We went back home to Davis for a few days to start packing, and to just enjoy being in Davis for a bit. Packed the car to the gills and I forgot my laptop bag. So, all I have is this netbook, and that's kinda like leaving your tool box, and trying to do all your work with a leatherman and swiss army knife. It will do, but it's sub-optimal.
So, what's happened over the last month?
Well, made it all the way to the point where the walls in the addition were filled with batts and the foam was installed. Ceiling lighting conduit and switch boxes installed, and the outlets on the interior walls that I wanted installed. It was long about this time that I decided that I really should engage the help of a 'real' electrician to help me navigate the code requirements and code inspectors.
Well, , , And so it began. Electrician came over, took one look at my 'smurf tubing' and balked. We pulled out the code book, all good. He recommended that we bring in an inspector, and I heartily agreed. Made sense, better now before we're in too deep. So, he called in the inspector who stopped by one day, and we had a great time. The inspector schooled me on a few things, and did a great job explaining the wacky world of outlets in residential buildings. Something I've never understood, and honestly was hoping to duck under. Not a chance. "Here's what I want to see" he began, and starting walking around, very clearly explaining how it's all to be laid out. Everything he had to say made perfect sense, and yes, I had to have have all these completely useless outlets spattered all over the place. Never mind what they will do to the integrity of the exterior insulation. Never mind that they will never be used. Never mind that it's a major waste of time/resources/money and ENERGY. It must be so. I've really come to appreciate why it is that folks will often state that it's easier and less expensive to just bulldoze a place and start anew. It's the codes. How it is. He also explained a lot of the general building code issues I was going to run into. For instance:
this window, of which I was most fond:
had to go. See, it's in a bedroom, and code requires that a bedroom have an 'egressable' window. Makes perfect sense. Never mind that there is a full door within 8 feet of this location. It does make sense. So, out it comes. Framed up, double walled, insulated, finished! Out it comes. And in with this:
which I have to admit, I like better. Again, from the Re-Store. Now, with my permit application, I have to write to the manufacturer and get the full documentation for the window. Really? Yes, really. Code requirement. How it is.
And yes, code doesn't want you to use recycled materials. Never mind the cost/energy/resources etc. How it is.
Moving along.
Outlets, outlets everywhere. And I gotta tell ya, turning this:
Into this:
was about the exact opposite of fun. Took a ludicrous amount of time.
While all this was going on, had a fellow stop by and drop that big walnut tree out of the center of the soon-to-be backyard vegetable micro-farm. It was a beautiful tree, and we were all very fond of it. But it had a shade effect that was HUGE. So, down it came. Anyway, a local professor and friend who is a turner wanted some of the nice walnut crotches for his lathe, so he stopped by. His house is one of the most, (if not the most) incredibly well thought out house designs I've ever seen in my life, and I pay attention to such things. Creation of his own design. My respect for the way he 'sees' things is huge. He set foot in the addition and instantly 'got it'. All this crazy work and silly attention to minutiae didn't seem like a waste of effort/time/money to him. He also pointed out how to deal with the lack of available roof space in that low pitch roof over the walls. Just do this:
Add 2 courses of that 2" XPS foam board that I've been using for the walls in the ceiling right over the top of the walls penetrating out into the eaves. This gives me R20 at the lowest point in the roof. Something I was going to be lucky to get R5 in using faced batts alone due to clearance over the walls. So, starting from the eaves, right over the walls, I'll be at R20 immediately, then to R30 within inches to R40 within a foot or so, to R50 in short order. leveling out to R40-ish for the entire surface, maybe a bit more.
Bedroom ceiling with naked R30 batts, which will be braced from below to allow craft faced R19 (stripped down to about R13 or so) to be installed along the trusses to finish out at R40+.
And THAT's what I've been doing for the last month. Again, taking 4x longer, and costing 4x as much as I could ever have imagined.
FWIW; right now, with the bedroom ceiling in that state, and the ceiling over the rest of the addition space still mostly 'open', it stays very comfortable in there, with a kerosene space heater running on low, with outside temps in the teens and single digits. Seriously. It WORKS! and it's not even done.
