Just a Little Blue House

So after getting the majority of the exterior insulation in place, it became time to start actually closing things in! For us this is an extremely exciting change in our housing situation. The sooner we get the wall material up, the sooner we will have a master bedroom! Probably the biggest decision in this phase was what to use for our wall materials. I have entertained ideas such as tile, stone, plaster (a special type, very cool), paint, wood etc. before finally settling back on the tried and true sheetrock with a couple of accents most likely in concrete and/or wood. Let me say here that sheet rock, or gypsum board, is not my favorite material in the world. It is brittle and not particularly environmentally friendly. To finish it off well requires a lot of time and patience to get everything smooth without applying a texture. However on its list of benefits is the fact that it has fire retarding abilities and is relatively inexpensive. Also, the plaster I mentioned before required sheetrock to be placed first anyway, which ended up not financially feasible. Personally I like very solid walls along the lines of masonry but that isnt always possible in stick-built homes. The future addition (more on that to come in a later post) will have a bit more masonry to help things a long.

That being said, I worked with what I had. I researched a product called EcoRock (here)  which uses 90% less energy to produce. While it seemed like a great product to use, it won’t be available in Texas for quite some time. While I was at it, I also took the time to research various methods of sound transference reduction from room to room and floor to floor. A well sound-insulated house can be very important when living quarters are close in a smaller house like this one. There were a few dedicated products including a special board with layers of gypsum and a barrier in between. These became quite expensive however so I went with a decent affective plan of action: 5/8″ sheetrock (normal is 1/2) with insulation in between all of the rooms. This should give me a decent reduction in sound without being too costly. Downstairs where the entertainment center and everything is located we will probably use a bit more of an aggressive attack such as resilient channel and isolation clips to almost eliminate any foot stomping going on upstairs (more to be discussed when that happens!) Another benefit of using 5/8″ gypsum board is that it is fire rated to at least an hour.

The downside? IT IS HEAVY STUFF!

One 4×8′ sheet weighs about 7olbs.  Now, that might not seem like a ton but when you factor in the distinct lack of a stairway in our house currently (the main reason behind an addition) and the fact we have close to 50 sheets to place into the upstairs alone, it is quite a bit. We persevered though and with the help of my dad and one of my best friends Hussain, we got 14 sheets upstairs and 13 sheets on the walls. In order to get them upstairs in the first place my beast of a dad ended up hoisting the panels to me and Hussain, where we had to pull them up onto the back deck. Not particularly fun but it worked.

Now, the *correct* order of drywall is to place the ceilings first then go around and place the wall partitions. This was the plan until we realized something rather depressing; the previous owner didn’t include many of the necessary nailer boards. This meant that it would be nearly impossible to hang the ceilings. Instead, we decided to place the walls but leave a gap at the tops to accommodate the 5/8″ ceiling panels. Before our next round of installation I will make sure we have all the correct nailers so we can get back on track. We got all of them lightly tacked up that day and called it quits. Rebekah and I the next evening spent a couple hours driving the appropriate amount of screws into them so we would hopefully avoid any moisture problems until completed.

That was about the extent of the excitement! Everyone was a huge help and special thanks to Hussain and my dad for their time and help. It is fantastic to see real walls going up in those rooms. Here are a few photos of the current progress!

Rebekah and Oso in the in-progress master!

Closet side of the master. And Oso

Into the hall from a bedroom

The smaller of the two bedrooms. Mostly walled in!

Tools of the trade...

And PS: Roughly THREE WEEKS before our wedding. We absolutely cannot wait

So, bees were not my friends this week. Maybe if they make me some honey sometime we’d be best buds again. However when they crawl on my ankles and hands, arms, legs, neck…. well… we’re not exactly best buds.

** Just a disclaimer: I love having bees. The bees are really awesome. I think their biology and behavior is simply amazing, and plus they are known to make lovely honey. SO, I do like the bees, this just might be a particularly bitter post.**

Well it all started, Kellan’s parents decided to buy a hive that me and Kellan are going to take care of. And its really cool, right now we have a top bar hive, and this hive is an established langstroth of about 50,000 hard working little lady bees. Well we are excited about having another hive, but it meant that Kellan had to drive to San Marcos to get them. He drove down about 5 in the afternoon because you have to wait till darkish to move the bees. Thats because they’re all back in their cozy hive for the night. Anyway, he didn’t get back to his parents till about 9 which meant we had to move the hive down the driveway, across the creek bed, up the creek bank (which was muddy), down the trail (also possibly muddy), up a step, and across a paddock…. ALL IN THE DARK.

