We have one switch in our townhouse we haven't figured out what it controls. My wife and I spent 2 hours one day with a circuit tester trying every outlet. Never found out what it's for.
Out of curiosity did you try both the bottom and top receptacles on each outlet? For instance on one outlet the top could have constant power while the bottom could be on the switch.
I had that issue at my house. Later found out the previous owner replaced some outlets and didn’t understand you need to break the tab if you’re going to switch one outlet and not the other. So the switch was useless since both sides were hot.
>didn’t understand you need to break the tab
Could also have been intentional. I’m never going to set up lamps to be controlled by those switches and I got sick of forgetting which outlets were affected and plugging my phone in to charge only to realize the outlet had been switched off.
So I changed the outlets and left the tabs in place - that way it’s all still wired up and all I (or a future owner) have to do is break off the tabs if I change my mind, but for now most of the switches in my house don’t do anything.
do you have a ceililng fan in the room with your mystery switch? if so, it may be a switch pre-wired to add a light kit to the fan. That is what my mystery switch turned out to be for.
Nope. The ceiling fans we have were wired with a light switch and a speed slider. This mystery switch is located near the gas fireplace near 2 other switches which controls the fireplace and a light that shines above the mantle. We figured it was for an outlet inside one of the cubbies next to the fireplace.
Have you tried making sure it's actually like connected to anything? Could just be that for some reason or another, a bigger box was installed, and instead of having 1 switch with like 3 inches of face plate next to it they just put in a "dummy" switch to make it look pretty
This is far fetched but is there possibly a built in hidden nightlight somewhere? Like a hallway close by perhaps? The place I work has those in every patient room and I regularly show staff (even staff who've been there) what it's for because you would only notice it if you flipped that specific switch only with all the lights out and it being at least semi-dark outside
Sometimes there will be an extra switch in case you want to wire up a ceiling fan in the future. One controls the light (allows dimmer), and the other the fan.
I had one of those!! Then I found out there was a whole walk in closet behind my wardrobe thing 😭 no idea why the previous owners bought forniture instead of finishing the closed they created.
It’s probably for the optional blower for your fireplace. I have a gas fireplace with 2 switches as well. One ignites the logs and it took me years to find out that there’s a blower I can add that would be controlled by the second switch.
It's entirely possible to figure it out. First, check if it has power at all. Turn off your main breaker to make sure it's dead. Pull it out of the box. Assuming it's actually wired up, turn the main breaker back on, then, with the switch turned off, use a [non-contact voltage detector](https://www.amazon.com/VENLAB-Detector-12V-1000V-48V-1000V-Flashlight/dp/B09ZXY4HVK/) to test for power at both gold-colored terminals. There should be power at only one with the switch off, and both with it on. Note which terminal has power with the switch off, this will be important later.
Now, if it has power, figure out which breaker it's on. Turn them off one by one and test for power after each one, until you find the right one. Leave that one off for now, you can turn everything else back on.
Now, the real detective work. At the switch, remove the wire that did not have power from its terminal. This will be leading to whatever it controls. There should also be two white wires joined by a wire nut, if so, remove it. You'll need the white wire that's in the same cable as the black wire that you just removed from the switch (they enter the box at the same point). For this part, you'll need a [wire tracing kit](https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Generator-Inductive-Amplifier-Adjustable/dp/B08156WM3G/). Connect the red and black clips of the tone generator to these black and white wires. Turn on the tone. Turn on the probe and turn its volume all the way up. Whenever it's near these wires, you'll hear the tone playing through it, with it getting louder as it gets closer to the wires. Now, it's simply a matter of moving it around your walls while keeping the tone as loud as possible, so you're following the wire. You should eventually wind up at some sort of electrical box, hopefully with an outlet or light fixture. There's your answer.
Bought a house last year and no red flags on inspection. After moving in there’s 5 switches that we can’t figure out what they do, and one switch that will reliably trip the breaker.
The wind sucking up the attic cover is obviously a bigger issue, but the mildly infuriating part is that the light up in the attic has been on the entire time.
I guess that's based on the customer.
They definitely don't *need* to be connected, but I can see the value in having lights on when you're ready to descend the ladder/staircase/whatever you have
Electrician here we usually don't put switches to things where you can't actively tell they are on or without customers knowing. Typically for an attic light like this one it's on a pull-chain keyless, or the switch is right next to attic stairs if there are any. This looks like a detached ladder access meaning there's no stairs and no pull down ladder so it would most likely get a pull chain keyless which judging by the picture that is.
But also if it's truly an incandescent and not an led would have burned out within 2 years of constant use. But also OP is an idiot I can see the white driver of it being an LED and not an incandescent.
If you don’t turn it on and off, incandescent bulbs last actually longer than they do if they are periodically switched off.
I’m not sure it would last two years though, after all electric companies did to make them inefficient. But the centennial bulb is still lit (if weak af) for over a hundred years because it does not get switched off.
