At Home In The Woods

[PhysAssist]

oint: Borax - What Is Borax? - Where Can I Get Borax? :checkmark:

Speaking of great minds....

We have a log house that suffered some water damage around our leaking masonry chimney and we are pricing sources for borate rods to implant into the less damaged areas to protect that wood from insects and fungal rot.

They go into holes bored into the outer aspect of the logs and the holes are plugged with wooden or plastic plugs. The borate rods slowly dissolve and diffuse through the wood if/when it gets wet again, and it's presence in the wood kill bugs and kills/inhibits fungal rot for up to 10-15 years depending on weather exposure before requiring replacement of the rods.

Our logs were kiln dried and have been well treated with penetrating sealants, but the damage was insidious and because it was mostly hidden between the chimney and outer wall just below the eaves, we didn't see it until the leak pushed it into the livingroom.

We didn't build it, we bought it, but if we had built it (and when we were planning to build one) we would have had the logs soaked in boric acid solution beforecthe kiln drying, which would have made the protection deep and permanent.

This is the best we can do though, and hopefully it will work well.

Thanks for all the interesting reading and pictures Obed, we follow your threads with much enjoyment, similarities of many experiences, and have learned a lot too.
Thomas and Pat

 

[PhysAssist]

I think what Dave 1949 was saying was that "mother nature" had nothing to do with some animals becoming extinct in certain areas, yet human intervention certainly has. If you feel like some interesting research, look up the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone and all of the positive effects it has has on everything from erosion to disease control!

What he said- it was the blind aggression and possessiveness of the settlers and ranchers/farmers who felt that coyotes, wolves, cougars and other predators were either a nuisance or self-renewing natural resouce, depending on their motivation for hunting and trapping whole populations of species like them and others like passenger pigeons, leaving open niches in the ecosystem where invasive immigrants like starlings, feral cats, zebra mussels, asian carp, etc, could take over.

I mourn the loss of people's kids and pets, but we need to be careful and make informed choices in what species we reintroduce.

Just my humble opinion with some science thrown in.
Thomas

 

[Obed]

Speaking of great minds....

We have a log house that suffered some water damage around our leaking masonry chimney and we are pricing sources for borate rods to implant into the less damaged areas to protect that wood from insects and fungal rot.

They go into holes bored into the outer aspect of the logs and the holes are plugged with wooden or plastic plugs. The borate rods slowly dissolve and diffuse through the wood if/when it gets wet again, and it's presence in the wood kill bugs and kills/inhibits fungal rot for up to 10-15 years depending on weather exposure before requiring replacement of the rods.

Our logs were kiln dried and have been well treated with penetrating sealants, but the damage was insidious and because it was mostly hidden between the chimney and outer wall just below the eaves, we didn't see it until the leak pushed it into the livingroom.

We didn't build it, we bought it, but if we had built it (and when we were planning to build one) we would have had the logs soaked in boric acid solution beforecthe kiln drying, which would have made the protection deep and permanent.

This is the best we can do though, and hopefully it will work well.

Thanks for all the interesting reading and pictures Obed, we follow your threads with much enjoyment, similarities of many experiences, and have learned a lot too.
Thomas and Pat

Thomas and Pat,
I'm glad you've enjoyed the thread.

I am amazed at how often I encounter or hear stories about water damage around chimneys. We signed a contract to buy a house but backed out when the inspection revealed water damage around the chimney. We subsequently bought a house in poor condition at an estate auction. Replacing some bad siding on the framed chimney revealed rotten 2x4 framing and termites. When we were house and property shopping before we bought our current property, one of the houses we looked at had mildew issues because of a leak around the chimney. The house my BIL bought a couple years ago had water damage around the chimney. A good friend has recently been fixing the rotten wood around his chimney. The list goes on.

Keeping water from leaking around a chimney is not rocket science. A simple cricket and a little flashing will normally do the trick. With that in mind, it is sad that so many chimneys leak.

We are very fortunate that due to our walk-in attic, we can easily see underneath almost the entire roof. If a leak occurs, we would likely see it before a lot of damage occurred. In fact, not long after the roof was finished, we noticed and promptly fixed a leak in the attic where a plumbing vent when through the roof.

Obed

 

[dave1949]

Obed,

Those ugly wood chomping things are the larvae of the long-horned beetle family. They love cut white pine logs around here. I once had a stack of 8' white pine logs, about 8-10 inches in diameter, that had so many of those larvae in them, I could hear them munching from 15 feet away.

 

[MotorSeven]

There is a proper way to flash a stone chimney. Using a masonry saw blade a kerf is cut with a side grinder all the way around the chimney about 3-4" up and 1/2" deep. Proper tar/caulk is squeezed into the kerf, then the edge of the metal flashing is pushed in. Proper cuts & bends in the flashing as it goes all the way around the chimney over & under the roofing that butts up against the stone. Everything is then re-tar/caulked. I have not seen one leak that was done this way because the water can't get between the stone or brick & the roofing.

This might explain it better:
Tips for Counterflashing a Stone Chimney -Waukesha Roofing Contractor

 

[Obed]

Birds in the Garage
We have some pheobees wanting to nest in our garage. They tried to do the same thing last spring. If we leave the garage doors open, the birds come in. This one spent the night in our garage.

 

[Obed]

We got a new rebuilt alternator for the F-350 to replace the broken one. The broken one from Advanced Auto had a lifetime warrantee so they replaced it for free. I replaced the serpantine belt with a new one while I was at it. The key phrase is "serpant". The belt snakes around 9 pulleys. I'm glad there is a picture under the hood showing how the belt should be run around all the pulleys.

 

[dave1949]

Birds in the Garage
We have some pheobees wanting to nest in our garage. They tried to do the same thing last spring. If we leave the garage doors open, the birds come in. This one spent the night in our garage.

View attachment 308526 View attachment 308527

Well, that won't work out. They are persistent though and love to nest in and around structures if there is a ledge to build a nest on. Phoebes are great insect eaters. Once the eggs hatch it's a constant bug eating fest. Fun to watch. We had a small shed that was open on one side and they nested in that for five years running.

 

[Obed]

I just picked up a virus called Disk Antivirus Professional on my PC. I'm using an Android tablet at the moment while Malwarebytes is scanning my PC.

 

[J F]

Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!


What is a pheobe bird, by the way. We had a titmouse (yeah, I laugh when I say/type it, too) fly into the house the other day (warm weather, door open). The little guy got out pretty quickly, but I was wonderin' why the "bird chirping" was so loud. :laughing: