Insulation

Insulation - the most important thing to make your old home more energy efficient!

It's been a whirlwind at 702 the last couple of weeks! A lot has happened to get to the point where I could write this post. First, we had to finish off all of the electric. Three weeks ago, we had our first electrical inspection. Sean is a builder, but they usually contract out the electric work on new construction homes. Sean knows a lot about wiring and such, but this was his first time wiring an entire house. The first inspection could have potentially gone wrong, but who am I kidding, my guy knows what he's doing. We failed, but we failed with about 10 minor things to fix. Most of our errors were in the placement of the plastic staples, which hold the wires tight to the studs. They have to be in the center of the stud and the wires have to be flat within them. Well, when you have 100 year-old studs with the density of petrified wood, sometimes you're more concerned about whether the staple is going in than the placement of it! One major thing we had to do was run 12 gage wire in the dining room because it is open to the kitchen and would be considered such. I guess the people who determine what "code" is, feel that people plug in crock pots and griddles in the dining room, more so when the rooms are connected as one. Those people obviously don't know me...

So we passed with flying colors on our second inspection, which allowed us to go forward with insulation. But before we could have the insulation guys come, we had to square out the walls and plane the windows. And after a week of Sean, Earl, Chad and I slaving away, we did it! Last Thursday, the guys from Gale came and started the insulation. One might have thought it was Christmas morning for me, as I was ecstatic! The insulation guys got a real kick out of me. I had to explain to them that the house has been in the same basic state since November and the addition of insulation is HUGE progress!

This is a before shot of the corner in the dining room. The door on the left is the door that opens to the side porch. This is post rewiring it with 12 gage wire. This is a great shot of what had to be done to make the walls square. In some areas, 2x4's were added to make the studs level. In other areas, the existing studs were planed down to achieve the same result. 

They did use some fiber-glass batting insulation in some areas. (an explanation of the stuff they use throughout most of the house is below) I think they used the batting mostly around the doors. Sean would have to explain the reasoning behind that. Here the one guy is putting up the netting.

And here is the same corner shot after. If you look at the bottom...and of course, the window...you can see that screen/netting. So basically what they do is staple this netting to the studs, then they put holes in the netting and pump in the insulation. The cotton-like fibers are not at all like fiber-glass insulation. It's so soft and cushy! Because the walls are open, they're able to get insulation into every little nook and cranny! Which in 702's case is wonderful, as there are a few spots where there are diagonal supports. If we had blown in insulation with the old plaster and lath in place, we might not have fully insulated the house and would have never known! (Validation moment: there is a reason we went down to the studs!) 

 

Kitchen wall (the sink will be below the windows) before (above) and after (below)!

Half of the ceiling in the kitchen and dining room is insulated as that's where the second story porch is.

And below are the diagonal supports I talked about earlier. This would have made it hard to blow in insulation from the exterior of the house with the plaster and lath still intact. That whole section below the diagonal support would have never received insulation had we done it the other way!

 

The insulation really does make the biggest difference! Because it's white, it almost feels like drywall! You get a real sense of the size of the rooms! Also, the house is silent! You can barely hear the outside noise and the inside echo of the big empty house is nearly gone. It's amazingly quiet! And best of all, it's a nice consistent temperature throughout the house. (without any heat/air blowing!)

Other amazing things have happened, like new heat vents and ducts, a new water heater, new lighting in the basement, our water is turned on, and we have a new thermostat! We're well on our way to living there by August! (that's my goal move-in month...let's not jinx it!)

Comments

[Term Papers]

Good Job!
Keep it up:)

[Gucci Shoes]

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