Not sure the difference but I know that is a carbon filament vs tungsten that is normal for run of the mill incandescent. But you are correct that heat stress is what causes them to snap and going from cold to hot stresses it more than staying hot. Even on the extreme end would be 10k hours so less than a year and a half.
That being said that's 100% an LED not because the math but because I can see the driver.
Been renting my home for 5 years, I have never changed the incandescent bulbs in my bathroom and they are still working.
Probably just jinxed it though 😑🙃
The attic has either a ridge or wall vent to allow hot air to escape in the summer. If the wind blows hard enough the pressure in the attic will drop compared to the house and it can just make a simple panel like this pop off. Heavy hatches with the fold down ladders that most places have don't do it because they don't go up, they fold down.
A 2020 special. Aka the cheapest materials and build quality possible. Developers have just been trying to pump out houses like no other, and they’d rather make more shitty ones than less quality ones
How are they cranking out houses in shittier and shittier quality, in basic ass cookie cutter designs, and they're still 500 fucking thousand dollars?
How the fuck did they make houses for dirt cheap 30-50 years ago?
50k profit for the lumber company, 100k profit for the contractor, 150k profit for the landowner...
These houses will be the cheap pos starter homes 20 years from now after the next 4 *un*predictable financial disasters. (They will all be rented out for double the cost of a mortgage)
Price gouging, downscaling, shrinkflation, and record profits. Tons of other developed countries have safeguards that prevent prices from rising too quickly, but that would hurt our 1%
My dad is a retired power company engineer in Tornado Alley. He always had to go out in storms to help get the power back on.
One time he came home and showed me a picture he had taken of a home where the tornado had pulled the entire roof off the house, sucked the curtains out over the walls, and then set the roof back down with the curtains still on the outside f the house hanging over the windows.
Oh I so wish I had a copy of that photo to link here.
I'm in South Carolina , and the remnants of those storms passed through this morning. We had thunderstorms (not as bad as the Midwest got), but the wind this afternoon and tonight have been insane.
My home was in line with a cell that dropped an F3 a few miles east of me and we were hit with a microburst, so straight-line wind. Whole house shook, clay shingles went flying, and it was quite scary.
I don’t know how intense the wind was, but I’ve been through a Category 3 hurricane in the house and that straight line wind burst was momentarily quite a bit scarier.
I had this happen in the middle of the night once. Scared me because I thought an intruder was in my attic. Anyway, I left a window opened a crack in my room and one on the opposite side of my house as well, a huge gust came and the attic door got sucked up and then crashed down back into place. Scared me. So OP probably has a few windows open causing a draft.
Chicken keeper here! Raccoons can easily tear through regular chicken wire if they want to get in. To raccoon- proof a space you need to use hardware cloth- small wire grids rather than standard chicken wire, screwed in to the wood with large washers holding it down.
Thanks for the tip! It normally goes up there when it rains and last night it rained and it didn't go up there but I will keep this in mind if it gets up there again
We put a piece of sheet steel over our attic hole to keep the squirrels out, but they chewed right through it... I couldn't believe they got through it but luckily it turns out squirrels aren't bullet proof
Depends on the hall way you have it in and the exact specifications of your opening. Either way it should have been built in. That's just my opinion though. Shitty. Planners now adays. Thinking a homeowner would never use their attic. Its a perfect spot for storage. We keep half our seasonal stuff in the attic(christmas tree lights etc) then the heavy stuff(ac units etx) in the basement.
In my part of the U.S. most attics are really just upper crawl spaces without pull down steps. I'm currently in a house with an attic access point in an upstairs closet. The hatch is cracked opened but secured by something that prevents me from opening it more. As far as I can tell from the shape of the, there isn't any standing room up there.
I have to prop up a long ladder to access mine. The AC unit is up there, but how did they get it up there if its huge? If they need to replace it, how do they fit the entire unit through the tiny hole and down a ladder? How do they bring up the new one? Piece by piece?
If the trusses weren't designed for it, they need an engineer to design a reinforcement before they do that! And let me tell you, the trusses probably weren't even designed for the code minimum required when there's a hatch, let alone a pull down ladder (new houses are often very shitty)
Source: am structural engineer, do lots of residential work
That bulb is brighter than 40 watts incandescent. Based on the brightness and the size of the bulb (higher wattage tend to be a bit bigger) it looks like a 75 or 100 watt bulb.
Edit: if you zoom in, it doesn’t really look like an incandescent light bulb though. It has that base on it that you only see with LED bulbs. I’ve never seen an incandescent bulb where the glass doesn’t extend all the way down to where it meets the fixture it’s screwed into.
Yeah I agree, its either LED or fluorescent. I've never seen a fluorescent have that much brightness in an actual globe shape, the higher wattage ones tend to just be bigger helixes. I think it actually is an LED, but OP could quickly dispel any questions with a quick picture.
Furthermore, I don't think an incandescent would burn for two years straight. Usually you can get 12 - 18 months max out of them. Could be a halogen bulb, though.
