We Figured It Out!!!!!

Today, finally, it was warm enough for us to try and get into the crawl space underneath our house to find out why we were losing so much heat.

I say try, because the crawl space was barely large enough for me to get under the house, and then I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get back out. And even if I HAD gotten down there, the "doorway" between the laundry room (where the crawl space trapdoor is) and the rest of the house was filled with pipes and other wierd things.

HOWEVER, as I hung upside down, looking at the crawl space to see if I could see light coming through... I found light all right. A LOT of light.

Apparently our darling doggie, Sarah, thinks it is fun to dig. (We already knew that though.) What we did NOT know, is that she was digging her holes RIGHT BESIDE THE HOUSE, in the little bitty gap between our house and the fence. She dug so much, in fact, that there was a hole about one foot wide and maybe 6 inches tall, where air was getting in under our house! Not to mention the 3 other holes we found around/under the foundation!!!!

We spent our evening plugging those holes (spare boards, lots of dirt, a few random bits of bricks we found) and trying to fix our fence so that our doggie couldn't get out. Unfortunately, when we left for a few minutes later, the doggie met us as we got home... on the sidewalk. OUTSIDE the fence. *sigh* Another day, another battle, eh?

So now we have a doggie who found a way out of the fence, who loves to play in our bags of trash when we take them out.... (not to mention a back yard that badly needs cleaned, thanks to the afore-mentioned doggie. Who, i might add, is cute and chubby, and definately not getting in the trash to find food because she is starved.)

And a burst hot water pipe under the house. (As I hung upside down from the crawl space, I heard rushing water... never a good sound. I shut off the hot water, and voila! It stopped.)

But in happy news... my house is warmer!!!!!!!!!!!!! *happy dance*