As a busy handyman, your humble correspondent’s exposure to college sports is very limited. And when I say “limited,” I mean maybe my head will be inside a toilet while there’s a game playing on a TV in the background. But somehow, I DO pick-up the names of teams. And I’d say that after the “Billikens”, the most puzzling team name I’ve heard is the University of North Carolina “Tar Heels.”
Have you ever looked up who the “Tar Heels” were? They were once looked-down-upon physical laborers in North Carolina who converted the sap from pine trees into black tar, while in bare feet because of the hot summers. But miraculously, their social status was given a BIG boost by an opposing general in a battle, who gave the North Carolinians and their tar heels a back-handed compliment, by attributing their refusal to retreat and cede back land to the stickiness of the tar on their heels. Geez, I’d say that’s a hell of a long way to go for naming a team mascot, if you ask me.
But in a strange way, I do find this story inspirational, and would like to think of our Fix St Louis technicians as Tar Heels, only better. Better because they’d have the good sense not to step in an asphalt patch they were pouring on a hot day, and not do this kinda work in their bare feet. And if they did, they wouldn’t track it into your house leaving gooey footprint-shaped patches all over your carpeting.
No, what I was thinking was more like last week and next week, with temperatures above 100 degrees, Fix St Louis CAN help you reclaim parts of your home that you have been unwittingly ceding to the enemy known as heat. Here’s some ideas you may not have thought about:
Tinting Windows
If your idea of tinted windows is that creepy car that pulled-up next to you at a stop light, when you wondered what creepy things they’re doing in there, think again. Have you ever found yourself avoiding rooms with big glass doors and windows when it’s hot, and the sun is streaming in? Or covering the glass with awkward horizontal or vertical blinds to block the glare or save the furniture, so you never enjoy looking out through them? Fact is, tinting comes in a full range of shades, and in most cases isn’t noticeable. And tinting is almost never a part of the original window – it’s done with a film that can be applied anytime. Fix St Louis can tint your windows, in many cases making blinds unnecessary, to give you back the use of your room and the view from these windows.
Outdoor Ceiling Fans
Just because it’s hot outside doesn’t mean you can’t use your porch. Even on the most beastly days, a ceiling fan on your porch is usually all you need to sit outside comfortably. Fix St Louis knows how to run the wiring and hang outside ceiling fans.
Whole House Fans
As hot as it was last week, do you realize you did not need to run your air conditioner on ANY evening – if you had a “whole house fan”? These are the big square louvered boxes, almost always located on a hallway ceiling. If you turned it on and opened a window or door (with screens), the cooler evening air would have whooshed through your house, through that ceiling, and out the vents in your attic. So you didn’t have to cede an air-conditioner-inflated electric bill to the heat. Fix St Louis can replace or add whole house fans.
You know that satisfied and competent-looking lady clutching her to-do list who appears on this page, on our web site, and the sides of our trucks? I’ve considered turning her into our mascot. But I’m not sure she’d make a good furry costume and, frankly, I don’t want the hassle of having to defend the use of a cis-gendered female who’s always in the kitchen. So for now, we’ll borrow UNC’s mascot, and ask you to think of Fix St Louis as Tar-Heel-like, tireless defenders of the full use of your home, who wipe our feet (or wear booties) before we enter.
Dr Steve
Fix St Louis