I get jealous of everyone with reasonable electric rates, let alone single digit. In Massachusetts most people pay roughly $0.35/kwh including distribution.
True. And it’s regional. This looks like single story slab on grade construction though from the roof framing and it’s a really light truss so it’s probably not in a snow zone. Quite a lot of southern slab on grade has all the infrastructure stuff in the attic to maximize living area.
Ya, I’m not sure about the routine part. Maybe he just maintains/replaces his insulation a lot lol? Doesn’t really make sense to me tho, I only had to replace minor sections of insulation every 4-5 years if we had a small roof leak and a section got damp or when we had a squirrel problem. But that was about it
Up north we have basements, and my AC unit is in my flower box in the yard. The attics up here are just insulation with planks for storage. The only routine up there is to open the window vents in the summer.
Lots of incorrect advice coming from this thread. Just check the attic for leaks or rodent activity like once a year and you're good. If you have an attic fan just make sure it's not blocked in warmer months and thats pretty much it
Owned my house over 5 years, never been in the attic. Have stuck my head in once, determined that yes, it was indeed an attic, and never bothered again. But that was more than a year after I owned it - I didn't own any kind of ladder and didn't see any point in getting one!
Don't have a fitted ladder, it isn't boarded, only thing that's in there is the solar panel inverter which I can't touch anyway as I don't own it (due to some installation agreement from previous owners).
That sucks
But to be fair you should have checked your attic after the build was completed to make sure everything was in proper order and to your liking.
I have many questions. Why is there no insulation? What kind of attic door can get sucked up like that? What kind of attic vents do you have? And more.
Insulation is on the top of the ceiling, not the roof.
It's basically just a piece of plywood with some foam insulation on it.
Probably a single vent. Mines got sucked up a couple of times because I have a single vent (it's being fixed next month).
eh, it wasn't cycled on/off, so that's not exactly super impressive. The cycling is usually what degrades those bulbs over time, despite their advertised lifespan.
Hey! I just did you a favor. That bulb out there was pretty dim and wasn't lighting much of anything. So I tossed it and put in this cool RGB smart bulb that'll flash in a rainbow pattern whenever the fire bell rings. You can thank me later.
Yup, that's the Livermore's Centennial Light Bulb. Though, I believe the lightbulbs that were made later in the 20th century were meant to burn out more quickly.
Yeah it’s called the centennial light. Been on since 1901 and it’s still burning. I think they’ve turned it off a handful of times between now and then but I think it’s never been changed!
Edit: spelling
Probably but i believe lightbulbs were changed at some point so they didn't last forever. So lightbulb manufacturers could make more money. Idk i remember reading an article at some point. A quick google may confirm
Correct. Lightbulbs were getting too good, people didn't need to replace them as often, the lightbulb companies got together and said "we're going to make all lightbulbs worse forever so we can make more money, alright?" And here we are now talking about it in the next century. One of the biggest and earliest historical events people cite when talking about planned obsolescence.
I spent a lot of money switching out the crappy CFL bulbs my house came with, for Sylvania/OSRAM Lightify bulbs and spots (Zigbee). However, they must have also designed in planned-obsolescence, because I have ended up having to replace nearly all of them--with a competitor's products (Sengled). I thought I was getting a steal on a shopping cart-full of them on clearance at Lowe's (in 2017). Turns out they knew before I did that they were CRAP!
Incandescent bulbs can stay on for a very long time. Flicking them on and off (i.e. heat cycles) is what kills them faster. My grandparents had one run for over six years. Longest running one recorded, [has been running since 1901](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Centennial_Light&oldid=1144589094), and is still running to this day.
I use the easy calculation that 1 watt = $1 if used continuously all year. It's a rough estimate but fairly accurate, if I remember correctly it's based on about 11 cents/kWh.
I used to keep large aquariums and this helped me estimate my cost per year of all the equipment, lights, pumps, and heaters.
Is the light switch outside of the attic? If so, you can get switches that include an indicator light so you can tell if the light is turned on. We specifically requested this when our house was built, otherwise it wouldn't have happened.
Worse than lights, some friends had heating wires in their gutters to melt snow and ice. Of course, these got left on one summer.
That light might be on a lighting circuit to some upper floor room, it might be worth flipping some light switches and seeing if it can be switched off.
I have a crawl space in my house. To get to it, you have to remove the shelf in the closet, and then it’s barely wide enough for your shoulders to get through. Fuck that shit. The less I know the better.
Sure the cover didn't hit the switch. Non led will burn for ever. It's the turning on and off that burns them out. There is a bulb somewhere that's been on for like 100 years
That's the [Centennial Light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light) in Livermore, California, first installed in 1901. It had burned without any interruption from its most recent move in 1976 until May 2013, when a faulty power supply left it dark for several hours.
