Insulation: Day Twelve (Twelve's the Charm?)

We did more insulation this past Sunday. I hesitate to say that it is the last time (kind of like never saying never) but Troy is pretty eager to seal up the holes and stop some moisture problems that have come up. So maybe he will seal those up before that nagging thought comes back to him that he needs to stuff just a little more in.

We had to have this conversation again: (quote from last time)

I then said that I thought I was going to have to explain how calculus works and the fact that no matter how many times we went around the room, he could always fit in just a little more. Less each time, but still more each and every time to the nth degree. He laughed and agreed and confirmed that we are done. (I'm sure those of you who know Troy are not surprised that I was worried he would want to do everything again. Sometimes I think it's my job to keep his thoroughness in check. But not this time.)

After explicitly telling me we didn't have to do the whole building again because he wouldn't be doing the full holes, Troy went around and did each and every hole again. He did start with the "more empty" ones first, but just couldn't stop there. It's a good thing the machine runs loud so it could covered up my [tolerant] grumbling.

When Troy picked up the machine at Home Depot, the guys at both stations (check in and pickup) recognized him as the "guy that gets the insulation." It's been months since we've been there but they still know him. In fact, they act like no one else rents the machine.

But surely that can't be true. It was a different machine, and Troy had to do his standard modifications:

Maybe we're the only one doing this on Sundays and these guys only work on Sundays? I don't know. I guess it really doesn't matter. At least Troy doesn't need to explain what he needs.

Troy's been still working on taping and mudding the drywall. The last stretch to do has been the seam between the ceiling and wall. And of course, now he has a lot of holes to patch too. Work in general has slowed the last little bit. While not giving up or stopping entirely, we are enjoying a respite. (We even watched a movie the other night!)

ETA: It was just reported that Troy patched the holes on the north, east, and most of the west walls this morning! Wowsers.

Insulation: Day Eleven

or, "Marathon Ascending and Descending of a Ladder"
or, "How Calculus Relates to Insulation"

We had quite a day yesterday. The weather was wet; I wasn't knitting. And so we thought we do the last top-off of the insulation and be done with it.

I woke up feeling bad enough that I didn't go to church. But I was willing to give the insulation a try, hoping to be improved by the afternoon. Troy trotted off to church and picked up the machine and cellulose afterward. By the time he was home, had lunch, and had a nap it was about 4:00.

As he's getting his work clothes on he mentions that he got a different machine because he went to Menards this time. (Usually we go to Home Depot.) The machine is heavy enough he doesn't thing we can manually lift it out of the truck. I suggest we just leave it in the truck and use it there. Problem solved.

Then he mentions we're doing the dining room as well. "What!?" I don't like surprises. I don't care if it's only 15 minutes more work, I need to know ahead of time. I need to psyche myself up for these things. But I decide I don't have much choice and suggest that we just drive the truck outside the window and run the hose through an open window. That's Plan A, anyway; we'll see if we need a Plan B when we get there.

We never get there. After getting the shop more or less ready (moving everything away from the walls to make room for the ladder, setting up fans in the windows, repairing a fan that fell out of the window, etc), we turn the beast on. I notice right away that it is a lot dustier. In fact, it's spewing insulation fluff up out of the top of the machine. We soon realize this is because it's clogged. It won't blow anything out of the hose. We can't get it going. We can't adjust the feed rate. We are not impressed.

Troy gets fired up. Fired up enough that he takes everything back to Menards and says he's going to Home Depot for our regular machine. Then we're going to start again.

I pick the rest of our beets while he's gone, but then go back to bed. It's all I can manage.

He returns by about 7:30. I set up the new (much lighter) machine while Troy drives back to clean up a bag that flew off the truck a couple miles back. When we turn it on, this machine works. (Ok, so about half way through, we got this one clogged too. We go 10 times with no blockages, and today we get two. :sigh: But this one is cleared up in short order and then we don't have any more problems with it.)

We make it around the room, topping off each and every stud bay. It's now 10:15. We are dirty and tired. But determined. So we head off to the dining room, dragging the hose, blower, and some insulation with us.

Fifteen minutes later we have the dining room done and everything packed back into the truck. I am in bed by 10:38, watching the Steelers nearly blow a 28-0 lead.

Oh, what about the, "Marathon Ascending and Descending of a Ladder"? That is Troy. Each bay only took from 15 to 90 seconds to fill, but Troy had to move the ladder for each one. So he was bopping up and down the ladder all evening. He got quite warm. (Naturally, I was quite cold standing by an open window with not much to do--turning the machine on and off while occasionally putting in some more insulation.) I guess this is turn-about-is-fair play from the first days when he was sitting on the ladder while I was running around throwing insulation in as fast as I could.

