Drywall and Insulation

We are concentrating on drywall (and insulation) as that is the main thing holding up other progress.  And it is cold outside so indoor work is the priority of the winter.

A lot of the interior wall areas have been glued and screwed.  And we are working on the ceiling of the first floor. We need to make progress with pocket doors, which includes getting a hammer drill and tapcon fasteners AND the 36" doors, at least 4 of the 5 doors, and then we can continue the drywall over those areas.  And Sunday, we will be fishing some more wires, and perhaps, if it is warm enough, caulking around windows, doors and electrical boxes/wires in the exterior walls.

It was 55 degrees in the house when I went out there (around 9 am) - 18 degrees was about the low outside this morning.  The exterior walls are not insulated yet.  We are working on the South wall insulation.

We are enjoying the process.  And still married - happily.  At this point, we know Christmas 2014 is no longer realistic as a possibility of moving in. So we are hoping for the spring 2015.

Earth Tubes IN the Culvert Pipes and UNDER the Driveway

The Earth Tubes are now under our driveway.  There are two 'bundles' of air pipes, seven 6 inch PVC Schedule 40 pipes in each bundle.  Each bundle goes thru our 'heat exchanger' culvert pipe which is 40 ft long, to scavenge heat from each other and to be extra-protected from vehicular traffic above. These air pipes include kitchen and bathroom vents and the dryer vent as well as earth tubes.

West 7 pipes w clean out for dryer vent pipe

 Unfortunately, the plumbers covered the pipes as they were working so we don't have a picture of all of the pipes on the West side.  One of those pipes (west-most) was very deep so it was better to fill the ditch before working on the pipe above it. They are the earth tubes from the West Annex.

East 7 pipes

In this picture of the East air pipes, you can easily see all 7 pipes. You can also see four of the five 12 inch 'pillars'  that will support the grade beam that will be under the sidewalk and posts for the balcony/deck. The air pipes were relatively at the same depth under the house slab.  The  East culvert is about 14 feet from the house.  The West culvert is about 18 feet from the house.

Working inside the house while this was going on was detrimental to one's health because of the glue fumes.  We opened the doors to the South and North promoting air flow and helping the air quality without losing too much heat.  Once they finish the pipes, extending them another 30 feet into the woods, we should have good air flow without opening windows or doors. And the air pipes being under the dirt will exchange heat with the soil. We expect this to keep the house temperature relatively constant. 

Looking into the ends of the culvert pipes, they are packed with pipes and insulation.  And there is 2 inch blueboard insulation over the pipes as they go into and come out of the culvert pipes.

East end of culvert pipe close to house

End of West culvert pipe far from house

 At this point, each pipe has a wire in it which will be replace with parachute cord.  This cord will be used to enable cleaning the pipes as needed, if needed.

Earth Tubes, Insulation, AND Grass on the South Slope

Last week, Danny dug a ditch along the North side of the house.  This was to help us locate the earth tubes that exit from under the house.  We did locate enough of them to start work on extending them out into the woods - underground. Monday, Brad, Chris and Danny started digging, and running pipe to our heat-exchanger.  Unfortunately, we got 22 degree fittings and they want 45 degree fittings, so we have to work around that availability problem. Today Deondre has arrived and is helping Bill put in underground support structure for the posts that will support our deck/balcony.  So here are some pictures of that progress.

The earth tube from the West Annex on the right, from the living room on the left

Chris gluing pipes at heat exchanger entrance

 The inside work - insulation and drywall - is of less priority than the earth tubes at this time, but it has progressed since my last update.  We are working on the first floor walls. We have placed the drywall on the walls in the kitchen and on the walls in one of the bedrooms and some other areas, such as those that have curvature.  The second floor library walls have drywall and some of the bedrooms' walls also.  We are saving the spackling compound and sanding for another day(s). 

Blocking in place in kitchen wall

Insulation in place in main kitchen wall

Drywall in place on kitchen wall

 

The other kitchen wall

And we have grass growing on the South Slope.