The Only Thing Better Than a Sauna is... If It Weren't My House!

I arrived home from work tonight, with a thousands things on a my mind and a very clear "to do" list for the evening, to an unwelcome surprise.

As soon as I pushed the door open, I immediately knew something was wrong. The waft of warm air that greeted me at the front door was not normal. Those who know me, know my house is cold. Wear an extra sweater and sit under a blanket, cold. Turn the heat on just for company, cold. Warm air should never escape, because often there is no noticeable warm air in my house to begin with. I stepped into the kitchen, and I was engulfed in heat. Insanely hot, sweaty, smells-like-static, costing-me-a-fortune heat.

My furnace was racing, and it appeared my thermostat had long given up keeping pace, let alone controlling it. The temperature reading - "HI". The temperature was easily 100 degrees Farenheit. My thermostat is programmed for 68, and the fan was set to Auto. I turned the heat off, and 10 minutes and a panicked phone call to the bf and Service Experts later, the furncace switched off.

You can imagine my distress, opening every window and door, in mid-February, to cool my house down. I can feel the money being sucked from my bank account as I sit here, waiting for the temperature to return to near-normal. Although the thermastat can finally register the temperature, it's still 90 degrees.

For now, I've decided to wait and see what happens when I turn the furnace back on. My cats were in the basement today, so perhaps they knocked it to the "Haywire" setting. Perhaps, my furnace is shot. Either way, it will cost me $99 just for a specialist from Service Experts to come and check it out. My house may be cooking, but my brain is cool enough to know I should make sure there truly is a problem. Its not like I have no heat and my pipes are freezing. I can afford to see what happens when I turn the furnace back on.

My furnace is due for another maintenance. It's recommended annually, and I haven't had someone in to look at it since 2008. Since it's now 2010.... I am getting the message. Last time I called Service Experts of Niagara, but I doubt they're the cheapest. Does anyone have any suggestions to find a good heating & cooling guy?

My Roof Is Leaking !!!!

It is true. If you say something often enough, it will come to be. My friend jokes with her family about supporting my Pampered Chef business to keep my roof from leaking. You probably can guess where this is going! After a weekend of heavy rain and wicked storms throughout Southern Ontario, my roof is leaking!

I returned last night after another wedding away, to discover this saggy, split drywall in my office ceiling. Not exactly what I was hoping to discover. Especially after I realized last night my basement had also sprung several new leaks. At least, I could pinpoint their cause. It rained so much this weekend, my eves can't get the water away fast enough. Not to mention, my rain barrel is overflowing, and the water is probably running down along the foundation.

You will recall I fixed my leaky basement once already by regrading the backyard. Time for some more landscape and evestrough work!

But, my roof! It would be one thing if it was a dripping leak, because at least the pressure would be released. Instead, its soaked into the ceiling drywall. Okay, an actual dripping ceiling would not be cool either. Regardless though, where is this coming from?! My shingles are starting to age, but they didn't appear to be in that bad of shape. I'll have to climb up and take a look. In the meantime, I'm praying the rain stops!

Since writing this, I discovered my futon is soaked and there is a puddle beneathe it on the floor. Turns out this must have been a full-on leak afterall. It's definately not any better... shoot.