Ants

Basement Bookcase - TV Box Removed

My wife noticed ants in a spare room on the second floor. What kind of ants are they? Are they carpenter ants? Are they eating my house? Call the bug man, he comes out and sprays. Now we are seeing dead ants, but we've still got ants coming in, plus we've got ants coming in the back door in the basement. 

Normally I don't mind a couple of ants, but it's never just a couple. Those two are just scouts and as soon as they find something good to eat they're going back and tell all their brothers and sisters and pretty soon you've got an army of ants in your kitchen. No thanks, let's put a stop to it now.

I got to thinking about this problem. Why are we seeing ants on the second floor? The place we are seeing them is just above the gas fireplaces and there is all kinds of space back there. The fireplace on the main floor is pretty well sealed up, but the one in the basement is surrounded by cabinets. On top of the fireplace is a big TV box and that box can be pulled out to give access to the space behind. Last time the bug man was here we didn't spray in the basement, this time I think we will. So I pulled the box out.

Basement Bookcase - TV Box Installed

I don't remember who the numb nuts was that installed the electrical outlet on the side of the box, but it sure made getting it out a bit more difficult than it needed to be. All these wires are needed to support the Frame TV we have upstairs. If someone had planned ahead, they could have put a recess in the wall upstairs to hold the driver box, but they didn't. Instead, the wires go to the TV box in the basement.

Screw Hole and Depth Gauge

My wife helped me hoist the box up and set it in the hole. Eyeball the placement and then check the mounting holes for alignment. First time the charm!

This cabinet used to hold a 300 pound 36 inch CRT television. I think we bought it around the turn of the century and it was replaced by a flat screen a few years later. I keep thinking I ought to do something with this big space, but I'm not sure what.

P. S. The chairs in the top picture were a failed attempt to support the box while we fed the wires through the holes in the back. Didn't work, chairs immediately toppled over sideways. So we used the printer table. It wasn't as high, but it worked just fine.

P. P. S. Bug man tells me we have more ants than usual on account of we didn't have a hard freeze this winter.