November 15th -- When I bought this old house about 26 years ago one of the things I did before moving in was to install rolls of pink attic insulation in the eaves.
And, I spent most of this afternoon once again installing insulation. The code requires that new walls, floors and ceilings they are exposed or exterior are insulated. However, in this house there are also lots of new walls that don't require insulation, but would benefit from it. Insulation not only keeps spaces cool when it is hot and warm when it is cool, but also helps to reduce unwanted noise. I wanted to insulate the ceiling above the guest bedroom and bathroom so that my guests would not be disturbed by any noise coming from the master bedroom and bath. I wanted to insulate the walls of the 3/4 bath that are adjacent to the gathering room so there would be more privacy when guests use that bathroom. I also wanted to insulate the laundry room so that laundry noise would be minimized.
It was an insulation race...the drywall crew were scheduled to show up any time. The contractor called the insulation company, but they were unsure whether they could come before Monday. If the insulation crew showed up AFTER the drywall crew, that would defeat the main purpose of this second round of insulation.
When it was clear that the drywall crew was not going to show up this morning, I decided to step up and brush off my insulation installation skills. Ironically, after I returned home with a car full of insulation from Home Depot, the insulation crew had arrived, but they had to finish work they had already started in the crawl space. They said they would install insulation in the ceiling, but I was on my own for the walls to dampen sound in the 3/4 bath and laundry room.
Here is where it got interesting....as the insulation crew worked, they were also creating this small mountain of insulation cast off pieces that they were just going to throw out. Always looking for a way to repurpose and recycle, I asked if I could have these pieces and they said yes. I used a lot of their cast off pieces of insulation to better insulate the bathrooms on the upper level, as shown in this photo of the second bath on the upper level.
I also insulated whatever I could in the master bath, including this wall in the shower and below the built-in shower bench:
Below and to the left is the newly insulated wall in the toilet room in the master bath. Below and to the right is the back end of the framing of the soaker tub where I jammed a ton of scarp pieces of insulation around the tub so that it should take a while for the warm bathwater to cool off.
Below is a shot of the front of the soaker tub and you can see all the insulation that I jammed down the front of the tub and around the roughed in plumbing valves.
The insulation crew did a great job to insulate the ceiling and the new plumbing chases in the guest suite, as shown by these photos
Here is the insulation that I put into the walls of the laundry room to dampen the sound of the washer and dryer:
I also installed insulation (the stuff that I bought from Home Depot) between the wall studs of the 3/4 bath off the gathering room (and even insulated the space above the door below) to dampen the sound.
The insulation crew continued their work in the crawl space, this time insulating the ceiling of the crawl space, or the floor joists of the gathering room addition.
The painters continued to work on the exterior, and I'll soon post more photos of their progress. The mason was back and he laid brick under the new kitchen window. The original kitchen window was so big that the sill was actually below the old countertop. So, now there will not only be a nice weather-tight window in the kitchen, but it will be at same height of the sink that will be in front of it. Once the mortar dries, the painters will paint over these bricks.
I still have more insulation to install tomorrow morning to sound proof the walls between the laundry room and the guest bathroom. At least the drywall crew, if they show up tomorrow, will be able to work around me as it shouldn't take me too long to install the rest of the insulation.
And, with the generosity of the insulation crew to give me their scraps, I am looking forward to returning the unused insulation rolls to Home Depot tomorrow afternoon.
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