Michael Trump

Under the House… Wait what?

November 12, 2017 at 6:57 pm (life)

As you all know we now live in Alabama and have been up here for just over a year. Ihave also really really really slacked on writing here for you. I keep a paper journal now and don’t often feel the need to write in two or three places.

Just to catch you up quickly.

When we first moved to B’ham; Sarah and I rented a house in Irondale. A quaint little place where the city has control over the garbage and the water, yet Birmingham has rights to my sewage. Garbage was almost twice what I was paying in Florida, and the base water cost was way more than Florida. If you pay your bill any other way than check, you are charged a service fee. (Same with almost every thing here in Alabama). Our garbage pickup was Monday and Wednesday!! Monday and Wednesday for real. Mondays can would be over flowing and Wednesdays can would have one tiny bag. Rent was high and we had to have a pest company come out and spray three weeks in a row before we even unpacked. You could see through the old wooden door and there were squirrels living in the attic. No we didn’t check the place out all that well before we moved up there. Six months of not letting our kids play near the street for fear they would get flattened by a car doing 50 in a 25, we bought our beautiful little house in Gardendale. I scored two acres and a tiny three bedroom house in the low 100$. Now the kids can run everywhere and we have little to worry about. (except when Harvey and Fuzzy go for a walk and get picked up by two little old ladies who promptly call the police and have Harvey returned home). The kids have found our stream to be one of the greatest things in the world and are playing in it or near it everyday the weather is permitting .

This house we now own is great. No where near the size we want or need but man the yard is perfect. I have lots of projects ahead of me and have tackled two thus far. First being repairing and replacing part of the old AC duct work. We bought the house while it was still cold out and once it really got hot outside I always found the crawl space to be very cold. One hot day while exploring under the house I found out that there were hand size holes in  the joints where the systemic duct work branched from the main AC duct run. On this half of the house are four feeder ducts. One to my room, one to the master bathroom and two feeding the living room. One of the living room ducts wasn’t connected at all and I could put my hand between the main duct and the feeder duct. The picture here is the feeder to my room. This arm was just as gross on the inside as it was on the outside. You will see in the video that I was surprised to find out that the center of this arm here wasn’t connected to itself and where it was connected up at the room, air leaked all around the floor. The ducts going to the master bath and the second living room were connected pretty well and only needed to be rewrapped with insulation. At that point I understood why I had a $300 electric bill and no money in my pocket.

I went to Lowes and found some stuff that looked like Green Energy Barrier. A product that I used to sell and install. This foil stuff works great in attics and figured it would be perfect for wrapping my old ducts. I found some putty and knew I could makeshift some patches for the giant holes that were keeping the crawl space colder than the house. In no time at all I had patches made and good portions of the ducting wrapped. With such a quick fix I didn’t record any of it. I wanted the patch work to dry and another pay check to come my way before I would go back under the house and finish what I had started. A week later I got back under the house and was astonished by how much water was on the ground and all over my AC ducts. Gallons of

water dripped from my newly hung insulation mud squished under my shoes and my face was red with anger. What

could I do? I am not an experienced Hvac person so I called my best bud Jonny and told him of all that I was going through. See he is an experience Hvac person and even though I tried to get him to come up here to help and he wouldn’t, I still love him and wanted to hear what he had to say.  He told me that the old insulation was most likely the cause for all the condensation on the new stuff but that doesn’t make all that much sense to me. Jonny also suggested ripping down all the old crap and getting some flex duct. I said I would love to but Lowes doesn’t carry it. (well none that I could find anyhow) “Home Depot has it though”. He exclaimed. Then chastised me for going to Lowes at all. I examined my old AC stuff and went to Home Depot. I check out all that they had to offer and couldn’t believe that I hadn’t gone there in the first place. They had everything that I thought I would need and then some. I knew this would be an opportunity for me to learn and wanted to video my journey so maybe others could learn what to and what not to do while repairing and replacing old ducting. To be honest this was not a hard task and really I enjoyed working on my own house. I know this video is long but watch it once and use it for a reference while you change out your old duct work. If you have any questions I try to be pretty quick in my responses.

Some supplies you will need whether you are in the attic or under your house.

• Goggles
• Gloves and protective covering for your arms and legs
• Light, lots of light. (Don’t place hot lamps near flammable objects. If you are not sure if an object is flammable don’t put your lamp near it.)
• Face mask
• tin snips
• screwdrivers
• hammer
• scissors
• duct tape and or gorilla tape
• razor knife
• metal hangar straps (found in plumbing)
• screws appropriate for your task
• duct putty
• paint spatula
• Flex duct
• measuring tape
• zip ties or adjustable pipe clamps
• great stuff super expanding foam (to fill in where you cant reach)

So I am sure I may have forgotten some stuff but (let me know and I’ll add it later.)

I figure after watching both videos you should be pretty well armed to do your own work. If you have to go in the attic and it is already hot outside. Leave your AC running and just let it blow the cold air into your work area. The few dollars it costs you is well worth your life. Also remember to stay on the rafters and never step into the insulation.

Duct tape and putty will seal just about anything so if you get stuck just remember you can always add more tape. Check for nails and sharp objects before laying out your new flex ducts. once it is in place try to never touch it again the foil does become fragile after a while.

I haven’t for one day forgotten about you. I wonder how you are. Have you ever even had the chance to miss me or ever wonder how I am. I know one day not to far from now our paths will cross and we will have the world to catch up on. I just hope your not to set in your ways to get to know your family here. Your brothers and sister see your pictures on the wall and every once in a while ask who you are and I tell them everything I know. Some times I pray that your mom would email me some updated pictures of you so that I could see how you have grown. God Bless I hope you are growing up with some Trump brains and soul.

xoxoxoxo