Insulation!

Truck with spray foam insulation and batting.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Front porch with railings.

Back of cottage. All siding is up.

Under front porch.

Spraying the foam.

Rolling the foam.

A finished room - downstairs bathroom. Pocket door hardware is on at right.

Basement balls were batted except for W side which was sprayed.

Batting in ceiling.

Where to begin?

On Tuesday the rough wiring, plumbing and the framing were inspected and passed.

On Wednesday the insulation was begun. Kathy arrived at the cottage just as the workmen were finishing the spray foam insulation. It was fascinating to watch. The foam was directed between the studs and created a heavy snow storm. One man directed the foam while the second vacuumed up all the excess. Then a roller was rolled down the studs to remove all the excess foam and leave a nice, smooth surface. The roller was electric. Kathy wondered if it was also heated but did not ask. Only a little batting was up in the loft. Morsches' Builders Mart in Columbia City did the work. The spray foam insulation they use is called UltraFit DS. It is fiberglass spray-on insulation and is Energy Star Compliant and Greenguard Certified for indoor air quality.

The railing on the front porch was up and was very nicely done. The back porch will probably not go up until the rest of the backfill has been completed in that area of the yard.

Kathy took many photos of the cottage the past two days. Bonnie says she uploads too many to the blog, but Kathy says more is better and, after all, it is Kathy who takes the photos and updates the blog, with Possum's help, of course.

A return trip to the cottage today showed that the insulation work had been finished with the batting completed. The spray foam insulation was damp and a heater was on on the porch. The estimate is still that the drywalling can begin on Wed., allowing for extra time for the insulation to dry since it is so cold.

The photo of the space under the porch was taken before the batting was put up today. The area under the porch did not look as uneven as we thought it might be, so maybe smoothing it out in the spring and laying a vapor barrier and some stone will go easier than originally anticipated.

The first of the Hydro-Sil heaters arrived at our Villa in The Fort on Tuesday. This is the only portable one Bonnie purchased. We will try it out here in our Villa in our four-seasons room to see how it works. It will, most likely, be used in the basement of the cottage. The rest of the permanent Hydro-sil baseboard heaters have not, as yet, been ordered.

The vent-free fireplace arrived a while ago and Bonnie received a call about a delivery date. We are weeks away from being able to receive it at the cottage as it would just be in the way. We are still discussing what type of flooring we will set it on. It will not sit directly on the bamboo.

The camper was pulled out on Monday but no word on it yet. Denny was kind enough to pick up and store Bonnie's tarp in his smaller barn which houses our tiller and a few of our other items.

We were asked to make a trip to the cottage on Tuesday night to make certain everything was to our satisfaction before the insulation team arrived on Wednesday. Icy roads slowed us down and we also forgot a large flashlight, but we were able to determine that everything was fine and that the insulation could proceed.

An LP gas tank was at the cottage on Tuesday evening. Kathy never did receive a quote from Andy so was surprised to see the tank there. The lines for it have not been run. No hurry on that since the appliances that will use it aren't ready to install.

There is no water up to the cottage yet and no outside spigots. Again, there is no place for it to go once it gets to the house; i.e., sinks, toilets.

John Battershell was at the cottage Monday and found the studding was fine for the cabinets he will be making and that no more needed to be added.

There was a slight hiccup over the air-conditioner. Apparently no one had opened the box to see what was in it, and the sleeve that holds it in the wall was not part of package. Mike had to resize the opening and Bonnie had to call and order the sleeve which was supposed to arrive yesterday. Instead, a very expensive box of foam pieces arrived. A definite misunderstanding. So Bonnie ordered the sleeve at Amazon.com and thinks they might also be able to use the foam pieces.