We got in touch with the spray foam insulation installer, and he stopped by on Monday morning to look at the new house, and then talked with Dave later to give him some ideas about what preparation is needed before he comes to spray the foam.
The biggest thing that needed to happen was the installation of some backer boards to keep foam from going into the roof overhangs, where it isn't needed. ... I was just thinking about the possibility of ice dams, since if the roof is warmer than the overhangs, ice dams along the overhangs might be a problem. Dave says with the spray foam insulation, that's not supposed to be a problem; it keeps the roof cold enough to avoid ice melt. I guess we'll find out!
Anyway, here's a photo of what Dave was working on yesterday (the big red arrow points to the backer boards he installed):
He also had to cover all the windows with plastic. Today he was working on getting the rest of the house cleaned up -- getting all the tools out of the building and covering anything that would not look good with specks of foam all over it.So, Dave finished all that tonight, and the spray foam installer will be here at 8 tomorrow morning. It's nice to work with someone who's into getting a job done quickly!
We're filling the whole space between the rafters with foam, even though the installer says we only need to fill three inches of it, as the foam is airtight and three inches of foam creates an R value of 21. That may well be, but the recommended R value for cathedral ceilings is 38, and even if the foam is airtight, air transfer and heat transfer are two different things, Dave explained. (Isn't it great he can put that master of science degree to work? :) So we should get in about five and half inches of foam, which should just about hit that R-38 that we're looking for.
We are only doing the slanted ceiling for two reasons: First, it is not at all cheap. Second, it's possible to have a building that's too airtight, which might well happen if we used spray foam for all the walls. We'd need a special air exchanger, I think, especially considering we'll be heating with wood. (We might need that anyway -- we'll look into it.) So the walls will have regular batts of insulation in them.
... We've been debating whether we should do something to kill off bugs before we seal up the walls. This is a buggy place, this rural South Dakota. It seems there's always an infestation of some kind -- every winter the upstairs windows of the farmhouse are covered with attic flies, and this summer the farmhouse is filled with daddy long legs spiders. Yech. There must be a spiders' nest in the basement, I think -- they all showed up about the same time and look about the same. But I'm not generally in favor of spraying nasty chemicals if there's a chance we're going to have to be exposed to them -- better just to commit arachnicide with a book, kleenex or shoe as I see those eight-legged pests.
But what about in the new house, which should be much better sealed off from new infestations than the old farmhouse? There have been bugs in it, of course, as it was an outbuilding with a fair amount of cracks for bugs to get in through -- and I see a lot of spiderwebs even on the newly installed wood. Any thoughts?
... The windows will arrive Friday, August 1, we've been told. And the plumber will be here to work the second week of August. But, of course, there's another arrival that might be more important ...
... No baby news yet, as I'm sure you've guessed already! I've got another appointment Friday, and if that doesn't show any progress toward a natural labor, I'm likely going to have a C-section on Monday, July 28. I'd still like to try a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) but the longer I wait, the bigger this kid gets, and the more likely that his big head is going to cause me problems. I'm not eager for a repeat C-section either, but what I really don't want to happen is to go through hours of difficult labor and end up having a C-section anyway (the worst of both worlds, really) -- so a scheduled C-section seems the lesser of the two evils.
But, hey, who knows, maybe baby wants to arrive in the next four days! Pregnancy really does teach a person to be flexible. Well, not physically, when you get to the point where your belly is as big as mine is, and putting shoes on becomes an Olympic feat. But mentally -- we'll take baby whenever and however seems best for all concerned!
2 comments:
Mom the Commentator says...no bug spray! I haven't seen any of those horrid cluster flies in the new house. They seem to me to be the only things that get a life cycle going and hatch out inside your house. (The old house I lived in in Vermont had them.) But Spiders, daddy-long legs, etc just come and go. That's my advice. (Since you asked. Although you asked the cosmos in general, not me specifically. But still!)
I agree with Mary - no bug spray! However, you could sprinkle some boric acid around inside the walls - it kills things like roaches, but isn't too toxic on other things - we used it in the Drosophila lab, where bug spray was not allowed, for obvious reasons!
Post a Comment