Right here, this little 18 inch square spot of wall neatly sums up our house. The square hole was the original thermostat for the east half of the house. About 18 years ago they got new furnaces, and I guess it was just easier to mount the new thermostat and unhook the old one. And of course leave it there. And while we're at it lets just paper over the first wallcovering. Oddly the colorations are similar, if only reversed. Oh, and the top layer is flocked.We haven't been able to tell if the thermostats were even working, so it was time for new programmable ones. I started by removing the older of the two, and luckily since I just started right in with my screwdriver, it wasn't hot. The wires got wrapped with electrical tape just in case, and shoved back into the wall. The odd discovery was....drywall. Every wall here, painted or papered, seems to be lined, so I just assumed we had plaster. Maybe we do in places, but this wall is sheetrock, two layers from the looks of it.
The new thermostat was simple to install, and seems to be working. Brett programed it and I hear a click every so often, and I'm not freezing, so all is well.
The double switch there remains a mystery. It's uncovered because it had an enormous switchplate with a sort of shield shape on it that was going to interfere with the thermostat. We haven't a clue what either of these switches control. The overhead fixture and cove lighting in the dining room are on a double switch on the other side of the doorway. They don't appear to control outlets either, we tested. They could be for the couple of floodlights outside, but the dining room seems to be an odd spot for the switch. The bulbs out there could be burnt out as well, so we'll probably get a new bulb and see if that does anything. Otherwise it's up to the electricians when next they're out. My hope is that they can just go away.
4 comments:
That top wallpaper is, um, amazing.
The bottom one I'm diggin'.
I thought that T-stats were low voltage wires. Maybe not in your case.
We have several mystery outlets and switches. I'm reassigning them as we go. Poor electrician.
And your house may be like mine (built the same year) - and that is wet-wall plaster over...drywall. That was what drywall was originally invented to do - it was to take the place of lath. So they put it up first ( the bottom layer can be quite thin) and then plastered over it. So you have drywall and wet wall plaster. Makes the whole thing about an inch thick. Email me for hanging artwork et al on this stuff.
Our last house was like that. We had a blast redoing it. I, too, dig the bottom layer of wallpaper.
And the commenter gold star goes to Decorina for helping us figure out what the hell our walls are. I think plaster over drywall is exactly what we have, as looking in the hole there is no lath to be seen. Merci Madame!
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