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Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

I was outside during the latter part of the dusk period last night and I noticed a bat flying around close to my house.
Hard to spot because at first I just noticed a small, silent, black something flit past me and the way it moved, and the time of the evening, I knew it wasn't a bird.
So I kept watching and after it had flown around a few times I managed to positively identify it as a very small bat.
Which is surprising really cos this is a residential area mainly constructed in the late 50s and early 60s.
There is, however, one of the oldest buildings in the area only a hundred yards, or so, away from me - the old Beehive Pub which the main part of the building dates back to early 1700s (or possibly earlier).
The pub has been empty since March 2020 when it shut during the pandemic.
There is also an abandoned 'accommodation' house on a plot of overgrown land adjacent to the pub which has been empty for over 20 years and is now quite dilapidated.
I'm guessing that either of those two buildings would be suitable for bats to take residence in as they would not get disturbed.
I'll see if I can add a picture of the area, below.

bats tracker.png


And a pic of the Beehive when it was actually a nice, proper pub.
Sad to see it so rundown now, all shuttered and overgrown with weeds.
All because some knob took over the lease, ran it as a vanity project cos he wanted a 'gastro pub' which alienated the locals who used to flock there previously, and he ended up with no customers at all.
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Pipistrelles can cover quite a distance. They're tiny but they need to eat something like their bodyweight in insects every day, so they have quite large flying ranges. And now it's getting cooler, the insects aren't as prolific, so they may have come from some distance to feed.

They can also roost in lofts and people don't know they're there for a long time...
 
catseye said:
But in other weirdness - the downstairs cupboard, with its mysterious opening door, was open on Thursday afternoon. My brother was just packing up to leave, having spent a few days here, and noticed the door was open a few inches. We had the doors and windows open as the weather was lovely, and my sister in law said 'oh, cross draught'. But I've had the doors and windows open pretty much all summer and it hasn't moved (since the last time). It's very random, and I'd like to pinpoint what's different about those times it's open. It usually opens overnight...
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Just throwing some ideas out there; could it be (like some of our kitchen cupboards) that they are not set up quite right hinge-wise? Some of ours have too much tension on them and 'jolt/jump when you open/close them. There are usually two sets of adjustments you can do with a screwdriver on the hinge to alter the door to get it level and/or plumb. Just wondering if yours is like this, and over time the tension pushes it open.
 
catseye said:
It's not the kind you can fit a lock to. It's an ancient cupboard set into the thickness (two feet) of the wall, behind the TV. So there's nowhere to put a lock without drilling into the wall. It's got about a million coats of paint on it and it's made of wood panelling. I'll take a picture when I can be bothered...
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Yes, please show us a pic of it.
 
Right, this is the cupboard in question. It's not got an actual 'fastening' as such, it seems mostly to be kept shut by the sheer number of coats of paint on it (however, it doesn't routinely open and it takes a bit of a tug to get it to open).
 

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Or try fitting a sensor to the door, rigged up to a shotgun!
 
As it only comes open approximately once every six weeks or so, I don't really have a need to fit a catch. I just tut and close it again. It's a fairly snug fit, which is why I'm baffled as to how it comes open!
 
catseye said:
As it only comes open approximately once every six weeks or so, I don't really have a need to fit a catch. I just tut and close it again. It's a fairly snug fit, which is why I'm baffled as to how it comes open!
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It maybe temperature/humidity related, wood expands and contracts depending on these, it could be that the wood contracts to a point where it can swing free of the frame.
 
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Nosmo King said:
It maybe temperature/humidity related, wood expands and contracts depending on these, it could be that the wood contrats to a point where it can swing free of the frame.
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Oh yes, I'm pretty certain that this is the case (I'm absolutely not shouting 'ghost' here!). It's the sheer randomness of it that's odd. You'd think that, if it were temperature/humidity related, that the door would be opening far more when, for example, the log burner is lit of an evening. Or when the weather is particularly warm. But it doesn't. It stays put, and then on one unexceptional morning (or afternoon), 'plong' - there it is, open again.
 
catseye said:
Oh yes, I'm pretty certain that this is the case (I'm absolutely not shouting 'ghost' here!). It's the sheer randomness of it that's odd. You'd think that, if it were temperature/humidity related, that the door would be opening far more when, for example, the log burner is lit of an evening. Or when the weather is particularly warm. But it doesn't. It stays put, and then on one unexceptional morning (or afternoon), 'plong' - there it is, open again.
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Is the 'catch' one of those ball/roller types that just go into a metal piece with a hole in it when closed?
 
It may have been at one time. There's no catch of any kind now. The snugness of the fit of the wood into the frame keeps it shut (top right hand corner is particularly tight). Takes a bit of a pull to open, against the friction of the paintwork.
 
catseye said:
It may have been at one time. There's no catch of any kind now. The snugness of the fit of the wood into the frame keeps it shut (top right hand corner is particularly tight). Takes a bit of a pull to open, against the friction of the paintwork.
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Ah, yes I see your post now. -It could still be the hinge side that's causing it, although it's unlikely as they'll probably be standard hinges (ie not like kitchen cabinet ones). When you open it a few inches, does it stay where you've left it or does it swing fully open?
 