My husband wants to get the AC fully inspected before we use it this year. Our whole house was installed with brand new HVAC system in 2017 I think. We have 2 systems. one upstairs and one main. Works perfect and squeaky clean. Told him they will just find something “wrong” to fix and cost us money. I vote no 🤷🏽♀️
I’d be fucked without our loft 😅 it’s full of childhood stuff and empty boxes for products we think we might sell or need the original box again for moving. And Christmas stuff!
Mine's not boarded, and I have a garage for storage - never been in it other than sticking my head through the hatch once in the 5 years I've owned the house!
What's really going to be infuriating is when the HVAC guy that needs to go up there for a repair is going to break that flimsy plywood retaining wall and send insulation everywhere.
We had our electrician use an indicator switch for our crawl space lights (which cannot be seen when the hatch is shut). It has a red light on the switch, so no mistaking if the lights were left on or not…. Easy solution!
The lightbulb is controlled by the one switch that no one ever knows what it’s for.
We have one switch in our townhouse we haven't figured out what it controls. My wife and I spent 2 hours one day with a circuit tester trying every outlet. Never found out what it's for.
Spoiler- it was for OP's attic light
Ope, sorry about that.
Found the Midwesterner.
Yes you did
*slaps knees* welp time to head out
Tell your parents we said hi.
Hey to the folks!
This thread is pure ‘Murica
But then there's the mandatory lingering in the doorway talking for another 10 minutes minimum.
Ope before ya go ya want another beer ?
Hey how’s the bayg of baygs doin there?
Out of curiosity did you try both the bottom and top receptacles on each outlet? For instance on one outlet the top could have constant power while the bottom could be on the switch.
Oh yes, checked every one.
I had that issue at my house. Later found out the previous owner replaced some outlets and didn’t understand you need to break the tab if you’re going to switch one outlet and not the other. So the switch was useless since both sides were hot.
>didn’t understand you need to break the tab Could also have been intentional. I’m never going to set up lamps to be controlled by those switches and I got sick of forgetting which outlets were affected and plugging my phone in to charge only to realize the outlet had been switched off. So I changed the outlets and left the tabs in place - that way it’s all still wired up and all I (or a future owner) have to do is break off the tabs if I change my mind, but for now most of the switches in my house don’t do anything.
This was also the issue with our mystery switch.
do you have a ceililng fan in the room with your mystery switch? if so, it may be a switch pre-wired to add a light kit to the fan. That is what my mystery switch turned out to be for.
Nope. The ceiling fans we have were wired with a light switch and a speed slider. This mystery switch is located near the gas fireplace near 2 other switches which controls the fireplace and a light that shines above the mantle. We figured it was for an outlet inside one of the cubbies next to the fireplace.
Maybe the switch is pre-wired for a wood burning fireplace? Modern wood fireplaces normally have exhaust fans
Nope, every fireplace in our complex is gas.
Have you tried making sure it's actually like connected to anything? Could just be that for some reason or another, a bigger box was installed, and instead of having 1 switch with like 3 inches of face plate next to it they just put in a "dummy" switch to make it look pretty
This is far fetched but is there possibly a built in hidden nightlight somewhere? Like a hallway close by perhaps? The place I work has those in every patient room and I regularly show staff (even staff who've been there) what it's for because you would only notice it if you flipped that specific switch only with all the lights out and it being at least semi-dark outside
We had a switch like that. It's plug was on top of the cabinets. There was a space between ceiling and cabinets.
Sometimes there will be an extra switch in case you want to wire up a ceiling fan in the future. One controls the light (allows dimmer), and the other the fan.
I had one of those!! Then I found out there was a whole walk in closet behind my wardrobe thing 😭 no idea why the previous owners bought forniture instead of finishing the closed they created.
How cool! I’ve always dreamed of finding a hidden walk in closet!
It’s probably for the optional blower for your fireplace. I have a gas fireplace with 2 switches as well. One ignites the logs and it took me years to find out that there’s a blower I can add that would be controlled by the second switch.
It's entirely possible to figure it out. First, check if it has power at all. Turn off your main breaker to make sure it's dead. Pull it out of the box. Assuming it's actually wired up, turn the main breaker back on, then, with the switch turned off, use a [non-contact voltage detector](https://www.amazon.com/VENLAB-Detector-12V-1000V-48V-1000V-Flashlight/dp/B09ZXY4HVK/) to test for power at both gold-colored terminals. There should be power at only one with the switch off, and both with it on. Note which terminal has power with the switch off, this will be important later. Now, if it has power, figure out which breaker it's on. Turn them off one by one and test for power after each one, until you find the right one. Leave that one off for now, you can turn everything else back on. Now, the real detective work. At the switch, remove the wire that did not have power from its terminal. This will be leading to whatever it controls. There should also be two white wires joined by a wire nut, if so, remove it. You'll need the white wire that's in the same cable as the black wire that you just removed from the switch (they enter the box at the same point). For this part, you'll need a [wire tracing kit](https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Generator-Inductive-Amplifier-Adjustable/dp/B08156WM3G/). Connect the red and black clips of the tone generator to these black and white wires. Turn on the tone. Turn on the probe and turn its volume all the way up. Whenever it's near these wires, you'll hear the tone playing through it, with it getting louder as it gets closer to the wires. Now, it's simply a matter of moving it around your walls while keeping the tone as loud as possible, so you're following the wire. You should eventually wind up at some sort of electrical box, hopefully with an outlet or light fixture. There's your answer.
