Progress on Halloween - the Metal Roof is done

The roof guys essentially finished the roof today. They have to come back to completely install the roof around the pipe for the woodstove which will be on the front porch and complete the installation of the roofing around the sun tunnels on the back dormer. 

Front view of the house. I just think the roof looks wonderful.

Side view of the house. The flashing on the end of the front porch is not done because that is where the wood stovepipe will go and they have to cut around the pipe and flash it.

Back porch and side porch. The dormers have been painted because the roof is so steep you couldn't stand on it to paint. The trim on the front of the dormer is not painted yet. The hole on the side of the dormer is where the Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV) - the Lunos e2 - goes.

This is the driveway side. The roof looks so much better with flashing on the end. You can see where we are debating about trim colors - the top color on the side trim is called "Earl Grey" below it is John's favorite called "Hopsack". I like the darker color better. The siding will be painted "Adobe White."

Carlton and Myron have sealed around the windows inside. I hope to do a blower door test next week to see how well our airsealing is going.

Where we are today - the end of October

I'm doing this post to show people where we are in the construction process because everybody asks me "How is the house coming?"

Below are few photos of the exterior. The metal roof is almost done. It looks beautiful. It is shiny and bright which will help a lot in the summer in terms of reflecting the sun's heat.

Front view of the house, the roof has been installed on more than 1/2 of the steep part of the roof. They will install porch roofing last. These are iPhone photos and the light was going so the pictures are a little blurry.

Side view of the house. I really like the detail of the roof and the overhang. John will cover the porch columns with some other wood to beef it up a little bit. The porch will also be stained. The piers look crooked in the photo but that is just distortion from the camera.

Back side of the house. Those boxes on the top are for the sun tunnels to provide light to the upstairs bathroom and the stairway. You can see how nice the roofing looks.

This is the driveway side - the 3 windows are the upstairs bedroom window, the kitchen window over the sink, and a small fixed window in the downstairs bathroom. I realize it is not very symmetrical or aesthetically pleasing, but we needed the back corner room for utilities and a window didn't fit. Also the window in the bathroom has to be small because there is a shower in there. And you know what happens to windows in showers - moisture issues. So this view of the house is kind of goofy, but I think with landscaping we can make it look much better. I would like a small patio on this side between the stairs to the porches.

Mahogany Door - Almost Finished Refinishing

After several weeks of serious sanding, followed by stain and several coats of spar polyurethane, the door is essentially finished. I think there are a couple of spots that need to be touched up, but I think it looks great.

There were a few blobs of bristles and thickened varnish that I lightly sanded off with 600 grit sandpaper. They need a new coat of varnish (polyurethane) on top. 

Here is the panel that I sanded. The color really looks more like the color in the first photo. But it is so much prettier than it was when we got it.

John is ready for it to be put up in the doorway, but Carlton is going to wait because people will be bringing drywall, wood flooring, tubes to blow in cellulose, and other supplies through the door and he doesn't want the door to get dinged up.

Should anyone decide to refinish a door like this, the key to it is sanding, sanding. The panel corners, moulding are extremely difficult. We really like the Dremel tool detail sander. It made it so much easier to get to those difficult spots in a timely fashion without KILLING our fingers. 

Insulation in Kneewalls

Kneewalls are a challenging part of a home because they are a little bit hard to build and insulate. We chose kneewalls because of the expanded space and better, though challenging, insulation.

Here is a drawing from Shelter Kit showing the kneewall extension. So rather than having the rafters meet the floor joists directly, there is a extension of the wall that supports the rafters. This gives you more usable space.

Shelter Kit - Drawing of Kneewall 

The next drawing shows the increase in space in the upstairs with kneewalls.

Comparison of space with and without kneewalls

The difficulty arises with the funky cavities made by these kneewalls. How do you insulate this space?

Dormer framing with wall framing behind it

I posted a question on Green Building Advisor about it because I just didn't think the insulation company would be able to blow-in cellulose effectively in these spots. I decided to fill them with Roxul mineral wool insulation and then I'll cover that with the Intello Plus smart vapor barrier. Then we will insulate with the cellulose over that. Does that seem like a lot of insulation for this area? Well, it is, but this is what I call "a vulnerable area" a seam between sections of the house (the roof, the wall and the rim joist below) that is very prone to air leakage. 

Also the details of adding exterior insulation to this short section of wall would have been very challenging. So we omitted it from this section of wall. And we built this wall before I started going crazy about air sealing so the inside of this cavity is not air-sealed as almost every other cavity in the house is. The outside is taped though. 

Now you can see my efforts at insulating the kneewalls. This might not meet Grade 1 insulation standard, but the voids are filled. Remember that there will be at least 5 inches of cellulose interior to this insulation to make sure the wall is well insulated.

Intello Plus membrane will be stapled between the Roxul mineral wool insulation and the dormer wall framing in front. That space will be filled with dense-packed cellulose.

Bedroom kneewall stuffed with Roxul mineral wool insulation.