Where’s My Cat?

By Nancy January 31st, 2013

Pets personalities can sometimes be unpredictable once construction begins on a remodeling project, but cats can always be counted on to be curious and to stick their furry little faces where they don’t belong.

Several years ago, on one of my first projects while working at a remodeling company, construction was underway on a basement finishing project in an Apple Valley townhome.  The project was nearing completion when I got a phone call from the homeowner.  This was not a pleasant phone call; this was a panicky phone call.

Homeowner:  “Nancy, where’s my cat?  I can’t find my cat.  What has happened to my cat?”

Me:  “When did you last see the cat?”

Homeowner:  “I don’t know, but I can hear the cat.  When I’m upstairs, it sounds like she’s downstairs.  When I’m downstairs, it sounds like she’s upstairs.  And I can’t find her.”

I knew immediately where the cat was.  The cat was in the soffit housing the HVAC ductwork.  That little fuzz-face had accessed it from the opening in the unfinished storage room by climbing up some boxes and now she was wandering around between the ceiling and the floor.

Me:  “It sounds like she’s in the soffit.  Open a can of tuna and wait for her in the storage room.  She’ll come out.”

And she did.  And the carpenter installed plywood over the opening the next day.

I’ll never forget that phone call.  It reminds me that pets are part of the home and their needs must be addressed during the planning and again during the construction.  I think everyone who works in a residential setting has a pet story to tell.

If you’ve got a pet/remodeling story, we’d love for you to share it with us!  Maybe we could write a book.