Ice Cream Weather

To take a break from the insulation project, Steve and I went out for ice cream. We had to get dressed for the excursion first.

It's been a little chilly around here recently, but without the cold I suppose I'd never have an occasion to wear my awesome fuzzy ear-flap hat.

Attic Flooring's First Appearance

After work today, Steve and I picked up our first batch of plywood for the attic. The local lumberyard cut the 4x8 sheets in half (lengthwise) for us, allowing us to pass the sections up into the attic. I think that's about the point in the process that Steve wished he'd married a bodybuilder. 

At any rate, the plywood made it into the attic with a minimum of swearing. 

And here I sit atop my prize (our first completed section!):

I nail in a small section of 2x2 (we didn't want to drag the borrowed nail gun up into the attic just for these small pieces):

Finally, the insulation is in the attic and not in the bedroom:

Progress marches on. 

Insulation Acceleration

Luck smiled upon us as our insulation, estimated at 8-10 business days for receipt, arrived in less than 4. Home Depot really came through for us on this one (and they gave us 10% off list price as part of their price match to Lowe's). We're using Roxul insulation. It's a stone wool product (rather than fiberglass). It's virtually fireproof, non-itchy, sound-blocking and should be unappealing to pests. One downside however is that it does not compress much, so the packages it arrives in are pretty bulky. It took us four trips with the pickup truck to get it all home. And then, of course, there was the quandary of where to put it once it got here...

My dorky self included for scale (and there were six more packages like these already in the attic when these photos were taken):

Before placing the insulation batts, Steve nailed 2x2's to the top of all of the ceiling joists to increase the depths of the bays allowing for thicker insulation. This also served to add some rigidity to the aging wood.

Steve wields the nail gun with confidence despite awkward footing:

Steve did a fantastic job of cutting (with a bread knife, as recommended by the manufacturer) and laying the insulation.  

First batt going in:

I'm really excited about the rapid progress. We should be able to place the plywood flooring in at least a few areas this week. And with that, I'll be able to move tools and various supplies that we keep stumbling over around the house up and out of the way. A very exciting prospect, indeed.

The insulation project continues...

Steve vacuuming more insulation bits:

There is a section of the ceiling (originally lath and plaster) that was replaced with drywall at some point (not by our guys). At first we thought maybe somebody fell through the ceiling while working in the attic and had to repair the damage. However, the area is pretty sizable (about half of the living room) so that probably isn't it.

Shot showing a lath & plaster section next to a drywall section:

We are currently working with a borrowed air compressor and nail gun to reinforce some of the attic lumber. Insulation is on order. And we plod along...

Blinds and Insulation

I couldn't think of a creative name for this post, so I'll just go with simple in lieu of clever. This weekend, we had projects of varying difficulty level.

Difficulty Level Easy: Blinds

The blinds in the house were, unsurprisingly given the history of this place, disgusting. I didn't put any effort into cleaning them since they were just going to be taken down and thrown away. While perusing Santa Cruz's Habitat for Humanity ReStore (newly opened this past year... just for us I can only assume), we found three matching cell shade blinds in a great color for our living room. I was adamantly against cell shades at first, but I'll do just about anything to make this place even a tiny bit warmer, and they were a great price despite being brand new in original packaging. Steve cut them to size with his miter saw.

Before:

After (with pretty boring Cowboys vs. Bengals game in the background):

On to the next project...

Difficulty Level Normal: Insulation Removal

Bedroom coated in plastic to protect from our attic work (the thing hanging in the center of the shot is the rope to pull down the attic access ladder):

The insulation in our fairly sizable attic space was matted down in places and filled with the vestiges of past pest infestation (termites and rats... neither of which seem to be currently occupying the space). The wonderful attic ladder our contractor installed gives us easy access to the space and we want to use it for storage. So, out came the old insulation. Steve bagged batts of fiberglass insulation while I scooped loose cellulose insulation using the best implements I could find... a dustpan and an old redwood roofing shingle I found in the attic.

Steve inspects old (disconnected) knob and tube wiring for removal (with lots of debris in the air... our masks did a wonderful job of filtering it out, thankfully):

Steve bagging insulation:

That part of the process took all of Saturday. Today we went shopping for lumber to reinforce termite-eaten sections of the structure and hoisted that all into the attic... through the bedroom window. We're lucky there is a window that lines up with the attic ladder, allowing us to pass 12 foot lengths of 2x4 into the attic without dragging them through the rest of the house first.

We finished up with several hours of vacuuming up the last bits of loose cellulose insulation, rat droppings and termite debris. More pictures of this project to come.

Difficulty Level Hard: Completion of the Insulation Project (upcoming)

We've had some minor drama ordering the insulation, since we want to use a stone wool insulation that is (extremely) fire resistant and hopefully unappealing to pests. We realized after ordering the insulation that it wouldn't fit in the intended space (the bays are too shallow) so we had to cancel and re-order the correct size. Of course, since the insulation didn't actually arrive at the store when it was supposed to, that was fairly easy.

Laying the insulation itself is simple. And we don't think sistering the termite eaten lumber will pose much of a challenge. The most difficult task with be laying the plywood attic floor... not because the technique is difficult, but because I will have to hoist the sections up to Steve and help manipulate them. And I have very little upper arm strength. I really wish I'd hit the barbells when Steve purchased them... too late now (for this project anyway). Hopefully I'll get stronger as we go.

(Mostly) Completed Bathroom

I understand that having a house means endless projects. But it's really sinking in how nothing is ever completely done. I kept putting off taking new pictures figuring I would take some as soon as just a few more projects were done. Finally conceding the flaw in this plan, I am posting the almost finished bathroom.

The new layout makes it feel surprisingly spacious for a 4' x 11' bowling alley of a room. There's still work to do of course. The door got another coat of white paint after this picture was taken. And we still haven't put up the light fixture over the mirror, although we did take it apart and clean it last weekend (it's a funky dual swag style fixture my parents saved at my request from their bathroom remodel). And then there's the towel bars and such to put up... like I said, nothing's ever done. But things are looking pretty good.