And the "How Calculus Relates to Insulation"? So when we're about three-quarters done last night, Troy yells that we have do this twice. It's a little hard to communicate when we're both wearing dust masks and ear plugs, but I assume he means that bay. (I have no idea why but that is not my job to question.) Then I start to think maybe he means we have to do this whole topping off thing twice. I stew on that for a while. (Like I said, I need prep for these types of pronouncements. I was wondering if that was my "notice.")

Troy gets all the way around the room and then starts doing bays we've already done. When we have a break from the noise as he's adjusting the ladder, I can't keep quiet any longer. I ask, "How many times are we going to top this off?" And Troy says, "Once; why?" "Well, we've already filled those bays." Troy was happy to hear that--he had forgotten where we had started.

I then said that I thought I was going to have to explain how calculus works and the fact that no matter how many times we went around the room, he could always fit in just a little more. Less each time, but still more each and every time to the nth degree. He laughed and agreed and confirmed that we are done. (I'm sure those of you who know Troy are not surprised that I was worried he would want to do everything again. Sometimes I think it's my job to keep his thoroughness in check. But not this time.)

In any case, it's done now. I will be happy to not have it hanging over us anymore and to not hear that machine for a while.

Insulation: Slow...but Tedious

Compared to when we were winging the insulation into the attic, today was extremely slow. Only about 38 bags and it took us four hours (twice as long as last week).

Troy was up and down the ladder a lot. Besides the west wall, we went around and filled up the holes on the south and north walls (the long ones) and filled the east wall above the garage door (just little bitty spaces). So the machine was off and on all day, sometimes running no more than 30 seconds before we'd have to shut it off and move to the next hole. And then Troy would reach in the hole and mash it down, and then put a little more in, etc etc. Didn't I say tedious?

We ended up with Troy running up and down the ladder, Isaac sitting in the truck bed with the power switch, and me filling the machine but with enough extra time that I could start sweeping up the mess (and take a picture or two). I'm sure Troy had the worst of it, but he was just grateful to not be hunched over in the attic.

I had a flagging of spirits in the middle of the day when I thought Troy said this would be our second last day of insulation. I was counting on it being our last for a while. It turns out those statements were both right, but that he was counting the "top up" we'll have to do in a few weeks, and I was not. So once I had that straight in my mind, my spirits perked up considerably.

I'm sure your spirits are perking up, as well, since you may not have to read about insulation for a while. Wouldn't that be a relief!?

Signed,

Pooped but Perkier.

Insulation: Day 9

We've done it again. Another session of blowing insulation. 42 bags (all we had) and THE ATTIC IS DONE! Really done, no adding more after it settles, etc. Just done. Glory halleluia.

Isaac and I really got our groove on and got into a great rhythm of responsibilities. We did 30 bags in the first hour. Hot dog! That was when we were still sending it up to the attic where the hose is not restricted in any way and things go lickety-split.

Then we started on the west wall--last one! We got all the bottom holes fed (they were already quite full from insulation falling in from the other two walls) and got a start on the top holes. One more session should fill them all up.

I thought we would then top up all the walls and be done with it. But now I have learned that we are going to wait 6-8 weeks before topping them off. ::sigh:: Not only does this delay my "happy to be done with it" dance, it also means we'll be doing it after Isaac's gone. He's a great help, and has also been doing a good job on mudding and taping the drywall. Now all those top holes will have to be done by Troy. But I guess that's how it is.

And that's about all from this end. Have a good night.

Insulation: Day 8

We were at it again today. And with a new helper

and a new machine. Both helped us to have our most productive day ever: 72 bags! The new pallet and all the "leftover" ones. It feels good to have the shop empty of insulation again.

Isaac arrived today and was barely here an hour before we had put him to work. He was a good worker and as he could handle the bags, I shifted to helper/project coordinator.

They gave us a different machine because the regular one was broken. This produced some anxiety on my part [change! change! ah!], but it worked out great. I think the machine was quieter and quicker with less dust. And much lighter to move around and lift into the truck. What more could I ask for? And why is this the "back up" machine? Or maybe that's the wrong assumption. Maybe they save it for their favourite customers. Who knows.

In any case, we got a pallet blown in the first two hours and then went back out for another 70 minutes to blow the last 30 bags. (That's 2 1/3 min/bag which soundly beats our previous 3 min/bag time). The attic is nearly finished, with about 3.5 bays (out of 35) to do yet.

