hot, filtered air

We stayed home most of Memorial Day weekend, and finally tackled a home maintenance project we'd put off for several years.   The air intake for house goes through some filters (MERV, I think, and not HEPA).   Jack specified a filter box accessible via the powder room ceiling, but the contractor proposed a cheaper box and we agreed without realizing that it entailed access from the side rather than from below.  So they put in that box and then blocked the access to it with the spiral stairs to the roof.  Oops.

We had to cut the railing of the stairs in order to open the box and then the panel of the filter, which swing in different directions.   We opted not to try to put the railing back together in a flimsy and temporary wat and just put a separate rail on the wall instead.   It looks odd, but the stairs don't feel any less stable.

After several seasons of wildfires and city living, what did we find on the filters?   HUNDREDS of mosquitos and what looks like Charles Dickens' soot.

So far we've made it through with HEPA filters in our bedrooms when there are bad air alerts and without any AC.  The recent heat wave might have changed our minds.