Home Improvement Today?

Sorry you had to go through that. People suck.

 

We have a lot of neighbor dogs bordering our property, at one time there were 11 dogs (on 6 lots) that shared a fence with us. Holy hell, it was raucous. The small ones are the worst. Nervous little shits. Someone in the next county over farts and these dogs would just got crazy. Once 1 goes, they all join in.

One neighbor goes out of town for a few days at a time and leaves his 2 little dogs outside. They would sit at the fence barking all night, not more than 10 feet from our bedroom window. Shit like that can drive you insane.

Anyway, I got one of those birdhouse bark deterrent things and it works great. HOWEVER, they will get used to it and it will stop affecting them if you leave it on all the time. The trick is to use it when they start barking then turn it off. When they started I would turn it on and hold it high above the fence. They would get 1 or 2 barks out then nothing. Miracle! You can also condition them and eventually not have to use it. When you start using it and turn it on, make a specific noise at the same time, every time. At some point when they bark and you make that specific noise they will stop barking without the birdhouse. BTW - they are range limited, so if it's some distance away, may not work.

 

I need something for the 5-6 cats that like to spray on my deck and crap in the mulch.

 

I got you! We also have a few neighbors who's cats are free-range (don't get me started on people who have cats in an suburban area that just leave them out). When we see them in the backyard we open the door and clap loud along with hissing noises. Sorta works. 2 of them started congregating on the front porch recently, I think because they became aware of our inside cats. One evening last week we smelled something very strong and peculiar permeating the entire inside of the house. Damn cats pissed/marked all over the ground by the front door.

Once that smell gets into things it's hard to get out. Luckily we have Zero Odor, which we used to thoroughly douse the entire area. I power washed it the next day; the smell is gone and we haven't seen them back. Another good product is Natures Miracle. Aside from treating the marking you can use motion activated sprinklers. I think our backyard is too big to be effective, and the squirrels would constantly set it off. I am thinking of cobbling together a motion activated switch, wired to something that makes noise, and setting it under the bench by the front door. That way it's focused on a small area and won't go off for bushes moving because of wind, etc. Also good for Jehovahs Witness door knockers.

 

Just lay down foil everywhere

 

Having a dog and a family knocks out the motion activated sprinkler, though I have looked into them. I may try some coyote urine, it ran off the ground squirrels.

These do not work:

 

got my 4x4 ply. Trying to get some pallets to stain and nail to this. I like how you guys added trim for a boarder. Ill try and get this done this week/ weekend before my trip to NY

 

Slight change of plans. The stud did not end up in the center of my block cutout.

Question is, can I still just screw (2 or 3 sheet metal screws) the pancake to the sheathing without contacting a stud?

The lights are small and don't weigh much at all.

 

How heavy is the light?

 

Master closet coming along....

 

Without the light bulb...

 

I don’t see a problem with this…I would use 2 screws with threads that go all the way to the head like the sheet metal screws you mentioned at least 3/4” long for 7/16 sheathing.
I’ve seen many exterior lights screwed to sheathing with just a wire shoved out lol




For the record I’m no structural engineer I don’t like math

 

Pantry is coming along as well....

 

Use a good outdoor rated screw with a dacrotized finish. You can paint the heads to match the stain of course.

Use 1 per corner to hold the block in place. Make sure you don't run the screw into the wood too deep and use a screw that's just long enough to barely poke through the back side of your sheeting.

 

I’m intrigued. My hillbilly neighbors have an unneutered poodle and an unspayed Bernese Mountain Dog that spend 24/7 in their backyard barking at whatever wanders by. Occasionally a chocolate lab is in the backyard that the poodle humps the shit out of then disappears again. Presumably they’re making Labradoodles with another redneck to sell for beer money. The Bernese Mountain Dog will also be breeding stock. When they’re not launching the red rocket or tearing up the yard they’re barking. I’m gonna look into this bird house dog whistle.

 

you should report them to animal control for illegal breeding operations.

 

Didn’t know there was such a thing.

 

illegal breeding of dogs or people? Not quite sure...

 

Bernedoodles are one of the new "in" dogs. Probably over $1k for a pup.

 

Getting closer to completion