Wha Happened

So - the old saying goes that if you're not going to do something right you shouldn't do it at all. I like this saying and I like to think that most of the time I live by it. I'd rather wait and save up the funds to buy the ______ that I really want and which I know will last than buy the cheep alternative.

Well, if you're privy to any of the stories about our house you know that the renters who lived here before we did were not making decisions with that thought process. Many of the things that they did were completed in the cheapest way possible. The result of their decisions has of course meant that we've spent a lot of time redoing what was already done.

The most recent example of this was our decision to replace all of the insulation between our roof rafters. I've known since early on that the insulation was poor in this area. However, when we had the rest of the house insulated, before our second winter here, they told us that the only way to fix it was to remove the ceiling in our entire upstairs (you guessed it because the job was not done right). Clearly we were a bit hesitant to take on this huge job right away. After this winters heavy snow and my constant battles with icicles (and water) I booked up the contractors for the job....it was a huge undertaking and they made a mess of the house (no fault of theirs....this is just messy work). But after all the mess and inconvenience the end result is that we now have 4"/5" of closed cell foam (hard as a rock) insulation professionally installed. This product gives us an R value of 30+ at the 100yr mark and much higher now. This stuff is incredible and in Architect speak it makes the house SO TIGHT! Since completing the work I've noticed that when I leave in the morning there is now more frost on the top portion of the roof than the lower portion...a complete reversal! I'll let the pics below further describe the effort.