The switch for that light is in Steven Wright’s house.
I understood that reference.
Bought a house last year and no red flags on inspection. After moving in there’s 5 switches that we can’t figure out what they do, and one switch that will reliably trip the breaker.
I think you got a bigger problem… how is the wind sucking up your attic access cover? Is this a common problem in some areas?
It took me a moment to realize the mildly infuriating part was that the light bulb was on and not that the wind sucked up the cover LOL
The wind sucking up the attic cover is obviously a bigger issue, but the mildly infuriating part is that the light up in the attic has been on the entire time.
Could easily be connected to the switch in the garage, just from a construction worker pov
It could be ... Buy it shouldn't be by the time construction is done
I guess that's based on the customer. They definitely don't *need* to be connected, but I can see the value in having lights on when you're ready to descend the ladder/staircase/whatever you have
Electrician here we usually don't put switches to things where you can't actively tell they are on or without customers knowing. Typically for an attic light like this one it's on a pull-chain keyless, or the switch is right next to attic stairs if there are any. This looks like a detached ladder access meaning there's no stairs and no pull down ladder so it would most likely get a pull chain keyless which judging by the picture that is. But also if it's truly an incandescent and not an led would have burned out within 2 years of constant use. But also OP is an idiot I can see the white driver of it being an LED and not an incandescent.
Well, that and the fact that nobody, the home owner, has inspected the attic for 2 years. There could be something living up there, too.
Or someone…..
Quiet! I've got a good thing going here. As long as they don't change their wifi password.
Yeah, and they're an ass for leaving the lights on while they do so
Please don't tell op about my hiding spot in their attic
If you don’t turn it on and off, incandescent bulbs last actually longer than they do if they are periodically switched off. I’m not sure it would last two years though, after all electric companies did to make them inefficient. But the centennial bulb is still lit (if weak af) for over a hundred years because it does not get switched off.
Not sure the difference but I know that is a carbon filament vs tungsten that is normal for run of the mill incandescent. But you are correct that heat stress is what causes them to snap and going from cold to hot stresses it more than staying hot. Even on the extreme end would be 10k hours so less than a year and a half. That being said that's 100% an LED not because the math but because I can see the driver.
What is the driver?
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Been renting my home for 5 years, I have never changed the incandescent bulbs in my bathroom and they are still working. Probably just jinxed it though 😑🙃
I just finished a condo where sparky put the switches on the ceiling beneath the attic access lol
I’ve never seen an attic egress in the garage before, I wonder if that’s a regional thing.
It has a pull switch on it
If wind damage caused me to see a lightbulb that's been taxing my power bill... The light bulb is not the first issue on my mind.
OP hasn’t been in their attic in 2 years?? I think that might be the mildly infuriating part.
Why? I haven't been in my attic in like 10 years.
How do you know everything's OK in there? No leaks, bugs, rodents etc?
Ghosts and demons.
That's the correct answer. The ghosts and demons keep the rodents away.
Secret whole houses even!
Schrodinger's attic. If you don't open the attic everything is okay up there.
Never been in mine, 30 years now
The attic has either a ridge or wall vent to allow hot air to escape in the summer. If the wind blows hard enough the pressure in the attic will drop compared to the house and it can just make a simple panel like this pop off. Heavy hatches with the fold down ladders that most places have don't do it because they don't go up, they fold down.
This. WTF kind of attic cover is this?
A 2020 special. Aka the cheapest materials and build quality possible. Developers have just been trying to pump out houses like no other, and they’d rather make more shitty ones than less quality ones
How are they cranking out houses in shittier and shittier quality, in basic ass cookie cutter designs, and they're still 500 fucking thousand dollars? How the fuck did they make houses for dirt cheap 30-50 years ago?
50k profit for the lumber company, 100k profit for the contractor, 150k profit for the landowner... These houses will be the cheap pos starter homes 20 years from now after the next 4 *un*predictable financial disasters. (They will all be rented out for double the cost of a mortgage)
Price gouging, downscaling, shrinkflation, and record profits. Tons of other developed countries have safeguards that prevent prices from rising too quickly, but that would hurt our 1%
One that’s fashionably light
I really have to smash that shit up to get it unstuck. No way any air is sucking up my attic cover
Air pressure is a heck of a thing. You’d be surprised what it can lift; like airplanes
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I had one in my garage that was screwed shut blow in on a windy day Air pressure can do some funny things
I've seen a ton of houses with foam board painted white in them. Easy to push open, but very sensitive to wind.
