My unusual paneling in the bedroom is done, except for filling nail-holes and the final coat of paint. It adds real character to the room.
1.25-inch-thick by 5.5-inch-wide yellow pine boards form the horizontal pieces. 1 inch by 3.5 inch boards are the verticals. The difference in thickness makes a nice reveal and shadowlines. Behind all that trim is the “A” side of panels of plywood. The wood grain still shows through the white paint on the plywood.
The third photo also shows the pale green wall color that will be used on the rest of the room. Click to enlarge.
October 26th, 2006
The drywall crew from Delmarva Drywall and Plaster finished installing that stuff on Monday. They were delayed a couple days because wet weather prevented the skim coat from drying completely.
Then we began the wood paneling on the south walls, upstairs and down. This isn’t that horrible cheapo stuff people used to put in the “den”. No, definitely not. We’re putting up smooth-faced plywood and trimming extensively with some nice wide yellow pine. It’s difficult to describe, but trust me, it will make for a really nice accent wall in the living room and bedroom.
With all the walls up, it was time to slap primer on everything. I actually have to do a careful job priming the paneling and all the windows, so it takes a while. And I hate painting.
October 21st, 2006
The insulation crew was supposed to arrive Friday morning, but didn’t get here until 12:30. They came all the way from Williamsburg, which is quite a hike, but they didn’t get an early start either. Anyway … they arrived in two big trucks.
The first thing they did was to cover windows, doors, electric recepticles, etc with plastic or tape. This protects them from the spray foam insulation.
Then the real fun started. Polyurethane spray foam insulation was shot onto the walls and ceilings. It’s a closed cell foam that quickly dries hard and sturdy. The foam is a vapor barrier and seals all the cracks and holes in the structure.
An inch of the foam insulation went onto the walls and ceiling. It could be used to fill the entire wall, but this closed-cell stuff is expensive, so they used another product behind it.
Cellulose insulation was used to fill the walls and ceiling behind the foam. Cellulose is relatively inexpensive but still has pretty good thermal insulation properties (3.4 R per inch) and excellent sound absorption properties. Damp cellulose is blown on the walls. Netting was stapled to the roof rafters to hold the cellulose packed up there.
You can see that the blown cellulose makes a terrific mess. While one guy blows it in, another guy shovels up the excess, hauls it back out to the truck, and it gets blown back through the machine for another chance to stick on the wall.
The end result is walls and ceilings packed tight with insulation. The house seems “hushed” now, and it doesn’t cool off much overnight. Brilliant!
The crew also put plastic on the ground in my crawl space to control rising dampness. Plain old fiberglass batt insulation was put under my floor. They also sprayed a non-expanding foam around my windows. They even caulked where the walls meet the floor and where two outside walls meet. It was a very thorough job.
They didn’t finish until 11 pm. A late night for all.
I’m happy with my new insulation. It cost about twice what it would’ve cost me to buy fiberglass batts, but this did a much better job of sealing air infiltration … and I didn’t have to do it myself.
October 3rd, 2006
Prior to the arrival of the insulation crew, we cleared out all the building materials and assorted junk that had accumulated in the house. It’s a small house, but we had a lot of stuff and grime in there. So the clean-up was a good thing.
Here are photos of the house post-clean-up but pre-insulation. Bare naked house.
October 2nd, 2006
The local newspaper reports that the Onancock Carnival’s rides and buildings will be sold and moved very soon. It’s too bad … I was looking forward to looking out over the peaceful carnival grounds from my new home. (The carnival grounds are my next-door neighbor — and it only operates for a few weeks a year).
I took advantage of a sunny day to get a few final photos.
PS - a crew insulated my house Friday. It was a very interesting process and I’ll post a description and photos soon.
October 1st, 2006
