Long time, all the things!

Insulation was wrapped up on Monday, with only a couple of blown out walls.
The insulation guys were very nice, but drywallers they are not. This problem was the studs at the far end of the house were all over the map, so in some sections there was just too much pressure behind the drywall once they put in the insulation, and it cracked the drywall panels down the midde. The back bedroom is going to have to have a whole lot more love now.

This was one of their better repair jobs in the hallway.

 

 

 

It's a lot quieter, and I think the temperature is more even in the house now. I would highly recommend the MassSave program for anyone looking to add insulation to their older home. It was well worth the run around.

Friday night, after poking the spackle in the bedroom I'm working on for a few minutes, I decided it was ON between me and the masking tape on the floor. If you remember, Ms Mary was a firm believer in modern adhesives, and decided loops of masking tape were the best thing for keeping her area rugs in one place.
I can approciate keeping your rugs in one place, but there are better ways. I have no idea how long that tape had been down, but it wasn't coming up for love of money. I tried hot water. Hot water with soap. Hot water with vinegar. GooGone (took off the floor finish with the tape). Wallpaper remover. And you want to know what worked?
WD-40.
I should have know this. A million years ago when I was fighting heavy list in the SCA, that's how we would get old decals and tape off of our helmets. I had to let it sit for a good while, but in the end, it worked brilliantly.

Tape.

Tape everywhere.

WD40 to the rescue!
(I tried to score the tape a little too, so it could soak faster.
In the end, it didn't seem to make a big difference.)

TaDa!

I feel so much better about the floors now. The floor refinisher people were going to charge me $150 and hour if they had to try to get it up themselves. I've added WD40 to the toolbox as my go to adhesive remover.

Saturday I had to fix a wee gap out on the porch. After the insulation guys had done their thing, I went and swapped the screen for the storm window in the porch door. The suction it created whenever I would open the porch door, or then the door into the house, would suck a little poof of insulation out of the ceiling every time. It's was like my very own fake snow machine, and I was tired of vacuuming it up.

The tiny gap where the ceiling meets the wall.

A little foam insulation and a piece of pre-primed quarter round.
No more gap. No more fake snow!

After that was done, I moved on to the mudroom. Dealing with this room is necessary before I can get a new fridge. I had mostly gutted it, but made sure it was good and empty, then ripped up the floor and patched/primed the walls.

Closet doors removed (weeks ago.)

Most of the closet surround removed (weeks ago)

Closet bar and carpet removed (Saturday)

First coat of primer.

Second coat of primer.

I have to try to pick a paint for this small, windowless space this week. You'll notice that the far left wall is being ignored. And for good reason - it's going to be studded out because right now it's just a plank wall between the mudroom and the back of the bathroom. I wish, dearly, I could make that electrical crap disappear into the walls, but I can't really. Maybe it can be made prettier though.
At least some of it will be dry walled over on the left. The floor will be leveled, and I'm thinking some sort of tile for this floor, since it will be under moisture-producing machines (the fridge and washing machine will eventually both live in here.)

Sunday was much of the same, but sanding/priming the bedroom upstairs. I could still be there, smoothing and tweaking the spackle, but at a certain point I had to call it good enough. And so for now, this room is good enough.

Not much to see here.
Spackle Spackle Spackle.

This room has gotten a coat of primer all the way around (walls and ceiling.)
Tonight will be a coat of ceiling paint and another coat of primer on the walls.

It will feel really good to get this one room done.
Of course, I need to pick a color for it too.
Dang.
I'm beginning to understand why people would buy a contractor bucket of Navajo White and do the whole house one color.

Here we go!

It's insulation day! (1 of 3, anyway.)
We discovered fun things about the construction of my house, and what outlets are on the same circits as other outlets. It was exciting!

Working their way around the house.

They have been really good about trying to keep clean.

Hole waiting for insulation.

White paint over burgundy paint over white paint.

Sprooots!

I over seeded the lawn a little while back in a vain attempt to make the bare patches better.
I don't know if it's better, but the seeds sprouted!

Well, there's your problem

See the little louvered vent above the second floor windows, right under the roof peak?
That's a gable vent.

Ian and Windy were over the last two days getting the ventilation set to right in advance of the insulation people coming on Monday. Part of the deal was to make sure that the gable end vents, visually obvious from the ground, were wide enough to ventilate correctly.
I got a text this morning, as I was on my way into work to call about the vents.
"It's blocked" he said, " the one in the old side of the house, away from the driveway. With drywall and insulation."
"Huh?"
"The opening. Is blocked. Also, the "opening" is low."

Ah. To open it completely would expose the gable vent to an area that is currently the master bedroom.

"Send a picture?"

Bonus: abandoned wasp nest.

The solution (of which there are no pictures) was to open as much as could be opened above the ceiling level, to at least get SOME airflow in that end of the house.
And other bonus: They left the clapboards on and just vinyl sided over it, so I know the house was white, and the trim looks burgundy*.

*Edit 10/17 - The more I look at it, it appears that the house was burgundy and then painted over white. I think that's siding, not trim.

Success!

Wayne the Electrician came over, and after lots of snuggles by the resident cat, he inspected the whole house, top to bottom. I learned about metal sheathed wiring vs knob and tube, and sort of what was going on in my walls.
Best news? No Knob and Tube!! Next stop - ventilation and insulation!

It's the thought that counts. right?
(Stove is electric.)

Getting chilly

With news that it was supposed to get down to freezing, I went home last week and leveled the rest of the hosta, (and whatever else got in the way.) There's nothing more icky than trying to do fall cleanup around soggy, mushy frost-bit hosta, so that had to happen.
It's sad, because it's the end of the season, but also so satisfying to put things to bed. I need to get a few yards of top soil to bring the beds up a little, and I'm hoping to acquire a chipper/shredder to mulch the bed with leaves.
So much of the weekend was spend outside.

I'd forgotten how much bigger the yard is when the greenery is low.
I left the phlox for now (trimed down a bit) for the birds to perch on in the winter.
I need to transplant the peonies (left) to somewhere with more light.

I need to neaten up this bed, but I ran out of ommph.
I have no idea what the iron pipe there is for, but it's pretty solid.
I need to do some drastic dividing/reorienting.
These burned pretty bad and bloomed late. I think they want more shade.

You can't tell what happened in this picture, but this was most of Saturday.
I went on a wild bittersweet/privet/wisteria hacking spree. So much bittersweet.

Not quite cold enough to knock off the last of the Naked Ladies, so they got a reprieve for now.

In other news, best electrician Wayne found time to come over and give the house a knob and tube inspection. Tonight's fun includes me wandering around taking covers off outlets and light switches to make his job faster. I'm going to take a pad of sticky notes and label the rooms so he know how many he's looking for when he walks in.