Floyd1 said:
Ah, yes I see your post now. -It could still be the hinge side that's causing it, although it's unlikely as they'll probably be standard hinges (ie not like kitchen cabinet ones). When you open it a few inches, does it stay where you've left it or does it swing fully open?
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It stays where you leave it. The hinges are those old fashioned 'stable door' type, not conventional door hinges. It's a very old cupboard, probably put in when the cottages were built and that's getting on for two hundred years now.
 
catseye said:
It stays where you leave it. The hinges are those old fashioned 'stable door' type, not conventional door hinges. It's a very old cupboard, probably put in when the cottages were built and that's getting on for two hundred years now.
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Right. It is another strange one if it's as tight as you say though.
 
An easy fix for the cupboard door which is one I have used before is to get one of those old, brass drawing pins, and push it into the wood underneath the bottom edge of the door itself, roughly underneath where the handle is. Seeing as the door is quite a tight fit this would mean that when it is fully closed the drawing pin would initially tighten that fit even more which will keep it shut, and then over the course of time the protruding pin head would form a little divot in the frame where it rests, acting as a static catch.
 
catseye said:
I have to say, @Floyd1, your dedication to the state of my doors and windows bears note. You aren't a secret double-glazing salesman, are you? Truly, I am grateful for your attempts to rationalise my fixtures!
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Ha! No, but mysteries intrigue me, especially these niggling ones aroung the home where you just can't seem to fathom it. Anyway, you lot always come up with ideas/solutions for my (many) problems/mysteries as well.
 
catseye said:
Right, this is the cupboard in question. It's not got an actual 'fastening' as such, it seems mostly to be kept shut by the sheer number of coats of paint on it (however, it doesn't routinely open and it takes a bit of a tug to get it to open).
Click to expand...
The house in which I grew up had a similar cupboard situation (tight fitting door with no positive latching; popped open at random times for no apparent reason). Our best guess was that the tight fit made it a relatively closed air space that could be perturbed (e.g., by a vibration or air pressure fluctuations inside the wall behind it) so as to push the door open by air pressure. The supporting evidence was the regularity with which the cupboard door would pop open when (e.g.) an exterior door was opened or forcefully shut.
 
Trevp666 said:
I was outside during the latter part of the dusk period last night and I noticed a bat flying around close to my house.
Hard to spot because at first I just noticed a small, silent, black something flit past me and the way it moved, and the time of the evening, I knew it wasn't a bird.
So I kept watching and after it had flown around a few times I managed to positively identify it as a very small bat.
Which is surprising really cos this is a residential area mainly constructed in the late 50s and early 60s.
There is, however, one of the oldest buildings in the area only a hundred yards, or so, away from me - the old Beehive Pub which the main part of the building dates back to early 1700s (or possibly earlier).
The pub has been empty since March 2020 when it shut during the pandemic.
There is also an abandoned 'accommodation' house on a plot of overgrown land adjacent to the pub which has been empty for over 20 years and is now quite dilapidated.
I'm guessing that either of those two buildings would be suitable for bats to take residence in as they would not get disturbed.
I'll see if I can add a picture of the area, below.

View attachment 45211

And a pic of the Beehive when it was actually a nice, proper pub.
Sad to see it so rundown now, all shuttered and overgrown with weeds.
All because some knob took over the lease, ran it as a vanity project cos he wanted a 'gastro pub' which alienated the locals who used to flock there previously, and he ended up with no customers at all.
View attachment 45212
Click to expand...
At least I know where to come now for my 10p.
 
I might have edited that map a bit......cos, y'know.....'stalkers'
 
(fortunately I am out of range of Escargot on her pushbike, but you never know......and I reckon there are probably at least a couple of members that could get a bit 'handsy'! lol)
 
Mythopoeika said:
What's on the other side of that cupboard? Is it a secret door to a cave or hidden room?
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Just the inside of the cupboard. The walls are very thick, so it's set into the wall. On the other side, through another wall, is the inside of my next door neighbour's identical cupboard.
 
catseye said:
Just the inside of the cupboard. The walls are very thick, so it's set into the wall. On the other side, through another wall, is the inside of my next door neighbour's identical cupboard.
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Might there be an air-hole between the 2 cupboards, through the shared wall? For the purposes of ventilation?
I'm thinking of a scenario where the neighbour slams their door shut and it opens your door.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Might there be an air-hole between the 2 cupboards, through the shared wall? For the purposes of ventilation?
I'm thinking of a scenario where the neighbour slams their door shut and it opens your door.
Click to expand...
Good thinking batman. I wondered about an outside air vent- (before I read that the neighbour is next door).
 
Mythopoeika said:
Might there be an air-hole between the 2 cupboards, through the shared wall? For the purposes of ventilation?
I'm thinking of a scenario where the neighbour slams their door shut and it opens your door.
Click to expand...
That's an excellent theory. But there's nobody next door. It's been a weekend cottage for fifteen years. It's up for sale now, but at such a ridiculously inflated price that there's been nobody round in the two weeks since it hit Rightmove.
 
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