Insulation Archives

October 19, 2021October 19, 2021

Wall Paneling in the Living Room.

Day #180 & Day #181

November 7th & 8th, 2020 – We are almost ready for the lay in ceiling installation in the living room. My brother Dave came down last night to make a list of the materials that we need. The focus for this weekend is to finish installing sound batt insulation and wall paneling in the Living Room. Once this is done we will be able to install the ceiling system.

The gallery above shows the progression through the Living Room. The wall paneling installation went pretty smoothly, and by the end of the day, on Sunday, it was complete. The hardest part was moving the miscellaneous tools, bins, tables and chairs around the work area.

With the paneling finished I can now install the floor base, corner molding and window trim. More importantly, we are now ready for the acoustical ceiling system. I have Dave set up for next weekend. It’s going to look nice!

October 16, 2021October 16, 2021

Ceiling Insulation in the Living Room.

Day #179

November 1, 2020 – Just a short post and then a rant for today. As far as the renovation work is concerned I finished up the insulation in the living room ceiling. This gets us closer to installing the actual suspended, lay in ceiling system. Here’s a couple of photos.

Ceiling Insulation

and now the rant…..

Back at the end of September, when I initially picked up the wood stove and hearth pad, I noticed a small hole in the cardboard covering. It was so small that I didn’t think anything of it. Shame on me, but prior to today, I never checked it. Well….

Towards the end of the day we went to set the hearth pad on the floor. Robrandi cleaned off the mortar from the tile work and removed the blue painters tape from the floor. I brought in the pad and we removed the card board wrapping. Of course the first thing we see is a broken tile and missing mortar. My whole day just turned upside down. It seems impossible to get materials down here that do not have some sort of damage!

After some discussion we decided that it has to go back. The broken tile is right in the front of the pad and it will be extremely visible.

Because I have a smaller truck bed, I had to build a wooden carrier so it would lay flat to avoid any further damage as we drove the dam thing back to AES Hearth & Patio. Of course, as soon as we went to put it in the truck it started pouring buckets. We got soaking wet! After I tied it down and stomped around for a bit we packed up and left for home. A crappy ending to an otherwise good weekend. Uggghhh!

July 8, 2021July 12, 2021

Fire Resistant Accent Wall Preparation

Day #168

September 30, 2020 – I didn’t get back down to the cottage until late in the day, but I was able to start the work on the fire resistant accent wall. Our new Quadra Fire wood stove and hearth pad will sit in front of this wall when it is complete.

The installation of sound batt insulation is progressing and the cement backer board will follow. We have a nice tile picked out for the accent wall but you have to wait for a later post to see that.

I have the wood stove and hearth pad in the back of the truck. Later on in the week I am going to rent a pallet jack and off load them onto the porch. I hope to place them close to the front door. I can get the pallet jack at Penn Equipment Company up in Burnham. They are only a short drive away.

As a bonus Lowe’s of Lewistown is scheduled to deliver out new “counter depth” refrigerator tomorrow. They will be taking the old maggot smelling refrigerator with them when they leave. Oh happy day! All I have to do is remove the sliding glass panel from the front door and everything should pass right through. Until then I’ll continue work on the fire resistant accent wall. Cheers….

April 23, 2021July 7, 2021

Closet Interior Rigid Insulation

Day # 164 & #165

September 22nd and 23rd, 2020 – Well, I’m back from Lowe’s with the rigid insulation for the closet interior. It’s Kingspan’s 1″ thick moisture resistant GreenGuard XPS so it is. I’ll show you the photos and I’ll get on to the next blog.

GreenGuard XPS Rigid Insulation

Closet Interior Rigid Insulation

Rigid insulation installed in the closet interior.

I got all the Carpenter Ant sawdust removed and the rigid insulation installed. At some point down the line, I’ll install the lauan paneling and corner trim and then the shelving and closet rod. Until then it’s back into the living room for more electric rough in and finish wall paneling.

March 8, 2021July 6, 2021

Ceiling Insulation Take Two!

Day #153

August 09, 2020 – Just a short blog for today. I jumped back on the the kitchen ceiling insulation and I was able to finish it up. The rafter vents and the batt insulation are complete! Kitchen ceiling insulation take two….done! Check.

Kitchen Ceiling Insulation — Kitchen ceiling insulation is complete!

Next up, the installation of the remaining kitchen window and the remaining living room window.

February 11, 2021February 11, 2021

Kitchen Ceiling Insulation

Day #151

July 31, 2020 – Well, we reached the end of July, 2020. Despite all good intentions to complete the kitchen ceiling insulation today, I didn’t make it.

After we got up, we cleaned up a bit, packed and headed home. It’s been a long week. Tomorrow we have Ross and Lauren’s wedding to attend. It’s going to be awesome and we are looking forward to the party.

I will be back to the Cot-Taj-Mahal on August 8th to continue the kitchen ceiling insulation and the renovation. Stay tuned.

PS: As I write this post, I realize that I am only seven (7) months behind on this renovation story. Ugghhh!

February 11, 2021July 7, 2021

Cathedral Ceiling Rafter Vent and Batt Insulation

Day #150

July 30, 2020 – In the new kitchen we will have an exposed cathedral ceiling. When complete, it will be covered with 1″×8″ pine barn siding. Today, I started installing the rafter vents and batt insulation in the joist spaces for this ceiling.

