Take a breath of fresh, non-stagnant, oxygen-rich, outdoor air

This is what happens when you watch too much TV. Well, I certainly don't watch that much TV, but I happened to catch a local news story last night about an energy efficient house that was too airtight due to spray foam insulation and lack of proper ventilation. Ummm...yikes! Basically, no fresh outdoor air was making its way into the house, and the air inside the house was stagnant and loaded with carbon dioxide -- causing in this particular case, the family's pet hamsters to fall over dead. Now, I just couldn't stand the thought of walking into our house one day after work to a dead Soxy Paws. So what did I do? What any crazy cat mom would do, of course, I got on the EPA's website to see how we could improve ventilation in our house. Now, you see, this spaz moment probably wouldn't have occurred if I thought the house was already properly ventilated, but I did not. Luckily, when I brought this up to Indy today (queue Noel chuckling at my ridiculousness in the background), he too had seen the news story and said he thought to himself, "Oh, no, Hannah's probably watching this." Well, you're right buddy, I was. So, he said it probably would not be a bad idea if we had a fresh air exchange added on to our geothermal system. And, yes, I have already called our geothermal dude, Joe, who actually had the same concerns and is going to make it happen. Soxy's lungs thank you.


News story link: Too-tight Energy-Efficient Home Traps Carbon Dioxide


What a difference a little sheetrock makes! Apparently, we have some very efficient sheetrockers. It took them a day and a half to hang sheetrock in our house. Today, two guys were applying tape and plaster to the seams, corners, and screw heads. The house seems more cozy and more like a home now. Next week, we will walk through the house and decide which way doors should swing and discuss crown moulding and other trim.

Back of the living room at the overlook and entry to the kitchen.

Tray ceiling in the bedroom.

Bonus room.

The geothermal well drillers were at work today finishing up the third and final vertical well. It is quite the dirty job, and fittingly these boys have been featured on Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe (or so they tell us). Each well is 300 feet deep, and the remnants of rock or mud that is pulled out of each well is pulverized into a lava-looking substance that is oozing down our front yard as we speak.

Front of drilling truck.

That is one dirty job!

The ooze oozing down the hill.

The head of the first well surrounded by the ooze.

Bonnaroo isn't until June but we're ready to rock...sheetrock that is!

Organization is key to overseeing the building of a house -- especially when it comes to finances. At the beginning of this process, we created an Excel spreadsheet in which we insert totals from each bill so that we may keep a running total on the whole process. Each receipt we receive is filed in our binder titled 'Building the White House.' (C'mon, people, what else would it be called?!) It's a good idea to look over the details of every receipt. Well, this time we have a feeling we have been billed twice because we have two invoices that are identical. We'll take that up with Builders Supply tomorrow, but the moral of this paragraph: be organized and pay close attention to invoices/receipts.


And, hello, spring weather. Oh, how we have missed thee! We spent some time at the homestead today checking out the progress. The house is almost entirely insulated except for about a third of the attic. The house is amazingly soundproof to the exterior with the installation of the foam insulation, and you can already tell a difference in the interior temperature. On Friday, the drywall was delivered. The sheetrockers should begin tomorrow. In the words of AC/DC: 'For those about to sheetrock...we salute you!'

OMG! It's a big green fungus taking over our living room ceiling!

Our warm and soundproof living room.

Sheetrock.

We are rather saddened by the remnants of the spray foam that occupies these trashbags. Any ideas on how to minimize this on Indy's future projects?

And there is a truck in our front yard...a really big truck with lots of really complex controls. However, this is no ordinary truck. It is the truck that will drill our geothermal wells, hopefully tomorrow. 

Parting shot: View of our house from the next hill...it's that white speck in the top right.

And you thought only fraternities threw foam parties!

The house is officially dried-in! The roof is complete. Let the inside work begin.


On Monday, Indy parked his trailer housing barrels of foam insulation ingredients at the homestead. 

A peek inside the foam mobile. All the cansisters house different ingredients that combine to make the foam.

