Group 6 2 minutes Read

progress report: week 11

Lauren Zerbey

Hey, Mother Nature – it’s June, ok? Enough with the 55 degrees and the rain!

On second thought, dreary weather does make it easier to work inside.

1. The weekend forecast looked promising earlier in the week, but as Friday rolled around, it was shaping up to be another rainy weekend. So we said “take that!”  Mother Nature and installed the skylight on Friday night. We started at 6:30 and were done by 10:00, just as the last bit of light left the sky.

Kyle had already framed in the rough opening so it was just a matter of drilling pilot holes from the inside and then connecting the dots and cutting out the roof.

Roof on the floor, roof on the floor!

Victory! We’re thrilled with the new view (it’s our neighbor’s tree, but nature can be borrowed).

I’m still learning how to take photos in situations with extreme contrast, but you get the idea. Unfortunately, we still have the loft window to install, but at least now we know it can be done on a weeknight!

2. Kyle also installed the tension rods last week.

He ran a string line across the space to use as a guide to align the turnbuckles.

This end will be concealed behind the finish material, so we didn’t have to worry about aesthetics. I still think it’s a sexy connection though.

The rods act in tension when you tighten the turnbuckle. This effectively forms the bottom leg of a triangle, creating a more stable roof structure.

3. Ok, I don’t know how – but it happened again. I blame the rain. 

We thought we’d have to rent a plow this time, but the ol’ trusty lawnmower did a passable job.

4. Since it was so crappy on Sunday, Dustin (who is also just a generally awesome guy), came over to help and he and I got to work installing rigid insulation on the exterior side of the vaulted ceiling. 

Since we only had about 5″ of depth to work with, we had to use rigid insulation instead of batt insulation to meet energy code requirements. (Kyle first installed 1″ furring strips in each bay to provide a 1″ airspace for ventillation.)

It was not as easy a task as we had hoped.

And since old houses aren’t perfect, there was a lot of tweaking. Ultimately, we made a big mess and I think I still have insulation in my hair.

But it came together nicely! The panels more or less friction fit and then Kyle went around with the spray foam and filled any crevices and the space around the tension rod anchors.

5. While Dustin and I insulated, Kyle worked on electrical rough-in.

The only thing I did while Kyle was in Miami last week was organize the electrical supplies. Being able to find what you need is key to maintaining sanity during a remodel.

To place the j-box for the island light, we marked out the island location on the subfloor, then used a chalk line to find the center. We then placed the laser level at the center, shooting a light up towards the ceiling.

Kyle then used this point to align the center of the j-box before installing.

I call this one, “men at work”. Hey – I made the Whole Foods burrito run.

And here we have the rough in for mission control. We’ve been surprised how warm the house has been, especially since it was only in the low 60’s today.

Phew…busy week. We’re still trucking along and I’m feeling confident that the electrical will go pretty fast. Installing the rest of the rigid insulation in the loft, not so much.