Good grief. I try not to be a drama queen but today, I feel like a total drama queen!
First, you know I’m the biggest chicken ever. How I’ve managed to be here as long as I have by myself . . I’m not sure how I did it! Last night was the last night hopefully. I went to bed happy Vince should be here today but thinking . . how crazy would it be or something to happen the last night before he gets here! I was so looking forward to clean sheets, which I had changed yesterday. I would have clean sheets every night if someone else would put them on for me.
I went to bed about 1 a.m. and before I ever went to sleep, the smoke alarm in the hallway, just outside the bedroom door began chirping. There’s a carbon monoxide detector and a smoke alarm there. I thought it was the carbon monoxide detector, which I can reach with just my kitchen step stool so I grabbed that. I was thinking we had just changed the battery in that thing when Vince was here in December. The only gas we have in the house is the fireplace so I brought the detector in the bedroom to see if it stopped going off in there with the door closed. I put it down, got back in bed . . and the chirping happened again but still in the hallway. I didn’t even know there was a smoke alarm in the hallway because there are smoke alarms in all three bedrooms but now I know that “code” in most places is one in each bedroom, as one in the any hallway outside the bedrooms.
The ceilings in the hallway are either 10 or 12 (or more) feet high so I had to go out to the garage, get the ladder, bring it in and I had to stand on the top of the ladder, which I know is not supposed to happen, to reach the darned thing. Pulled it down and it’s hard wired and I could not see how to get the battery out. I messed with that thing for 15 minutes, up on top of that ladder.
I went back out to the garage, intending to bring the taller ladder in but it’s too heavy for me to carry and turn corners without damaging walls so I decided to put in ear plugs and go back to bed. Nope . . couldn’t find any ear plugs.
The only option if I wanted to get sleep was to go downstairs and sleep in the basement. The screeching smoke alarm is at the top of the stairs and I could still hear the darned thing in the basement bedroom with the door closed!
So, today, I sit and listen to that thing beep all day and hope Vince makes it all the way here today. I have found some ear plugs so at least I can sleep if he doesn’t make it . . though if he doesn’t make it, I’ll pobably have to go get him and won’t even be here tonight. I would consider taking a nap but who can sleep with this shrill beeping??
Joyce says
I hope it is a nice day there so you can go sit outside for a while to get away from the beep!
Melanie Winterrs says
If you have a handheld vacuum try to vacuuming it, sometimes dust builds up and will set them off. A couple shots from can of compressed air might work too.
Helen says
At the risk of sounding like Vince or Addie, could you call Jeremy?
Donna in KS says
Sorry. I think this time I would call Jeremy!!
We had the same thing happen years ago when we first moved into this home; it isn’t any fun. And we didn’t have a Jeremy. LOL
montanaclarks says
I always say if I ever win the lottery I will hire someone to change my sheets every day! But I will need to buy that lottery ticket first! I HATE smoke alarms!! In the Arizona house we installed ten year alarms and will replace them in NINE years! The ones with batteries always go off in the middle of the night!!
Judy Laquidara says
Has anyone ever had one go off in the daytime? I don’t think I have.
Rebecca says
That is the opposite of what happened here. We were eating dinner when an alarm down the hall started beeping. We finished dinner, then went to deal with it, in the bedroom. High ceilings, hard-wired smoke detector. After much travail, he got the cover off. It beeped again! (While he was still up on the ladder). After a moment of befuddlement, we realized it was the battery-powered CO alarm on the dresser. D’oh!
Judy Laquidara says
It is so hard to determine which one is beeping. At our house in Nevada, MO, the master bedroom, laundry room and extra bedroom all opened into a little hallway that was about 3′ x 4′. All three of those rooms had smoke alarms and there was one in that hall so four of them that you could almost stand in the center of the hallway and touch all four of them. We’d sometimes take three down before we figured out which one was chirping.
Stephani in N. TX says
i thought mine had gone off the first night of the deep freeze here in TX. I struggled to get to where the alarm is and there was no light at all. Actually the power probably had gone off for hours because when I checked the house temperature, it was 4 degrees less than what i had set it for. At 4 am, the house was cold and the beeping was clear across the house in my office where my computer was connected to the battery backup source. I had to get down under the desk and unplug everything from the wall to make the battery backup turn off. Then I threw a few more quilts on the bed and went back to sleep. Not sure I understand about putting fire alarm boxes at the top of 12-14 foot ceilings. You want them for protection, but not for changing batteries and maintenance.
laurie says
I don’t think I could ignore it that godawful sound for very long. I would be snipping those wires and leave it for Vince. LOL