In spite of the short work week we got a lot done. The heat was turned on with only a few troubleshooting issues with the controls and only a few minor leaks in some of the piping connections. We have had three sunny days in a row, and the added solar gains have warmed up the home very quickly.
The "wet blown" insulation was installed in the walls on tuesday, and the attic insulation was installed on Wednesday. Wet blown insulation has a moisture content and a mild adhesive in with a recycled cellulose material. Chemicals are added to inhibit mold and insect infestation. With the 10" wall thickness, the weight of the insulation causes it to sag, so they added horizontal baffles to reduce the settling. There is still a little bit of settling at the top in some areas which will be repaired in the next few days.
To extract the water from the insulation and accelerate the schedule, we rented two industrial dehumidifiers to work over the weekend. We have set a goal to get the moisture content down to the same residual levels as the wood studs which will be determined with a moisture probe. We have turned the heat up to about 80 degrees to bake out the moisture from the insulation for a day or two, and then will turn the temperature down.
The attic insulation is blown in dry. It is slightly over two feet thick providing an "R" value of 90. We will install a little bit more over the garage ceiling. The space is designed to be used as a workshop, so we have insulated the walls and ceilings in the event we want to use the space for a winter project. We have a 2" thick insulated overhead door that we expect to have installed next week.
The drywall was delivered this morning, and the board hangers finished the basement and started the garage. Tomorrow they will install the ceiling in the main house. No board will be installed on the walls until we are confident that the moisture content in the wall is stable.
The metal roof was completed shortly after this picture was taken. The metal roofing end up being symmetrical over the front entrance. No amount of planning could have been as effective as plain good fortune.
The exterior rigid insulation proceeds at a slower pace. The plaster lath installation is very labor intensive. Installation of the lath on the north elevation is complete, and work begins now on the south elevation.
Next week we hope to have the garage door installed, blow in attic insulation over the garage, finish up some wiring connections, continue with installing the plaster lath, and install the track for the large pocket doors.
