Well, ready or not, here I come -- so says the electrical inspector, anyway. (Though we did set up this appointment ourselves.) After all sorts of figuring and on-the-job learning, the wiring is done (well, Dave's finishing up as I type) and hopefully, by tonight, we can have our "Thank Heaven The Wiring is Finally Finished" party!
... Once that's done, we can move on to our next conundrum: insulation. I think we've decided to do the spray foam insulation on the walls as well, so we'll need to decide on the kind (open cell, which is water permeable and doesn't have any local installers, or closed cell, which is not water permeable and has at least one local installer) and get someone out here to put it in.
The water-permeable question is really a big one: Water in the walls is what makes a house first unhealthy and later unsound -- and it's a bigger problem the more airtight you try to make the house for energy efficiency's sake. So, do you make the walls tight enough that no water can get in, or do you make them in such a way that if water does get in, it can later get out? The passive house expert we talked to seriously advised the second option, as it is possible that the closed-cell foam could fail in spots at some point, inviting water damage there. But that involves finding someone to install it -- the closest installer is in Fargo, I think.
Back to the ol' computer for more research ...
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