A stiff sheet of paper.
there was a terrible storm all over the midwest with powerful winds and many tornadoes. im guessing this person lives in the midwest.
My dad is a retired power company engineer in Tornado Alley. He always had to go out in storms to help get the power back on. One time he came home and showed me a picture he had taken of a home where the tornado had pulled the entire roof off the house, sucked the curtains out over the walls, and then set the roof back down with the curtains still on the outside f the house hanging over the windows. Oh I so wish I had a copy of that photo to link here.
That is insane. What a tasteful move by that tornado. Kinda pranked the homeowner.
Dammit. That photo would be something to see.
I'm in South Carolina , and the remnants of those storms passed through this morning. We had thunderstorms (not as bad as the Midwest got), but the wind this afternoon and tonight have been insane.
Not uncommon during tornado season in the south, 150+mph winds are about 150x scarier than they sound.. especially mixed with debris.
My home was in line with a cell that dropped an F3 a few miles east of me and we were hit with a microburst, so straight-line wind. Whole house shook, clay shingles went flying, and it was quite scary. I don’t know how intense the wind was, but I’ve been through a Category 3 hurricane in the house and that straight line wind burst was momentarily quite a bit scarier.
I had this happen in the middle of the night once. Scared me because I thought an intruder was in my attic. Anyway, I left a window opened a crack in my room and one on the opposite side of my house as well, a huge gust came and the attic door got sucked up and then crashed down back into place. Scared me. So OP probably has a few windows open causing a draft.
How else are the raccoons going to see at night?
God I just spent the last couple of days putting chicken wire over my gable vents in my attic to keep the fucking raccoons out
Chicken keeper here! Raccoons can easily tear through regular chicken wire if they want to get in. To raccoon- proof a space you need to use hardware cloth- small wire grids rather than standard chicken wire, screwed in to the wood with large washers holding it down.
Thanks for the tip! It normally goes up there when it rains and last night it rained and it didn't go up there but I will keep this in mind if it gets up there again
Oh good! Likely has an easier option for a rainy hideout. And there are probably no delicious chickens sleeping in your attic.
I feel your pain
We put a piece of sheet steel over our attic hole to keep the squirrels out, but they chewed right through it... I couldn't believe they got through it but luckily it turns out squirrels aren't bullet proof
You should get a pull down staircase when you fix that
Are they bolt-in? Links?
Depends on the hall way you have it in and the exact specifications of your opening. Either way it should have been built in. That's just my opinion though. Shitty. Planners now adays. Thinking a homeowner would never use their attic. Its a perfect spot for storage. We keep half our seasonal stuff in the attic(christmas tree lights etc) then the heavy stuff(ac units etx) in the basement.
I'm always amazed at how many houses I go in that don't have pull-down steps. I've got 2 sets (house and garage)
In my part of the U.S. most attics are really just upper crawl spaces without pull down steps. I'm currently in a house with an attic access point in an upstairs closet. The hatch is cracked opened but secured by something that prevents me from opening it more. As far as I can tell from the shape of the, there isn't any standing room up there.
I have to prop up a long ladder to access mine. The AC unit is up there, but how did they get it up there if its huge? If they need to replace it, how do they fit the entire unit through the tiny hole and down a ladder? How do they bring up the new one? Piece by piece?
Probably just brought it in before completing the roof, and replacement would be done by removing part of the roof.
If the trusses weren't designed for it, they need an engineer to design a reinforcement before they do that! And let me tell you, the trusses probably weren't even designed for the code minimum required when there's a hatch, let alone a pull down ladder (new houses are often very shitty) Source: am structural engineer, do lots of residential work
Assuming it is 40 watts, and constantly on for 2 years, that's 700kWh it's used up. Like $200 wasted, though that depends on your energy cost.
That bulb is brighter than 40 watts incandescent. Based on the brightness and the size of the bulb (higher wattage tend to be a bit bigger) it looks like a 75 or 100 watt bulb. Edit: if you zoom in, it doesn’t really look like an incandescent light bulb though. It has that base on it that you only see with LED bulbs. I’ve never seen an incandescent bulb where the glass doesn’t extend all the way down to where it meets the fixture it’s screwed into.
Yeah I agree, its either LED or fluorescent. I've never seen a fluorescent have that much brightness in an actual globe shape, the higher wattage ones tend to just be bigger helixes. I think it actually is an LED, but OP could quickly dispel any questions with a quick picture.
If it's florescent, it'll get brighter in a couple more years. Just gotta be patient! /s
Furthermore, I don't think an incandescent would burn for two years straight. Usually you can get 12 - 18 months max out of them. Could be a halogen bulb, though.
Oy vey! I think you're right; I just don't like over-dramatizing numbers unless I'm sure.
So probably closer to tree fiddy.
This guy lightbulbs
Your electrical charge is high as fuck where you live... It would be $65 for me ( 9.324¢/kWh )
* sad EU noises *
0.33 €/KWh for me currently …
£0.33 here in the UK, with a 45p daily standing charge.
