Rigid and Electrical

It's as if there's electricity...

Just chugging along. As I run out of material, the rigid foam puzzles become more and more fine tuned, er, scrappy.

All Day with the Foam

A nice long day alone with the foam. Cutting and puzzling together off-cuts for the second layer of insulation all along the inside walls where I haven't finished. Basically what I did was put the two layers of polyisocyanurate (yes, that stuff, this particular variety of rigid foam) in and glued in the sections of the wall where a diagonal brace spanned. For the other cavities (space between studs and blocks) I put just one piece in, knowing after the house wrap process, I could still access the cavity from the inside to finish the wall insulation.

A brief update.

Alotta Progress!

Roof insulation, IN.

Ice & Storm, or Ice & Water, or whatever they call it, IN.

Corrugated galvanized steel roofing, slid of the roof, hit the ground, hoisted back up, now it's ON.

So that's the long side of the roof. The short side still needs the mechanism so it can be lifted up in it's entirety from the inside. But I went ahead and built the roof without venting. Perhaps I'll kick myself about this in the future... I'll report back.

Short/Loft-side of roof: Incomplete, yes.

Big thanks to Ben for helping me flush up that rigid in the roof! It was a two person gig, hitting the rigid up, tapping it back down, patting and batting.

So next up is to figure the side details (small overhang on the long sides or no? flashing how?) and then screw the roof in on the long side. Then, or before, sand down, wax job, and nail up the oak flooring I will be using for ceiling.

The big question mark on the horizon now is what to use for siding. I have some corrugated aluminum and old redwood fencing I partially planed that I would like to use. I don't have enough though. I've spread the materials around the trailer to get a sense of how far I could stretch it... Thinking about more corrugated metal perhaps with wood trim and details.

Local with an abundance of materials? Let me know!

Slow Going

I'm just not feeling like working with the rigid foam these days. I know I must to finish this house, but I'm stalling. Instead, I tinker away at things that are more inviting: interior finish work (a little shelf for spices near the oven/stove), laying out materials to envision the siding, usually things with wood.

I did finally draw up an electrical rough, with the idea of running conduit under the trailer and then up into the walls where desired. Though I'm not sure whether coming through the floor or drilling into and up through the sill plate would be preferable.

Suppose I still haven't finalized whether to vent the roof or not. I did get some big pieces of the rigid foam I'll be using for the ceiling glued together with some PL construction adhesive (since I will be sandwiching two pieces of 2 1/2" rigid foam, making 5" insulation in the ceiling). I laid them on top of each other and loaded up as much weight as I could find nearby to smush the pieces together.

...

So much!

With forecast saying rain Tuesday, it's been a push. Mom, Dad, Greg, & I have been persistently working on what needs to get done: insulation in (mostly me), insulation patched (mostly Dad and Mom), insulation pieces picked up from ground (tireless, ever-loving, amazing Mom), housewrap on (mostly Greg). We got halfway around the house with Tyvek (Tyvek...). The $2 roll I found at ReStore in Santa Rosa covered the north wall (with the door). Then I decided to purchase a new roll, which I didn't want to do, but figured made the most sense considering the critical point I was at given the weather forecast.

As the sky darkened, Greg & I hoisted up the metal roofing, and put tarps over the two walls left unwrapped. Lastly, we finagled those two 3'6" x 9' refrigerator walls in through the front doors and down as the floor (hopefully for the last time).

Sitting in the space is a completely different experience now that you can't see through the walls. I haven't realized that yet though. It's like I'm stuck being able to see through the walls. I must say too, I sure liked that house without walls. It's so nice to climb though the studs. But ho! It's getting cold outside! And I'm ready to move in. Lots more to do before that though...

I still haven't decided about that roof.

A lot more Rigid Foam

Not such a bad day, Fats Waller helped. Got a lot of the rigid in, but the forecast says 70% rain Tuesday... hmm... what's my plan?

This Insulation...

Patching together from what was someone else's garbage...

I thought this bountiful load would be enough to do the whole house... though as I begin to install it, I realize I was wrong.

I find myself cursing this toxic product and it's itchy existence.

I don't know what to do exactly. Many of the space between studs here that seem to be insulated between with rigid foam ARE, BUT, they have only one layer of 1 5/8" and I had been planning on doubling up, and do plan (?) on this, so to have 3 1/4" creating an R-value of about 21. So many decisions. I will not purchase more to finish the house with. I would like to use a completely different kind of insulation. Now that I've begun with this, I wonder what my best option is for continuing. I also had been giving a heave hoe to get the house wrapped and roof on before the rain storm will supposedly hit Wednesday. This evening I had the notion that maybe that was causing more stress than necessary. I paid attention to the tension around my eyes and in my chest. Only two of these rigid stuffed cavities between the studs are glued in. Tomorrow I will continue cutting and re-assess how far off I am from what I need, re-assess if it's possible to get the insulation in and house wrapped in order to put the roof on before Wednesday. If that seems to stressful, I will continue cutting the insulation to fit, but then label it and remove it for dry-keeping in the garage until this storm passes.

THIS INSULATION ...might be the death of me. If not, I'll live to see an encapsulated house... particulates to the wind... what a crime!

Windows and Doors IN, Insulation Begun

Not all, but nearly. Greg went to work. Though I felt like I was doing twice as much, the insulation installation is less than rewarding.