We inherited a really bad mold problem when we moved into the new house in July. For a cautionary tale of what not to do, click here. It took me months to get it out of the house and a lot of work. The rooms on the right side of the house seem to hold more moisture in the air that the other rooms downstairs, so I have been alternating using one of the dehumidifiers in those rooms daily. I am constantly amazed at how much water they pull from the air. Then I reminded myself that we live in the Low Country and have geothermal heating and cooling. We literally use water to heat and cool the house. Very eco friendly, but it creates more moist air.
Appa Bear had a bad habit of stealing pillows. Notice I said had bad habit. He had not touched the throw pillows in my daughter’s room for four months. That is until yesterday. Sigh. My daughter said to close the door to her room, but I wanted to keep the door open to keep the air circulating. My solution was to use one of the clear scratch guards I bought for the front door positioned sideways as a barrier. Clear so not an eye sore, but enough of a deterrent to keep Appa from that room. Problem solved. Not quite.
Yesterday was dehumidifier day in that room. It runs until the room gets to a certain temperature, turns off, then turns back on if needed. I usually just run it until it is full of water then switch rooms. Last night I headed to bed early because Daylight Savings Time hit me hard this year for some reason. And, I am sleeping so much better after starting Hormone Replacement Therapy, so I was awakended from a deep, deep sleep by our alarm system saying the smoke detector was going off in the bedroom. This happened once at 11:07pm and again at 11:26pm. I could not figure out what was happening since the actual smoke detectors had not gone off, just the main tower base for the alarm system. I made a note to call the security company during normal business hours, but it happened again at 7am while I was out feeding the chickens.
After a long conversation with the customer service rep for the alarm company, I figured out a few things. 1) Your smoke detector can alert if dirty (hello, back to the original mold issue) and 2) My set up of scratch guard to keep Appa out of that room meant the warm air was being pushed up to the smoke detector right at the doorway instead of blowing out of the room.
So, throw pillows have been packed away, which means the clear scratch guard is no longer needed. And life in the Low Country with a naughty pup is never boring. But trying to be a “glass half full” person, I am considering it good fodder for the Pandemic Puppies book!