Insulation

Sorry for the hiatus - we've been very busy with Jeremy's work and making decisions. Not much has been happening that is worth pictures, so there haven't been many posts. The major decision we had to make was if we wanted to stick with the basic fiberglass insulation or upgrade. Here is the decision we had to make:

• Go with fiberglass insulation. This is the lowest cost, but also the least efficient. It leaves a lot of gaps around the insulation for air flow, but where the insulation covers it does a good job keeping the cold out in the winter and heat out in the summer.
• Go with blown in insulation. This costs more but is more efficient. It tends to fill in many of the gaps and its composition makes it slightly denser - helping to block air flow and sound coming through the wall.
• Go with a spray foam layer covered by blown in insulation. This is the most efficient and most expensive. However, most experts say it will pay for itself in the first 3-5 years depending on how high you keep you furnace. 

After days of deliberation and a few phone calls to Chris, we figured out that we should have just enough room in our budget (we hope) to do this. It might mean a few cutbacks for now, but soon enough we'll be able to make up for it in the money we will save. So we picked the third option. We went to see the house on the night that they did the spray foam, but unfortunately we didn't bring the camera and so there are no pictures of that. 

That was done on Monday and the girls thought it looked like Meringue and we think Clare might have just tried some if she could. It is pretty hard though - not like a nice fluffy pie topping.

Today (Tuesday, March 22) they started blowing in the insulation and they will finish up tomorrow. It is almost fluffy looking, but mixed with cornstarch and water it becomes solid and stays in the walls nicely. 

Though the house is all surrounded by white fluffy stuff, we hope that the snow stays away!

One other note to pass along: sometime since we last updated the blog the heater was brought in and hooked up - though it doesn't run yet - we'll have to get the thermostat hooked up soon as this weekend is supposed to be another cold nasty one.