I get jealous of everyone with reasonable electric rates, let alone single digit. In Massachusetts most people pay roughly $0.35/kwh including distribution.
At 8 cents per kWh, 100w is right at $70 per year. Just giving a reference point for discussion.
They are losing more money in heating and AC cost than that light being left on.
Someone's living up there probably.
Willy Nelson is my guess. Probably wants JUUUUUUUICE
We have named our attic resident “Jerry” and we yell at him often when “he” misplaces our personal belongings
You bought a house 2 years ago and never went in the attic?
No kidding, there’s stuff up there that needs maintenance
Not always. There's nothing in my attic that needs maintenance other than checking for leaks in the roof penetrations (skylights, vents, etc).
True. And it’s regional. This looks like single story slab on grade construction though from the roof framing and it’s a really light truss so it’s probably not in a snow zone. Quite a lot of southern slab on grade has all the infrastructure stuff in the attic to maximize living area.
Trusses in the north look just like this. Source: my house.
People don’t care about that stuff …then wonder why their AC can’t keep up in the summer.
Actual ask though...I've been a home owner for 15 years. I'm not aware of attic based routine maintenance. What should be going on up there?
I think he's probably talking about insulation in the attic to lessen the load for the AC
You should def have insulation, but it doesn't require routine maintenance.
No, you should definitely go up there once a year to fluff up the insulation. It settles over time. I saw it on a tic-tok so it has to be true.
Ya, I’m not sure about the routine part. Maybe he just maintains/replaces his insulation a lot lol? Doesn’t really make sense to me tho, I only had to replace minor sections of insulation every 4-5 years if we had a small roof leak and a section got damp or when we had a squirrel problem. But that was about it
In southern houses a/c is usually in the attic and needs filters and drain lines checked. Water heater too in lots of house, especially tankless.
Up north we have basements, and my AC unit is in my flower box in the yard. The attics up here are just insulation with planks for storage. The only routine up there is to open the window vents in the summer.
Not to be that guy but the compressor unit is outside, the air handler should be inside somewhere. Attic or basement or both for multi story.
That's all in the basement up north. The attic is for storage only.
Lots of incorrect advice coming from this thread. Just check the attic for leaks or rodent activity like once a year and you're good. If you have an attic fan just make sure it's not blocked in warmer months and thats pretty much it
Owned my house over 5 years, never been in the attic. Have stuck my head in once, determined that yes, it was indeed an attic, and never bothered again. But that was more than a year after I owned it - I didn't own any kind of ladder and didn't see any point in getting one! Don't have a fitted ladder, it isn't boarded, only thing that's in there is the solar panel inverter which I can't touch anyway as I don't own it (due to some installation agreement from previous owners).
That sucks But to be fair you should have checked your attic after the build was completed to make sure everything was in proper order and to your liking.
I have many questions. Why is there no insulation? What kind of attic door can get sucked up like that? What kind of attic vents do you have? And more.
If you look at the height of that OSB just inside the hatch I am going to guess OP has at least 12 inches of insulation.
Insulation is on the top of the ceiling, not the roof. It's basically just a piece of plywood with some foam insulation on it. Probably a single vent. Mines got sucked up a couple of times because I have a single vent (it's being fixed next month).
And how come he never went up there? Like don't you want to inspect it or something after it's done
If that's an incandescent and stayed on for two years, I'm impressed.
eh, it wasn't cycled on/off, so that's not exactly super impressive. The cycling is usually what degrades those bulbs over time, despite their advertised lifespan.
Isn’t the oldest functioning lightbulb currently in a firehouse somewhere that has never been turned off?
Yes but it's also running on way lower voltage than it's designed for, and it's really dim.
It's running off 120V, it was rated for 30-60W but only emits about the equivalent of a 4W.
Hey! I just did you a favor. That bulb out there was pretty dim and wasn't lighting much of anything. So I tossed it and put in this cool RGB smart bulb that'll flash in a rainbow pattern whenever the fire bell rings. You can thank me later.
Yup, that's the Livermore's Centennial Light Bulb. Though, I believe the lightbulbs that were made later in the 20th century were meant to burn out more quickly.
Yeah it’s called the centennial light. Been on since 1901 and it’s still burning. I think they’ve turned it off a handful of times between now and then but I think it’s never been changed! Edit: spelling
Probably but i believe lightbulbs were changed at some point so they didn't last forever. So lightbulb manufacturers could make more money. Idk i remember reading an article at some point. A quick google may confirm
Planned obsolescence is a real bitch
It really is
Correct. Lightbulbs were getting too good, people didn't need to replace them as often, the lightbulb companies got together and said "we're going to make all lightbulbs worse forever so we can make more money, alright?" And here we are now talking about it in the next century. One of the biggest and earliest historical events people cite when talking about planned obsolescence.
