Pole Switches and a Space Age Basement

The neat thing about this house is that I can do projects when the time presents it's self or the whim strikes. Last night I wandered around putting foam insulation gaskets behind light switches. I took the plate off the pole switch upstairs, took a picture, and will add it to the list of things Electrician Wayne can address the next time I feel like bankrolling his electrical Honey-Do list.*

I think this should probably be updated.

The nice thing is that you can get modern reproduction pole switches that look the same, but are probably a heck of a lot safer.
"Why have Wayne do it?" you ask. "It's just a switch, and that's easy enough to swap out." It's true. And if this was a regular old light switch, I might be tempted to watch half a dozen YouTube videos, read a book about it, throw the breaker and give it a go. I still might do that for a switch in the kitchen. But in this case, I have no idea what the condition of the wires are behind it. If things start crumbling to dust, or something is super wrong once I get in there... well, I'd have to call Wayne anyway, and he's a busy guy.
I've put the plate back over it and walked away for now.

I insulated the basement door too. I'd picked up a roll of this fun silver bubble wrap and just stapled it to the back of the door that goes up to the bulkhead. I may still pick up a piece of board insulation and screw it on over the back, but for now? Shiny.

The staple gun was a good investment 10 years ago.

I'm not holding my breath for epic energy savings from this blanket and the little foam gaskets, but every little bit helps. The oil tank is at around 5/8ths, but I'm still doing anything I can to slow it's roll. I signed up for automatic fill from the folks that have been servicing the system for the previous owner.
Speaking of furnace systems and chimneys, I've discovered the ash out door is only held on with tape, and there's some concerning cracks that ought to be dealt with. Onward, to masonry! (Eventually)

Hrmm. No bueno.

The more I putter in circles, the more things I notice. Which is fine, it all just gets added to the list.





*Addition - Fun thing I figured out while insulating outlets is that "Bedroom 1" (the funny little room that's hiding behind the stair landing) has no electrical outlets. It won't even function as an office right now. That has to be changed, or it really is just a glorified closet.