Insulation

So I busted my butt all day Wednesday to prep for the insulation starting on Thursday.  But it turns out the storm delayed them a day, so they couldn't start until Friday....  That was okay though because it gave me Thursday night to really get things organized and ready for them.

Friday afternoon I got to the house as they were packing up and got to talk to them about the process.  They'll be working Monday and said I'd get to spray the gun!  Can't wait.

Today I was able to add the three smoke detectors (in each bedroom) that I fortunately learned I needed to have before the ceilings were plastered.  I also continued with the central vac rough-in.  The garage and upstairs are done.  Tomorrow I'll tackle the first floor.

Lots of pictures today-

The building permit with the rough framing inspection signed!

My tidy electrical work for the geothermal unit and back up electric heat.

Checked off the list of tedious jobs that needed to get done before insulation: horizontal blocking for hanging cabinets in the kitchen.

Tedious job #2: foam fire blocking all penetrations between floors.

Tedious job #3: adding ceiling joists the entire length of the attic so there will be something to hang the blueboard on.  Easier to do now than after the roof rafters are insulated.

The fireplace wall finally framed out - recesses for shelving on either side and metal studs in the middle that taper down to meet the chimney.

Since I don't like to waste space I framed two recessed to the left of the wood stove.  The bottom one will be open and lined with stone - good for kindling, newspaper, matches, etc.  The top one will have a cabinet door - good for storing things needed in the dining room like table cloths and candle holders.

The kitchen shaping up.  The blueboarders hung the wall adjacent to the garage and mud room so the back side could be sprayed with insulation.  The insulators sprayed the exterior wall.

Ahhhhh, the warm glow of a 200,000 BTU construction heater.  Thank you insulation people for leaving it there for the weekend.  I've been warm and toasty- 45 to 50 degrees.  I should also thank them for being one of the only thorough subs I've hired so far.  Instead of trying to do everything as fast as possible, they've meticulously gone through the house and helped me out by pointing out hidden cavities in walls that I was unaware off, giving me the opportunity to drill holes so they can spray in insulation.  They also pointed out wires that need extra staples to help them avoid cutting them if they get moved by the expanding foam.

The foam insulation in it's pre-shaved state.  It's a two part mix that gets sprayed in through high pressure heated lines.  When the liquids mix in the spray gun they cure within 6 seconds during which they expand to 600 times their original volume.  I learned this while chatting with the sprayers Friday afternoon in a conversation that ranged from the science of spray foam to the relative merits of vasectomies and tubal ligation.  It made me think how fun it has been to meet and talk with the hundreds of characters I've met during this whole process.

The play room wall sprayed and shaved.

Lots of excess shavings make for one big mess, but...

...if I pile them all up in the family room I can jump off the balcony into a giant foam pit!  I can't wait to try it out.

Ice creep.  Melting snow and seeping ground water have turned the corner from the back yard into the driveway.  The water is now making its way into the garage making a nice skating rink, encasing the door trim, freezing the door shut, and gluing my ladders to the floor.  Ice is a powerful force.  I worry it might pry loose the siding and/or trim boards.  Or worse, rise so high it gets into the framed walls and gets my new insulation all wet when it melts.

One more thing to worry about - It's great that I can now heat the house.  But without insulation the snow on the roof just melts and runs to the eaves where it refreezes and is in the process of making one hefty ice dam.  All day today I could hear icicles breaking off the roof and crashing onto the front porch roof.  I hope there won't be any shingle damage when the ice recedes.

All shoveled by hand!  If I had only known the insulation guys had their own plow truck I wouldn't have spent so much time trying to clear a bigger space at the top of the driveway for them.  It was nice of them to plow what I didn't get to though.  Unfortunately, they hit my extension ladder that was hidden under the snow.  I haven't assessed the damage yet.

A lovely blanket of insulation to keep my bathroom toasty warm.