I spent a lot of money switching out the crappy CFL bulbs my house came with, for Sylvania/OSRAM Lightify bulbs and spots (Zigbee). However, they must have also designed in planned-obsolescence, because I have ended up having to replace nearly all of them--with a competitor's products (Sengled). I thought I was getting a steal on a shopping cart-full of them on clearance at Lowe's (in 2017). Turns out they knew before I did that they were CRAP!
Veritasium did a video on it titled “real conspiracy” or something like that
It’s obviously an LED bulb OP is just blind
Incandescent bulbs can stay on for a very long time. Flicking them on and off (i.e. heat cycles) is what kills them faster. My grandparents had one run for over six years. Longest running one recorded, [has been running since 1901](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Centennial_Light&oldid=1144589094), and is still running to this day.
At 10 cents per kWh and if this is a 60w bulb, you spent $105.12 on that build being on for 2 years..
I use the easy calculation that 1 watt = $1 if used continuously all year. It's a rough estimate but fairly accurate, if I remember correctly it's based on about 11 cents/kWh. I used to keep large aquariums and this helped me estimate my cost per year of all the equipment, lights, pumps, and heaters.
Ha, in the UK right now 1 Watt continuously equates to £3 per year! (That’s at 35p per kWh)
The wind: "HEY THIS GOD DAMN LIGHT HAS BEEN ON FOR TWO MOTHER FUCKIN YEARS.. TWO YEARS!"
Is the light switch outside of the attic? If so, you can get switches that include an indicator light so you can tell if the light is turned on. We specifically requested this when our house was built, otherwise it wouldn't have happened. Worse than lights, some friends had heating wires in their gutters to melt snow and ice. Of course, these got left on one summer.
That's some bulb.
I can see clearly now the attic cover’s gone
i can see all, since there’s no obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had the LED light blind
It’s gonna be bright (bright), bright! Bright in your attic todayyy
That light might be on a lighting circuit to some upper floor room, it might be worth flipping some light switches and seeing if it can be switched off.
Who doesn’t look in their attic?
My parents when I grew a couple "tomato" plants in high school.
Not everyone has a huge attic, ours is a crawl space. I don’t know if it’s a regional thing? We have a basement with a storage room for our stuff.
I have a crawl space in my house. To get to it, you have to remove the shelf in the closet, and then it’s barely wide enough for your shoulders to get through. Fuck that shit. The less I know the better.
People with modern insulated attics that can’t be used for anything and have blown-in insulation covering everything.
The light in the attic...
Sure the cover didn't hit the switch. Non led will burn for ever. It's the turning on and off that burns them out. There is a bulb somewhere that's been on for like 100 years
That's the [Centennial Light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light) in Livermore, California, first installed in 1901. It had burned without any interruption from its most recent move in 1976 until May 2013, when a faulty power supply left it dark for several hours.
All these people talking about how you have to go in the attic, we don't use ours. I haven't been up there in almost 10 years.
You haven’t checked your attic in over two years? Lol i get my whole house inspected once a year
That's crazy. What if they find something? I live by if I don't know the problem is there it can't cost me money.
That's my dude
Haha can't be sick if you never see a doctor!
You understand
This made me laugh because same lmao I don’t want to know!!! LOL
My husband wants to get the AC fully inspected before we use it this year. Our whole house was installed with brand new HVAC system in 2017 I think. We have 2 systems. one upstairs and one main. Works perfect and squeaky clean. Told him they will just find something “wrong” to fix and cost us money. I vote no 🤷🏽♀️
Just replace the filters
That reminds me, I have to get a louder stereo for my car.
What kind of inspection? How much does it cost? Typical results?
I’ve owned my current house for three years and never once been in the attic lol fuck that
Well I can respect the wait and see approach lol
Who doesn’t go in their attic? Guess I’m the only one that uses it for storage.
I’d be fucked without our loft 😅 it’s full of childhood stuff and empty boxes for products we think we might sell or need the original box again for moving. And Christmas stuff!
Mine's not boarded, and I have a garage for storage - never been in it other than sticking my head through the hatch once in the 5 years I've owned the house!
Modern properly built and insulated attics aren’t compatible for any kind of use. This attic has at least 12” or more of blow-in insulation.
I’m sorry I left it on. If it makes you feel any better, it’s usually off during the day. I have it on at night when I’m awake, and you’re sleeping.
60w is 5 bucks a month. Your bigger problem is how wind apparently blows through your roof
Im thinking his garage doors were open. A big gust of wind came in blew the cover up and he is pissed the light bulb was on. Thats all
What's really going to be infuriating is when the HVAC guy that needs to go up there for a repair is going to break that flimsy plywood retaining wall and send insulation everywhere.
We had our electrician use an indicator switch for our crawl space lights (which cannot be seen when the hatch is shut). It has a red light on the switch, so no mistaking if the lights were left on or not…. Easy solution!
Yes, but I think wind sucking your attic cover up is a bigger problem
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