Spring is finally peeking out from under the heavy blanket of cold and things are starting to thaw. The creek that runs through our property is starting to move. Last year we had a dramatic rise of water, but this year it is behaving itself and staying more or less within its banks. The placement of our house was important, making sure that we were outside the flood ranges. As it stands, the water would have to be over the road by a foot or so before the water reaches our basement. Hopefully we’ll never have to deal with that.
As I mentioned in the last post, our chosen insulation for the exterior walls (excepting the basement) is closed cell foam. It is installed now and the difference is astounding. Our propane use for the temporary furnace went down dramatically and it is toasty warm inside the house.
The large numbers of windows flood our house with light during the day and on sunny days it warms it up quite nicely. Now that the heat we put inside the house stays inside, the lumber can begin to truly dry out. We have been running a dehumidifier as well when we are able.
Code requires basements to be insulated to below the frost line, and since a large section of our basement is exposed, that section would have to be insulated floor to ceiling. We decided to insulate the entirety of the basement exterior walls that way, using foam panels installed with Z channels instead of being glued directly to the block. The foam is paint-able, or if we decide to drywall the whole basement later, we can install it directly over the insulation. For now, it will remain the robin egg blue of the foam.
Next the walls go up, both plywood on the dome surface and drywall on the vertical surfaces. Rooms will start to look like rooms. The bricklayers are scheduled as well to finish up what is left of the exterior work. Allons-y!
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