The new machine had a lovely picture on it:
They make it sound so easy: no cutting, no fitting...nothing to it, right? And I notice the man in the picture has no dust flying around.

I wonder what we are doing wrong?

Insulation: Day 7

We were at it again. I can't say I was a cheerful worker today, but we got it done. I should admit that I had my fun first and then the work, so maybe that was part of it.

We rearranged the schedule so I could go to the Red Purl knitting club for the first part of the afternoon. (Thank you, Troy.) Troy used the time to put up more drywall so we could finish the north wall and start on the west end of the attic. (Meaning the east side was almost done!!)

And concerning the drywall, I counted 3 partial sheets left to go on the ceiling and 2 1/2 on the west wall. And I think that's it! Can I hear a big "woot woot" in da house?

I was home by 5, changed and ate dinner by about 5:20. I went out and met Troy who was just finishing up a sheet of drywall. We did all the set up, unloading the truck, etc, and were blowing insulation by about 6. Took a break at 7:30, finished blowing 45 bags by about 8:45, cleaned up, loaded up the truck, and I was in the house by 9:04.

We skipped insulation last week and noticed some changes in the equipment. For one thing we could tell someone else had rented it. We got the hose in this sort of condition:

When we're the only ones using it, we enjoy receiving the hose in this condition:

--the way we left it. (Is it really so hard to coil up the hose for the next guy?)

And the other thing we noticed is that they finally fixed the on/off switch! We didn't have to tape a power cord to the side of the machine. Perhaps the other people who rented it complained in a more convincing manner than Troy. Who knows. Not that we need the on/off switch much now that Troy's in the attic. It's all go go go now.

As for how long this will continue, I anticipate at least three more pallets.

And so it goes on...

Insulation: Day 6

No pictures today. Sorry. It was all business. Started at 2:45; finished at 6:30. Slammed 50 bags through the hose. If we're not half done the attic, we are pretty close.

Troy was hot and uncomfortable in the attic. I was rather comfortable in the by-now-mostly insulated shop. The day was not that hot, actually, but very sunny and Troy was feeling it working under the dark grey shingles.

He was also running the still and that slowed us down some as we had to stop and check it every 30 minutes. Every half hour doesn't seem that often, but it is.

This week we will probably not make a lot of building progress as we will be cleaning up in preparation for some company. I still hope to get in a little painting as the window trim is sitting bare right now. It depends a lot on the weather, so who knows!

Life's an adventure where you don't get to read ahead,

christina

Insulapalooza: Day 2

We put in a good day today, if not the marathon I had at times suspected it would be. We got another late start as it is hard to get going on a holiday morning when you've been up late the night before...ah, that little step in the preparation stage: get enough sleep.

But by 10 we were in the shop getting things started. It was a blessing to not have to set everything up as we were able to leave everything when we finished yesterday. The kind boys at Home Depot had no trouble with us keeping the machine for two days. And he assured Troy that he'd make sure enough got ordered this week and a shrink wrapped pallet would be waiting for him. That's what I'm talking about!

We started with the 5 or 6 slots left on the south wall and then proceeded to the attic. (You can see that was when he got serious about his mask.)

Troy had bought a remote control power switch so we could hook it up to a light, and he could shut off the light (from the attic) to let me know if I needed to stop the machine. It did not work at all. So we tried our 2-way radios and they worked pretty well even with the machine going, the fan running and earplugs in. It helped that he really didn't need me to stop much.

Before we started blowing insulation, Troy tried to mark the desired height on a couple places on the trusses using some spray paint. This is also when he glibly decided to raise it from 16" to 18".

When I asked if he had any idea of how much more insulation that is going to be...2" over a 70' x 30' area, he figured 2 pallets. Two more pallets. Oh, big sigh. That's two extra Sundays, as far as I figure it.

Well, however much we end up doing, we got the machine started again and did a solid hour of it from noon to 1. Troy discovered it took about 2 minutes for it to be too dusty to see his height markings. But I guess he has something to double check things by when it settles down.

When I stopped things for lunch, Troy was only too happy to get out of his hunched position in the attic. Standing stooped over trying to manoeuvre around the trusses and only being able to step on the skinny edge of a 2x4 turns out to be not very comfortable. And, apparently, it's dusty:

Probably not the most flattering pic I've ever taken of my hubby.

We took a long break and then got going again by 5 or so. We pounded out the last 30 bags in less than an hour and a half. Although neither of us get any breaks, it sure is nice to just keep knocking it out. And when we finished, there was not one single bag of insulation left in the shop. Woo hoo, good riddance to you!

