In the heat of summer, the old farmhouse does tend to stay cooler, even without air conditioning.  On really hot days, we would open up the basement doors to allow the cool air to circulate as a sort of geothermal air conditioning.

Since we haven’t started clearing and cleaning the basement, and there is too much breakable stuff to risk the cats, we have been keeping the basement doors closed.

While my brother was here today, he wanted to check out the basement in hopes of finding the fan that used to be there.  He had already taken out the glass window to the old part basement out and popped on the metal mesh window that is meant to be there for the summer.  Once inside, he removed the foam insulation that was there, so we now have some natural light and a bit of air circulation.

He then showed me where the fan was supposed to be, and described it more to me as he indicated how it fit on the ledge he’d built for it.  We even went into the new part basement to look around, but there’s no sign of it.  (For now, we’re leaving the foam insulation in the new part basement windows; there’s really no need to take it out.)

While there, he dragged out an industrial blower.  He had shown it to me before, but I somehow never thought it was something that could be used like a regular fan.  With the basement being dry right now, I wasn’t concerned.  It’s there to make sure the concrete stays dry, so the base of the furnace doesn’t start rusting, even though it’s slightly elevated from the floor.  He plugged it in and it’s working fine, so we at least have that aimed at the base of the furnace, and it’s powerful enough that it’s going to move a whole lot of air at the same time.

It’s been another warm day, and my husband is having a harder time of it; he’s always been someone who prefers cooler to warmer temperatures, but now his tolerance for heat is much lower.  We’ve been trying to think of ways we could open the basement door without letting the cats in.  We’ve thought of getting a screen door, or of one of those stick on mesh curtains.  Now that I think of it, we might not need to buy a screen door.  There might be one in a shed somewhere, though what sort of condition it might be in is something else to consider!

My husband, however, had a brilliant idea.

We have grid wall.

Or, more specifically, we have our daughter’s grid wall from her art festival displays.

They are 4×6 ft, and we have special clips to attach them to each other.  Since they were last used, they’ve been left attached in pairs.  The clips allow the grids to fold against each other, and made it easier to carry them.

Would it work to put grid wall in the doorway?

Well, we found a way.

The grid wall is stable enough that it won’t fall over, one way or the other, and the edges are braced so that the cats won’t be able to push past.  The basement door can close more than enough to access the bedroom door, which is right next to it.

Plus, the light switch can still be accessed.

So far, so good!  We have cooler air circulating, and the doorway is caged to keep the cats from doing down.

Just for a lark, I should have some paintings on the grid wall. :-D

The Re-Farmer