Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The Bucks Are Back!!!!
So keep clicking on that ad on the top right. I just learned that there's a way to get picture ads to show up there now, too. That'll keep you clicking!
Drywall, Insulation, & Moisture

Speaking of moisture, it was certainly a bit moist out there today; so moist we had to cancel the outdoor tennis thing for the third week in a row, though it wasn't for weather reasons the last two times. We'll be rookies again next time we get on the court. Last week it was my fault - I needed to do the speaker wire and cat-5 cable before the insulation cluster started last Thursday. Since then, Pete's been covering up stud spaces all over the house, and the insulation inspection happened today, (we passed), so Pete can now cover over all the insulated walls too. The phot on the right is the ridge skylight over the entry now; nothing but drywall and skylight trim now, even over the ridge beam. I don't konw if there's a mandatory requirement for those stickers to stay on the glass- I think it's like those tags on mattresses and pillows - "Unlawful to remove" or something like that. I pulled one off a pillow once when I was eight and I expected sirens and cops to show up any second. Hopefully the window and skylight labels aren't in the same category.
You recognize this insulated area on the left? That's the Heather Murchison Kayak Storage Facility.

That expensive seminar also taught me that whenever there's a possiblity of condensation occurring in a stud or joist cavity, it's a very very bad thing. So I've been a little concerned about the making sure the perimeter of the basement wall at the ceiling intersection is nice and tightly insulated, because that's where the greatest risk is of any cold air sneaking into the house. It's where the carpenter's work (in 1948) might have left a little gaposis occasionally at the rim joist. So Pete and I discussed using some of that spray-foam insulation to essentially cover up the rim joist on the inside, and I gave it a try this evening. See that thing that looks like a really wide Santa Clause beard?
That's my first attempt. It was slightly less than totally successful, but it does provide a good seal right at the wall and ceiling intersection, so it might work. I checked out very many of the insulated areas and I must say the insulation guys did a pretty good job of filling those cavities with batts after all, so after checking it out, I looked at just sealing that ceiling gap with the spray can foam, and it seems to work pretty well in that fashion, and may be sufficient for what we need done. I'll talk w/Pete tomorrow.
To do all that insulation work, I was using the magic "light in the cap" hat that my brother Tom gave me for Christmas last year. Besides illuminating the joist cavities real well, the other thing it did for me was pretty much cast light wherever I looked, and when I was leaving, I happened to glance down at the new concrete wall where the garage door used to be. See that little dark area? One guess as to what that is. H2O. Seems like the lack of gutters so far and the driveway still causing water to zip on down to the bottom can still cause a bit of a moisture issue there. When the gutter go in that'll help, and when I take out the concrete driveway so moisture can just infiltrate the sandy dirt around the house that'll probably solve this issue. We will see soon, I'm sure.
Then I noticed that the new basement door is even wetter than that; take a look at these pics. The moisture extends all the way through the bathroom wall into the bathroom floor area (small photo at bottom right). It looks like the door sill needs some serious sealant and CLH* treatment. The gutters will help enourmously - right now the roof area drains directly into this little area. We'll have to watch this area closely.


*CLH = Caulk Like Hell