R30 Batt Insulation — R30 batt insulation for the cathedral ceiling.

Cathedral Ceiling - Rafter Vents — proVent rafter vent installation in the cathedral ceiling.

Above and below, the rafter vents or rafter baffles provide a continuous air flow from the soffit vent through the roof ridge vent. In the summer this helps to keep the cathedral ceiling structure cooler and guards against mold, mildew and rot. I used proVent that I purchased at Lowe’s.

Rafter Vents 03

I started the rafter vent installation on the river side of the kitchen. When I had the vent on this side complete, I dropped back and installed the R30 batt insulation (below).

Cathedral Ceiling - R30 Batt Insulation — Batt insulation between joists.

Rafter Vents 04 — proVent installation on the railroad side.

With the insulation on river side of the ceiling complete I moved over to the railroad side and repeated the whole process. Rafter vents followed by batt insulation (above and below).

Cathedral Ceiling - R19 Batt Insulation — Batt insulation on the railroad side.

Tomorrow I need to wrap up the cathedral ceiling insulation. We’ve been at the Cot-Taj-Mahal all week long and tomorrow evening we are heading home. We have a big wedding to attend on Saturday. Ross and Lauren are tying the knot!

February 11, 2021July 7, 2021

Interior Gable Framing and More Wall Insulation

Day #149

July 29, 2020 – Today I continued the wall insulation and started the framing at the interior gable end of the new kitchen.

I hung the television to have a distraction but, today I have to take it down to insulate the wall behind it. We used a Sanus Advanced Full-Motion TV Mount so it’s really easy to mount and un-mount the TV.

Wall At TV — Interior of the wall at the television.

Below, installing the insulation in the kitchen wall above the river side window.

Wall Above Kitchen Window — Insulation in kitchen wall above window.

Wall insulation behind the TV is complete and the television is re-hung and covered (below).

Insulation At TV — Wall insulation at the television.

Above, I am working on the framing to close in the interior gable end of the kitchen. In this wall there will be a access door to get into the attic above the living room and the remainder of the cottage.

Below, wall insulation in the newly installed gable end framing. I have a rolling scaffolding which would make high insulation process quicker but we just have too much stuff in the way. For this reason I am working from a ladder. Needless to say it is a whole bunch climbing up and down.

Gable End Insulation — Insulation at interior gable end.

Tomorrow I’ll be starting the insulation in the cathedral ceiling above the kitchen. At this point, my designer tells me she is okay with surface mounting conduit and boxes to hang the kitchen light fixtures from. This will give us a more “industrial look”. Okay….let the insulation begin.

February 11, 2021July 6, 2021

New Panel Wing Wall and Happy Birthday to Me!

Day #148

July 28, 2020 – Continuing the electric rough in with a wing wall for the new electric panel and I finish the end wall insulation. Plus, it’s Happy Birthday to me, Gyeem Raj Du-Kamar. It has to be a good day, right?

As part of the electrical renovation we are going to upgrade the electric service from 100 amp to 200 amp and relocate the main panel from the kitchen to the living room. The framing below is a “wing wall” between the kitchen and the living room. This is the location for the new 200 amp panel.

New Panel Wing Wall — Wing wall framing for new 200 Amp electric panel.

All the electric wire will be pulled to this location and eventually terminated in the new panel. The wire dangling in the image below will power the new refrigerator along the end wall.

Panel Wing Wall — Wire for a new refrigerator receptacle.

Most of the overhead wire show in this image (below) is powering the cottage from the existing 100 amp panel. Eventually, I will disconnect this wire from the old panel, drop it down into the wing wall and reconnect it to the new panel.

Electric Wire — Electrical wire rough in.

After the rough in of the refrigerator outlet is complete the remaining wall insulation in the end wall can be installed.

The new refrigerator will be located in the center of the wall as you see the old one below. There will be cabinets and countertops below the windows, on both sides of the fridge.

Kitchen Wall Insulation — Kitchen End wall insulation.

What’s up for tomorrow..? Well, you guessed it, more electric rough in and more insulation. Oh joy!

February 1, 2021July 6, 2021

Electric Rough In and Insulation in the Kitchen

Day #147

July 27, 2020 – The electric rough in continues today with the installation of eight outlets in the kitchen. These are in the outside wall along the driveway side. Outlets along the river side were roughed in a week or so ago. It takes quite a bit of extra time because we are trying to keep something of a kitchen in service. I have to move stuff back and forth, out of the way until it gets in the way, and then repeat. I was able to start the exterior wall insulation in the kitchen and the new ceiling insulation in the living room. So there’s that too.

Electric Outlet Boxes — Electric Rough In – Outlet boxes and wire.

There are two outlet boxes under this window on the left side, and two boxes under the window on the right side. Each box will house one duplex outlet giving us a total of eight outlets along this outside wall.

Electric Rough In - Outlet Boxes

Lots of clutter in the kitchen makes the going sloowww.

Wall Insulation 02

The wall insulation proceeds left to right. These are basically 2×4 stud walls so the insulation is R-13, three and a half inch thick fiberglass batt.

Kitchen Clutter 02 — Electric Rough In – Outlet boxes under the kitchen windows.

One of the outlet boxes under the right window is visible in the photo above.

Ceiling Insulation

The insulation in the ceiling is a bit thicker. It is R19, six inch thick fiberglass batts. Yes I was watching tv as I insulated.