Yesterday foaming commenced. Apparently as the foam is being sprayed, it emits a pungent odor, which requires the foam dudes to wear respirators when spraying (envision the E.T. scientist suits). When I got to the homestead, I popped my head in the house and didn't smell any chemical odor. Nevertheless, I didn't want to galavant around in the house if I shouldn't be. After talking to Indy, he told me it was fine to go on in and look around because the smell dissipates 15 minutes after spraying. At that particular time, the foam guys were trimming the excess from the walls and bagging up the remnants in a trash bag. 

The foam snake

Foam in the raw (prior to being trimmed)

Trimming the foam with a flexible jigsaw

Close up of the finished product

We are the first house that Indy is foaming in its entirety. He is using two types of foam in our house -- a fluffy foam (for the walls and ceiling of the attic) and a much denser foam (for the subfloor to keep our tootsies warm). With this method of insulation, foam will insulate the ceiling of the attic as opposed to the floor of the attic (which is done with fiberglass or blown cellulose insulation). As the foam is sprayed in the attic ceiling, it is not trimmed flush with the rafters. The insulation in the subfloor increases the efficiency of our geothermal system (as does the attic insulation) and pretty much eliminates a chance for mold to build up in the floor joists.


We also spoke to Indy about our idea to install vinyl tiles as opposed to porcelain tiles in the utility room. Turns out there is no real cost savings. We also talked about the ceiling in the great room (considering Indy believes that they'll get started on drywall by Friday). We wanted to install a bead board ceiling with beams to add a little character to the house.


As you know, we always want to be a step ahead. So when I asked Indy what we need to be picking out next, he said interior paint color. How fun!! Evidently, it's drywall then interior paint and trim. We hope finishing the exterior siding is on the agenda as well. 

The parting shot: aka the booty shot

The hills are alive with the sound of...rain...

The rain has found it's way back to the hills of Lynchburg. Blah and blah! However, the masons completed the rock fascia on the exterior of the house (covering the foundation block and the exterior of our chimney) last week just as the drizzle resumed. The focal point of both the exterior and interior of the house is the chimney, and the exterior looks gorgeous! The interior chimney rock fascia and hearth cannot be completed until the 'guts' of the chimney and fireplace are installed. We are not quite to that point yet. They have also progressed on the siding and exterior window trim on the house, which like the siding is a fiber-cement material. The siding and roof are complete on the garage. I might just gather Julie Andrews and the whole Von Trapp gang and frolic on the hills if/when they ever get the metal roof on the whole house. Doe a deer a female deer, ray a drop of golden sun... Oh, pardon me. Sometimes I get a bit carried away.

The clouds parted and a beam of light streamed down onto this chimney. That is just how spectacular it is. Or, maybe it was just a coincidence.

A closer look at my rack...oops...I mean rock.

A picture perfect window.

To ensure no leakage, all seams on the siding have been caulked.

Last week we had quite a productive day making more cabinet decisions. Henry's Cabinets created computer-generated layouts of our cabinets and cabinet door samples of the colors and styles we chose. Noel picked up the samples, and we had a night to rethink our color and style choices before meeting with the cabinet maker the next day to make some changes. An interior designer I am not. (Just in case anyone had their doubts.) The layout only required minimal tweaking, thankfully. Note: when building a house, get as many samples of materials as possible. Anything can look good when it's a 3"x3" sample. It's far different when it's an entire cabinet door. Hopefully, we've made much better choices this time.


We have tile on the brain. We have decided (unless we change our minds of course...ha!) to use vinyl tile in the utility room as opposed to porcelain tile. The cost savings is HUGE, and vinyl tile is durable and surprisingly looks very nice. In several years, we can rip it up and lay porcelain tile ourselves if we feel froggy. The master bathroom is the biggest tile decision we have to make.


What's up next?! Hopefully, completing that roof and insulating the house. (The windows are already wrapped on the interior anxiously awaiting the arrival of the foam insulation.)