Then we had some more fun
Hopefully we will notice a difference this winter.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
A couple of chores
I sealcoated the driveway earlier this week.
First time since it was paved 12 or more years ago and it has begun to show its age.
Between patching the holes, caulking the cracks, cleaning and sealcoating, about a six hour job.
Then we had some more fun
On Saturday we got the east side eve ends of the house filled with insulation . . . a brutal job.
with an insulation blowing machine that mostly did not cooperate all that well
Annie manned the machine and between fits and starts we managed to blow in nine bundles or about 900 cubic feet, filling the eve ends behind the upstairs knee walls on one side of the house completely.
It was a messy and frustrating job.
But now it's insulated and closed in
And I can finish taping and mudding the stairwell
Hopefully we will notice a difference this winter.
Then we had some more fun
Hopefully we will notice a difference this winter.
that sure doesn't look like fun!
ReplyDeleteHi Jaz, it was a thankless job and we are both licking our wounds today.
DeleteWish you lived next door...I am sooo crap at DIY
ReplyDeleteNothing to it John, if you dare to dance with the machine and wrestle the hose you'd be covered in insulation in no time.
DeleteI hate insulating. Not a job I volunteer for I can tell you. When we moved here we cleaned all the old stuff out. At some point in the past they'd used hay. So as well as being a fire risk it was also full of mice nests. All new insulation up there now though and it's made such a difference.
ReplyDeleteKev: This blown in stuff was particularly troublesome. It is shredded newspaper print, so it is supposed to be "green" ecco friendly and all that other BS. Blown insulation was really the only way to fill these spaces without proper access. But it was a messy affair and the machine and hose did not always function right clogging frequently until I removed the multiple bodged slip joints someone had put in to the hose where it had broken over time, and just but joined the hose with duck tape.
DeleteI hate working with insulation. It itches and gets all over everything. But even so, you've got a couple of big chores out of the way before winter gets here. That's a good thing. I'm doing projects here too, though most of them revolve around carpentry.
ReplyDeleteHarry: The stuff I used was a recycled news print, http://www.greenfiber.com/products.html ,so no itch to it. Thank god because it went everywhere and the whole house was covered in a fine layer of paper dust. It is a messy job. Lowes also had a Fiberglas blown in type stuff but it was more expensive and I hate to think the mess it would have made. A trick I learned along the way when installing regular fiberglass insulation bats is to douse yourself with talcum powder before diving in to the job. This fills all the pores in the sensitive areas and prevents the fibers from lodging in your skin thus preventing the itchies. When done, shower in cold water. It really works.
DeleteSimilar to John I would certainly welcome having you nearby.
ReplyDeleteI'm so pathetic I consider it an accomplishment to unhook the pipe under the sink to clean out a slow running drain...and I have to remember to put a bucket under the pipe so it doesn't drop icky stuff (I'm sure that's a technical term) when I finally wrestle the connection loose!
Seems you don't take many breaks from working in and around the house except when you when you fly into the wild blue yonder.
Leslie: Like I said to John, its just a matter of trusting that the outcome will be OK and being brave enough to jump in with both feet. After all, how much worse can it get? Drain pipes are relatively simple and quick fixes. Drano works well. But it sounds to me like you need to replace some fittings.
DeleteYes for now the house repairs are taking up most of my spare time. I hope I can have most of it beat in to submission by Christmas. But as they say, cobbler's kids have no shoes and the carpenter's house is never finished.
WOW! Sure glad my lifestyle doesn't require all that. Is your driveway blue? Good work though.
ReplyDeleteHey John no, the driveway is regular pavement, it just looks a bit blue in the photo. I took the photo late in the evening, with low light just before sunset. My next house will be a much simpler one room affair much more like yours. This one was a poor man's house built in 1937 and though I am taxed a rich man's standards for it, it has begun to show its age, thus the need for improvements. More like continuing a project I started five years ago when I rebuilt the exterior and put in new windows, insulation, sheathing, siding, roof and trim. I figured my wife has tolerated windows without trim long enough and I best not push my luck much longer or I'd wind up showing up at your door looking for a couch to sleep on. And the hideous wallpaper had to go anyhow, so out with the nasty drywall, out with the walls we did not need, and might as well rewire the place while I was at it. Besides I hate to think she'd wind up with an unfinished house if one day I don't make it down for breakfast.
DeleteBravo! That's a job I would have subbed out!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping in Señor Suerte. I figure I best do these jobs myself If I want them done right. In the spirit of self sufficiency as well as simple economics I try to do as much as I possibly can myself.
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