While staying at my sister’s condo, I thought that her furnace seemed rather loud. In fact, it’s loud enough that it has woken me up a few times. I was thinking that maybe it was getting louder because the furnace filter needed to be changed. So, when it woke me up at 5am this morning, I decided to find out what size the filter was so I could buy a new one after work. Since it’s above the ceiling in the bathroom, I needed a ladder to reach it easily. There’s only a step stool here, so I was stretching quite a bit to try to get to it. I quickly saw that this was a size filter that I had never seen before. I figured it was roughly 12″x36″. I went to Home Depot after work, thinking there wouldn’t be many filters in that size and I’d notice it right away. Well, there were no filters in that size. Nothing remotely close. So, I got a tape measure and actually measured the filter when I got home. The size, 9 7/8″ x 39 3/4″. Basically, 10″x39″. Looked online and didn’t find anything remotely around that size. It looks like this was going to have to be custom made.

This would not have been a problem, but the current filter was totally gross. It needed to be changed a few months ago. So I wanted to get something in there now. I decided that I might be able to get two smaller filters and put those in. I didn’t remember seeing anything at Home Depot, so I thought I’d try Menard’s. The had 10″x20″ filters, so I bought four. Here’s how my little filters look next to the big dirty one.

I came home and balancing on a tool box on top of my step stool, I got high enough to put the two filters in. Then, I thought to myself, where should I put the extra two filters so I can change it again a few months? I know, I’ll put them in the closet next to the washing machine. And when I went to put them away, I found:

I am an idiot. FYI, the filter has nothing to do with it. The furnace is just loud.