Nobadays
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# Posted: 5 Aug 2025 12:44pm
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So, we had a rat get under the cabin and make a mess. I cleaned it up and sprayed a bleach solution, as well as leaving the access doors open during the day to air it out. The pee smell faded but still noticeable. I then sprayed the whole crawlspace with Grandpa Gus's Rodent Repellant... a peppermint and cinnamon oil mixture. Definitely improved the odor.
OK here is where the title comes in. We could still get whiffs of mint mixed with just a hint of rat pee in the cabin. My wife suggested that it was coming through the woodstove. Well, since our stove sits in the middle of the cabin I had drilled through the stone hearth through the floor and the fresh air intake pipe dangles in the air under the cabin... it's screened... Sure enough I opened the wood stove and took a sniff, mint and rat pee! The air intake at the back of the stove is not well sealed, and I had the damper turned off so smells from under the cabin were escaping through the cracks into our living space. Maybe if I had opened the damper it would have been drawn up the chimney. I opted to remove the outside air intake from the stove and put a Ziploc bag over it and sealed it up tight... no more smell!
One more thing stove related... poor quality control... we had to put a new slip joint on the chimney pipe. Took it all down cleaned it thoroughly and reinstalled it. Couldn't get it straight. My friend says push it right... I look up and now the stove pipe is crooked going up to the collar. I straighten that and he's says no, push it back. I step back to see what he means and I notice it.... the collar that is attached to the new slip joint is put on crooked! (See pic) We had not beat on it or anything!! We could push back and forth all day and never get the pipe straight! Next trip to town this one goes back!
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