Well, we jumped into our lovely matching bee suits, got the smoker going, and started carrying the hive. We made it across the creek bed ok, regardless of not being able to see. Uh. huh. Sad to say, it goes downhill (yeah you didn’t see that coming) and we slip in the muddy creek bank, and although we never dropped the hive completely, we rattled it pretty good…. and the bees poured out….

After that, there was nothing Kellan could have said to talk sense into my panicked head. I had felt bees ALL over my ankle and buzzing all around me. Right after we rattled the hive Kellan tells me, “Hey, you might feel some bees crawling on you”, while I’m thinking, “NO, really?!” (in a completely facetious manner). Well I got stung a few times on the ankle and after that I don’t remember getting back across the creek bed lol. Well we ended up swatting the bees off of each other and finally running into the house.

All that to say, my ankle had a lot of stings and one sting on my neck. Kellan had at least three on different parts of his body, but probably more he didn’t find. My ankle looks quite lovely now… its all puffy and I actually couldn’t even walk on it the next day. Therefore, I promise never to silently giggle and women whose ankles get swollen when they are pregnant, its seriously painful.

**Side note: Bee stings are actually very beneficial in alleviating arthritis! Its well known around beekeepers that beekeepers never get arthritis. One guy we know just treated his shoulder by grabbing bees in tweezers and sticking them on his shoulder. He got a lot more movement out of it! (Only took 20 stings….) Therefore, I’m hoping my ankle is good for awhile!**

Well, the bees are all safe now with only little harm done. My ankle will not fall off and we will both live to see another day.

If you read the title too quickly you will probably be expecting some sort of dramatic post filled with all sorts juicy gossip but alas, it says insulAting, not insulting….

Have no fear though because insulation can be pretty epic as well. Shards of glass, floating through the air, glistening in the sunlight as they find new and exciting ways of landing in your hair, clothing and eventually embedding themselves into your skin by the thousands causing an itch that can only be described true to form as “thousands of little pieces of glass stabbing into your skin.” As you have probably gathered, I hate the stuff. Putting insulation up on the bottom floor was the very first thing I accomplished when I became steward of the Little Blue House a year ago. It was a no-fun task then, and certainly hasn’t improved! Worth it? Yes, but not fun. I did learn a couple of things from last year…

• Wear a dust mask. You will have lung problems for a week if you don’t. Definitely not healthy.
• Formaldehyde-Free is definitely a good goal to achieve, as my downstairs ‘wall paper’ says over and over again in various orientations.
• Taping up the seams of batt insulation is a noble cause but far more trouble than its worth.
• Your hand will become INCREDIBLY tired if you use a squeeze stapler for that many rolls of insulation…

Our lovely wallpaper now on both floors!

So, with all these new tidbits of insulation knowledge and experience (not to mention with a new slap-stapler, more on the dangers of slap staplers later), Rebekah and I set upon the task of insulating the upstairs. With all the electrical work complete, our goal is to have the drywall put up within the next couple of months which means we would need to insulate all the exterior walls and some of the interior walls (sound proofing) before any of that can happen. Originally I had hoped to have the sheet rock put up by the wedding so we would have a master bedroom but with all the events between now and then, its not looking too probable.

Over a couple of days we got the exterior wall insulation up with very few hitches. We will have to wait to put up the interior wall insulation until after the majority of the drywall is placed. It may not have been the cleanest jobs ever but hopefully it will be covered up very soon. Rebekah did a great job with everything and definitely helped me out a lot.

Rebekah hard at work, complete with slap-stapler and dust mask (safety first!)

Rebekah opening a package of insulation

WARNING ABOUT SLAP STAPLERS: Please keep hands, toes, eyes, fingers, your significant other and any potentially stapled body parts away from a moving slap stapler! Disclaimer: You must have one hand on the slap stapler in order to actually use it…don’t get clever. If you fail to observe these warnings you might just end up hitting yourself in the finger at full hammer-swinging speed causing the underside of your fingernail to hurt beyond belief and turn black and blue. I’m pretty sure I did a good job at causing some damage but as far as I can tell my nail should remain! I’m just thankful I didnt actually hit the staple part on my finger…

Anyway, kind of a dull task to describe, but at least its done! Here are a few more photo highlights…

A shot through the two extra bedrooms. Insulation!

Aren't we adorable all covered in fiberglass?

BTHO In-sul-ation! Whoop!