We then packed up the truck with the blower and hose and retired to good wet shower.

-christina

Insulapalooza: Day 1

Day 1 of our Memorial Weekend Insulapalooza got to a late start. We had lunch after church with some friends who were back in town for the day. That was very nice.

And then we sat in the car for a bit when we got home, talking and resting from our big lunch. (My habits are rubbing off on Troy.)

But, finally, by 3:30 or so, we were getting started on the business at hand. My part started with stacking up the pallet Troy bought last week and literally threw out of the truck.

Troy got the last of the holes drilled on the south wall while I was doing that. Then he said he was ready and ran up the ladder.

I didn't start the machine because he didn't have his mask on. He got "suited up" and then he ran up the ladder to start.

I go to press the on button of the power bar we're using and realize the power bar hasn't been taped to the side of the machine.

Troy comes down to help but I wave him off and try to sign to him that he needs to find an extension cord with power. (Because the power strip is going to need to have some juice.) Troy thinks I mumble in general and he can't hear half of what I do, but with both of us wearing earplugs and masks the problem is much much worse!

We finally get it all set up, and we are actually ready to start now. Poor Troy is up on the ladder again. (I am much more sympathetic since my own time up on a ladder.) He didn't get a chance to sit much today, and didn't move the ladder while leaving the hose unattended either. Despite that, we still had the hose get away twice today. Too much excitement.

We managed to get a pallet done (42 bags) and have 68 more bags we could do tomorrow if we get right on it. One motivation will be to spray the attic in the morning before it has much of a chance to heat up. Even in the main room, Troy was very warm today up by the ceiling. Unfortunately, he did not give me the sight of a bare-chested hot and sweaty man. Wouldn't that have looked sweet with his suspenders.

Ha! Gotcha to smile,

christina

Insulation: Day 3

We managed Day 3 of insulation today. We blew in 48 bags of insulation, so just over a pallet. Troy returned the machine to the shop this evening and bought another pallet. We were down to 26 bags and have to prepare for "insul-a-palloza" this coming long weekend. If we can buy the insulation ahead of time, that would save a lot of driving back and forth over the weekend. I hope it works out to get the machine for two days.

Today when we started I got to unload the truck and set up the fans, blower, etc while Troy finished drilling the last few holes.

He had done most of the lower holes on the south side but didn't quite have them all done. (Something about planting apple trees in the rain.)

So the drill (and is it a fortner bit?) takes out the pucks of drywall but he stops short of the moisture barrier. For that, he goes back around and cuts them all out with his knife.

But doesn't cut all the way around. He leaves a little bit on the bottom of the holes to keep the flap attached. Because he's going to use that plastic again, you know. The moisture barrier must remain intact.

The result is that the holes end up looking like little mouths with their tongues hanging out. (My wall is taunting me.) And they are very hungry mouths.

And one feeding is not going to satisfy them. Can you see in the pic below all the empty mouths? This is a pic of the upper holes of the north wall. Yes, the wall we "finished" last week.

The insulation has since settled and we have to go back around and refill all of them. I think once we fill them the second time, I will be "helpful" and plug all those holes quick. Then we won't know if the insulation settles again. That is a good solution, don't you think?

Today we filled the lower holes along the entire south wall. Just the upper holes on that wall and much smaller east and west* walls to go. Well, that would be Phase I. Then Phase II would have to be done on all the upper holes to make up for any settling.

All for now, my body is begging for some sleepy time.

-christina

_______________________

*The west wall still needs drywall; that would come first.

Insulation: Day 2

Today was our second insulation extravaganza. We put in 52 bags of insulation (1.25 pallets, if you're counting). But before that was all the preparation...

Today's prep actually started this morning when Troy went out to get the truck to go to church. There was still drywall in the bed! So I run upstairs to change, and Troy heads to the shop and we get all the drywall out of the truck and stacked on the floor. :sigh:

We still made it plenty early to church even with the stop at Home Depot to get the pallet of insulation and blower. With sheer repetition, Troy is forcing the Sunday staff to learn their job and they are slowly getting better at getting the pallet ready and everything loaded into our truck.

Not that they did a great job of loading today; check out how great the pallet looked by the time we got home:

Not exactly confidence-inspiring, but we made it home.

Before today, Troy had filled all the previous holes with his handy drywall plugs and a bunch of silicone to seal. And he also drilled all the remaining holes for the north wall. He figured if we had time to do more insulation than that, we could always blow it into the attic.

