Heating & Insulation…Details

Paul has been busy working on getting the “L” Shaped House ready for sheet rocking as well as bringing the mechanical systems on line. The first photo below shows his efforts to bring heat to the whole house with a system that might well make Rube Goldberg proud!

BTW…It works great!

The second photo shows the additional spray-on insulation Paul had applied to the ceiling of the mudroom at the garage wall. He realized that this area of the ceiling could be exposed to cold temps at the bonus room floor and is making sure that the “L” Shaped House is built right.

December 3rd…wrap up

With the cold temps (high today 33 degrees) and snow flurries today felt like a day of transitions. We have reached the point where outside work is almost certainly done for the winter and the inside changes will be harder to see. During my late afternoon visit today I opened the door to warmth and the smell of sheet rock taping…It was a good feeling. The sheet rockers, the insulation guys, and our old friend Matt Sletten (our ceramic tile guy) were all working inside.

The first photo below shows the insulation truck out front and the tube blowing fiberglass running up into the attic. The insulating crew arrived late today and will be back in the morning to finish up the job.

The next photo shows the framing for the first floor closet we have decided to add in the laundry room. This is coming after a whole bunch of thought and careful consideration as we have been planning kitchen and laundry room cabinetry. Deb felt (and I agree) that there was not an adequate closet on the first floor for things like our central vacuum hose set, mops, buckets, and the like. We’ve decided to turn the broom closet in the kitchen into a cabinet style pantry and build this “real” closet in the laundry room. The last photo shows the upstairs laundry room with the sheet rock taping underway.

BSR…Before Sheet Rock

The interior spaces at the “L” Shaped House are all ready for sheet rock. The photo below…taken from the front corner of the master bedroom…shows most of the “behind the scenes” interior elements nicely. The framing, electrical, plumbing, heating/air conditioning, and home automation work will all disappear from view as the sheet rock goes up. I have carefully taken a photo of every wall in the house. Hopefully creating both a permanent record and a helpful guide for adding and fixing stuff later.

Insulation…Day 4

The Insulation guys showed up to install the blown-in fiberglass insulation above the garage ceiling. The insulation is blown up a big plastic tube from a truck parked at the curb out front. They attach a plastic netting material to the bottom of the open web trusses and climb right up into the ceiling to direct the hose all around as the 20” space is filled right to the top with fiberglass. The first photo shows Ed sprawled out inside the ceiling holding the “business end” of the fiberglass gun!

The video below shows the blown-in insulating process in action.

The last photo (added Friday) shows the garage after the Lakewood guys finished installing the insulation in the ceiling…they used something like 45 bags of fiberglass. All that is left is the vapor barrier in the ceiling and the sheet rocking may begin.

Insulation…Batting & Vapor Barrier wrap-up

The Lakewood Insulation guys are done with the fiberglass batting and vapor barrier installation at the “L” Shaped House. There are four parts to the process they use.

• Any openings in the walls are filled with Hilti Filler Foam.
• Owens Corning R-19 insulation is installed in the walls between the studs.
• The walls are caulked with a synthetic rubber sealant (Manus Bond acoustical sealant).
• A 4 mil plastic sheet is installed covering and sealing the whole outside wall.

The insulation crew is purposely trying to seal the entire inside of the home against vapor penetration. They are careful and deliberate as they apply the foam and caulk and pay particular attention to the areas around the windows and doors. Once the sheetrock is installed the inside of the house will be sealed about as well as I can imagine. There will will be at least two more insulation applications at the house; the ceiling in the garage and attic will both be filled using a blown in product.

Insulation…Day 3

The insulating crew is blazing through the “L” Shaped House at a rapid pace. They had the bonus room done before noon and are working in the garage and stairwell this afternoon. I imagine that the fiberglass batting will all be in place later today. The photos below will help to show that this job is as much about the installation of the vapor barrier as the fiberglass insulation. The first is taken from the landing in the front stairwell looking up at the second floor ceiling (the book nook is on the right). The 6 mil polyethylene sheet is attached to the framing, calked at the windows, electrical outlets, and heating ducts, and taped at any seams. The idea is to create an air tight moisture barrier.

The bonus room looks and feels completely different with the insulation and vapor barrier installed. The place is eerily quiet and feels about half the size it did yesterday. Here the extent of the vapor barrier is also pretty obvious. The fiberglass batting is installed in all the walls and anywhere the hose for the blown in applicator will have a hard time reaching.

Insulation…Day 2 (evening report)

The Lakewood Insulation guys finished up the insulation and vapor barrier on the second floor and have almost all the batting installed on the first. The photo below shows Anna’s bedroom with the outside wall insulated and the vapor barrier installed. The areas around the windows and the perimeters of the walls are calked and taped. The ceiling will be filled from above with a blown in fiberglass product later.

The next photo shows the insulated exterior walls and vapor barrier in Helen’s room. Here you can see that the interesting attic spaces in the “L” Shaped House will be inside the insulated perimeter of the house.

 

The Lakewood guys have finished most of the first floor. The next photo shows the newly insulated exterior walls in the dining room, kitchen, and breezeway. It is amazing how different the place looks with the nice pink walls.

The last photo shows the inside of the music room. Because of the shed roof above this space gets fiberglass batting all around. It is startling how quiet the interior of this space has become!

Insulation…Day 2

The guys from Lakewood Insulation in Burnsville showed up this morning and started installing the fiberglass batting and vapor barrier on the second floor of the “L” Shaped House. The first photo below shows the West wall of the master bedroom with batting installed between the studs in the wall and ventilation chutes in the roof extending into the eaves. The plastic vapor barrier will attach to the outside wall and along with the sheetrock create a cavity for the fiberglass insulation that will be blown in the ceiling later.

The next photo shows one of the Lakewood guys on stilts stapling the ventilation chutes to the underside of the roof sheathing between the trusses. The chutes allow outside air into attic space above the insulation. The last photo shows the upstairs kids bathroom and laundry areas with insulation in the walls.

Insulation…Day 1

The insulating of the “L” Shaped House started yesterday morning. The first step is spraying closed cell polyurethane insulation on the rim of each floor at the inside ends of the open web floor trusses. The photo below shows the insulation applied to the rim above the back wall of the kitchen.

 

The next photo shows the insulation applied to the wall between the living and music rooms. Here they have extended the insulation below the open web trusses because the ceiling in the music room drops to 8  1/2 ft (from 9  1/2 ft in the living room). The video shows the insulation spraying process.