchen looked perfect, and there was no need for me to crawl through the attic to perform the minor tweaking I suggested. It was late, so I thought I would sleep on it.
Two am, and sleep still eluded me. After mentally adjusting the placement of the light dozens of times, I realized the best thing to do was climb up there and get it done. It shouldn’t take long, and she would never know.
If you have ever tried to sneak into a house with a frozen 16-foot aluminum extension ladder in the dead of night, you will quickly realize that these ladders do not have a stealth mode. Setting the thing up in the hallway with my wife sleeping five feet away behind a closed door proved to be a challenge, but I managed to pull it off. Good thing she’s a sound sleeper.
With a backpack loaded with every tool I thought I might need, I ascended to the attic. Once there, I flicked on my headlamp and carefully made my way to the far end of the house, stepping very carefully to avoid falling through the gyproc.
At this point, I made the 90-degree turn and crawled through the small opening in the roof to where the new section of the house attaches. Things get real squishy in there, and great caution had to be exercised to avoid injury with all the roofing nails sticking through, but I managed to creep my way to the end wall where the light was located.
Assessing the situation, I resolved to make it a quick fix, as it was not going to be very comfortable. Crouching down on a 2×6 truss, with nails inches from my head and more protruding from the frost-lined wall behind me was not my idea of fun. Removing the backpack in those cramped quarters was a challenge in itself, but I managed to get it off just in time to make an amazing discovery.
When flashlight batteries go dead, they do so in an instant.
Total blackness.
And awfully cold.
And, as I mentioned above, my wife is a sound sleeper.
It was a long night.
Renovation tip#2: Yes, there is such a thing as being too fussy.
Photo Credit
“Fun with a dark room and a flashlight” los ojos @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been arrested for attempting to do what you did. I guess it makes a difference if it’s your own house.
ROFL! … Well done!
LOL Terry!!!
In our home we never depend on a flashlight to work, one of our granddaughters favorite game to play, is called CAVE…. it always involves a flashlight 🙂
and some people have said your bright. Perhaps as a comparison to the flashlight. Geez, the people they let into some families.