Not only did we celebrate the founding of our great nation, we got our walls insulated with Foam Insulation. Now I would say that was a big week.
On Sunday (June 29th) we had a bit of preparation work left to complete. Mostly it entailed putting in an outlet and light base for the upper deck. It was a bit of a challenge because the deck is not there yet. But that didn't deter Mark.
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| It's no problem if only your head hangs out while cutting the square for the outlet box. |
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| Don't look down! |
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| Putting the finishing touches on the cutout for the outlet box |
While Mark was working on this electrical work I was taking insulation out of the office, master bedroom and kitchen. Some of it was old nasty stuff that I was shoving into giant black trash bags. I convinced the garbage man to take 3 of the bags on our trash day even though he wasn't super happy about getting out of his truck. My mom also helped me out and took 4 bag to her house for her garbage man. I bet he loves me too. Some of the insulation was new stuff that we put in last winter. I hate to throw away things that are perfectly good so we decided to put it into the ceiling and walls in the basement for sound proofing. Hopefully we won't hear Matt watching TV in the basement and he won't hear us walking on his head while we are in the living room and he is sleeping!
I finished my job before Mark finished his so Emily and I got a head start on relaxing on the deck.
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| Mark works in the background putting in the box for the deck light while Emily and I hit the deck |
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| Perfect way to end the day.... white wine spritzers (made with Chris Rossbach Club Soda) |
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| Cheers to a hard days' work |
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| Mark joined us for a little relaxation too! He lasted about 2 minutes before he fell asleep in his chair |
Bright and early on Monday morning, the insulating crew arrived. I spent most of the week walking around taking pictures since Travis and Justin did all the work. Ok, I helped a little. I raced ahead of them and moved stuff out of the way so it wouldn't get covered in over-spray. But mostly I just gawked at the work they did. Therefore this post will mostly be pictures. They got started in the basement. There is an incredible amount of prep work that they had to do. Travis - the foam sprayer - had to set up all the equipment in his truck. He was turning things on, checking values and gauges and taking the temperature of the hoses. Then he had to drag the hoses inside. While he did that, Justin - the taping/clean up guy - got busy in the basement. Justin had to tape and plastic off all the areas that we didn't want to get foam on them - like EVERY STUD on EVERY WALL. I didn't realize this but if the over spray got on the studs the sheetrock won't lay flat. Not a good thing. So they put red tape on all the studs, sprayed and then yanked the tape off. The extra foam came right off. He had to put plastic on all the walls, doors and floors to protect them as well.
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| Justin wearing stilts to reach the ceiling in the basement while taping off the framing |
Travis started spraying the cavities at the top of the ceiling that bump out a foot. I think this area has a special name but I can't remember it. This area is one of the biggest reasons we went with the spray foam method. It gives a much higher R value and really protects from drafts and leaks in this area. Also, it is much harder for mice, birds and other creepy crawly things to get in.
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| Travis fully protected against the foam |
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| Cavities to his left are foamed and he is working his way down the wall |
The big black hose connects out to the truck where there is a barrel that contains the liquid that is sprayed and expands into the foam. It actually goes on as a liquid and it is very hot, about 160 degrees. Thankfully it was not in the 90s outside when they were doing this. It was rather pleasant out but it still got very uncomfortable in the house due to the heat of the foam and the windows all being covered with plastic. And man did it STINK. It was sort of a sweet but chemically smell. We didn't spend much time in close proximity with them. It did air out very quickly once they were done so that was a blessing.
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| The big blob on the window is where Travis tested out the sprayer to make sure it was at the right pressure/consistency. |
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| Basement family room half done |
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| Matt's bedroom foamed and ready for clean up |
After they finished foaming the basement rooms they moved up to the library and living room
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| Library area after getting foamed and cleaned up |
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| Living room wall partially foamed. The upper areas had to wait until Tuesday as they needed a bigger ladder. The area around the fireplace opening needed some additional framing so it had to wait too. |
The kitchen was only partially completed on Monday so that meant we had to forgo using the dishwasher for a couple of days. They wrapped it nicely in plastic so it wouldn't get covered with overspray!!
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| Kitchen area |
The laundry room got a bit of attention on Monday as well. Justin worked his magic to prepare the space. I kinda like the stripped look!
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| Future laundry room |
And there ends day 1. They thought it would take them all day in the basement but it went much more quickly than they thought. Justin was also hoping that another crew would finish at another house early and come to our house to help him clean up. But that was not the case so the clean up that was ready - in Matt's bedroom, the basement family room, and kitchen had to wait until Tuesday.
They were back bright and early at 8am on Tuesday and started the process all over. It was starting to get old for me. I felt super stressed being in the house. The process was super noisy. I forgot to mention that they have a generator that runs all day in their truck in the driveway. The hose makes noise as it shoots out the foam. It smells. By Tuesday all the beds were covered. The TV was on the couch. The recliner was covered in plastic. The kitchen table and chairs were draped in plastic. It made for a very uncomfortable house. I ended up getting a massive headache which resulted in me taking a nap for 2 or so hours....... in my car in the driveway! With the windows all up the generator became a gentle hum in the background. Eventually my headache went away and I felt much better! But I didn't get as many pictures of the work this day.
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| Living room finished getting foamed |
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| Kitchen in the midst of clean up |
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| Master Bedroom read to go |
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| Second wall in Master Bedroom ready for foam |
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| Office (which is being used as Matt's bedroom now) ready too |
While I was napping in the car...... Justin and Travis snapped their fingers and voila they were done. A little rearranging by Mark and I and here's what we have now:
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| The basement family room seems so much brighter now. Mark suggested that maybe we should paint it yellow. Maybe not. |
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| Matt's bedroom all done and clean |
All set for the building inspector to come check out a job well done. We called on July 2nd and were surprised that he could come on July 3rd. Mostly he was fine with what was done but there were a few follow up items to do. Most significantly there were some places where we had to "fire block". We thought we understood that term but have decided that no one (including the building inspector) really knows what that part of the code means so we just did what he said even though it didn't make 100% sense to us. He came back yesterday (Monday July 7th) and signed off so we have the go ahead to sheetrock.
Good thing since that task actually got started on July 4th. Another surprise was ordering sheetrock and finding out that they would deliver on July 4th. "Oh" we said "you are open tomorrow" and Rachel, the delivery specialist at Menard's said "We are having a sale tomorrow. Every where else is closed. We have sales!" So on the 4th of July Mark, Emily, Matt, Uncle Tim, Grandma and I moved 114 sheets of drywall into the house! Half in the basement, some in the kitchen, some in the library and even 8 sheets up to the second floor. That was hard work. We could never have done it without Tim's help. Guess I owe him a beer now!
The next many days will be devoted to sheet rocking and planning the kitchen layout!
Check back in a few days to see our progress.