I'm pretty spoiled in that usually by the time I make it out to the shop, Troy has everything ready so we can just get to the job at hand. Today I made it out a little too quick and had to be there for the unloading of the insulation; getting extension cords for the fans, blower, etc.; shuffling the tractor and pickup around so they wouldn't be in our way, but wouldn't be out in the rain either; etc. etc etc. But I was on fire to get to work because we were toying with the idea of actually going to a movie tonight. If we really moved and kept at it, we could maybe make the 7:30 show.

With two pallets to use, I was able to build myself a nice "nest" of insulation to draw from:

Things went a little smoother today, as it should the second time around. We were talking with some friends Saturday night about how the insulation was going, who was doing what task, etc. I made the comment that I could just not quite keep up with Troy when I had to unload the insulation from the pickup, but that I hoped it would go better since we had them all unloaded this time.

This friend then very succinctly summarized the situation: "You mean while Troy is standing on a ladder holding a hose, you are getting the insulation from the truck, cutting the bags open, and feeding the blower?" Wow, when you put it that way, it just doesn't seem right does it!? (And of course, in fairness, Troy has offered to trade whenever I want, but I prefer to pick a job and then just learn to do it well, instead of flitting about here and there.)

Well, today it only got better. I look up at some point and Troy is sitting on the ladder. (Pretty cheeky.) Apparently even standing was too much for him.

And then later he got smart (read both smart like good idea, and smart like smart Alec): After he would move the hose to a new hole--when he knew it wouldn't need any attention--he would crawl down the ladder, move it over to the next position, and climb back up. I realized this took away the only time I had for even a small break. So while he's sitting on a ladder, I'm still cutting open bags and feeding the blower 25-lb bags all afternoon. And that is one hungry machine.

The topper was when he ran off into the house and came back with his winter coat. I was having no trouble staying warm, and was in fact contemplating removing my sweatshirt.

Anyway, back to the point of the post, we got the entire north wall done today. We did not proceed to the attic since we were still harboring hopes of a movie. After cleaning up, and looking at the clock, however, we decided to not make a run for it, but to stay home instead. I'm not sure what Troy's up to*, but I am enjoying my usual Sunday evening activities of blogging, eating popcorn (thanks, honey), and listening to music (substitute for my usual TV).

*oh wait, I remember: Troy is enjoying the fire I finally let him build. I came into the house rather hot and would not hear of a fire for quite a while!

Next week the plan is to move on with even more insulation. Btw, while Troy was sitting on the ladder, he figured out that we will use about 5 tons of insulation on the shop. That's a lot.

Sjoelen, anyone?

Insulation: Day 1

Today began our marathon of insulation blowing. Figuring it's a job that's better done in big chunks of time, we are reserving the next month of Sundays for insulation. Troy prepared by drilling a bunch of holes this past week, and we were off to the races today.
I was going to take a pic of the truck actually entering the garage through our oh-so-handy garage door, but Troy was too fast for me. Then the irony was that the top bags actually caught on the top of the door (some nails that were sticking down) so the door was not quite handy-dandy enough.
"Installation in 3 easy steps." That's the promise right on the bag. And look, there's a picture of a young girl loading the hopper. That was me today. (Except I was smiling just maybe a touch less.) (And I was wearing glasses, a mask, a ball cap, and big headphone ear protection.) (This girl is wearing none of that and is, perhaps, implying that the job is a little more fun, happy and go-lucky than it actually is.)
So step 1 would be to fix the equipment from the store, right? Troy had to fix the hose (by affixing it) because last time he used it the hose kept flying off. Not very convenient and probably very very messy. Speaking of messy, even done right, blowing insulation is messy:
Christina1 does not like messy. But she got through. Setting up the hopper right in front of an exhaust fan really took care of the dust too, in a relative sort of way.

I will spare you the minute details of the day (like my botched first try at loading the hopper and the several "insulation fountains" we had--no harm done) and just say that we basically got the lower holes filled across 2/3 of the north wall. At this rate Troy figures 4 or 5 more days like that. I figure at least 6. So we'll see.

We had bought a pallet and put in all 42 bags. Then I called it a day. Troy went back to the store to return the machine and buy another pallet. Then next time we can do a little more than a pallet if we have time and energy. This also means Troy has a lot of holes to drill over the next week.

All for now. The work is catching up to me and my bones are tired.

____________________________

1 This is Christina referring to herself in the third person. She will try to keep it to a minimum as she is aware it can seem pretentious and possibly annoying. But she felt it was warranted in this case. Thank you for indulging her.