11-2-99
Ok We are over the trauma of building the dormers. You can see one inch foam board is on the outside and we are starting on the sideing. We had 4" of urethane insulation sprayed on the ceiling, 2" in the house walls, and 1" in the garage walls and ceiling. This type of insulation has an "R" value of over 7 per inch. It cures pretty hard and actually adds strength to the structure. Tests show 3" of this insulation in a wall has the same racking strength as ½" OSB. Another benefit is it acts as a vapor barrier. No wind blows through it either. It's good stuff.
Flint has found strange places to do homework, at the top of a 16' stepladder.
And most exciting for September, our doors and windows arrived. They are made by Thermotech Windows LTD. of Canada, where they know how to build windows for the north. Please let me brag a bit about them; foam filled fiberglass (or fibreglass!) frames, triple pane, warm edge spacers, argon fill (both cavities), and low E (optimized for maximum solar heat gain) on two panes. These windows should be net heat gainers. In other words, in the winter they should gain more heat than they lose. You might wonder about the summer. Well I played with summer and winter sun angles in the computer and the eve overhangs are designed so they will block most summer sun but let in most winter sun.
And in case any are worried Kaylee , at least, must think our marriage is surviving the house building!
Next time pictures of windows.