Insulation and Drywall

Insulation and Drywall. These two materials have transformed what was just a shell of a house into something that looks very close to a livable space. The insulation started with spray foam and caulk. We called for 3″ of spray foam on the underside of the roof sheathing. This is to get enough R value to keep any sort of condensation from wanting to form up in the joist space. Basically it ensures that the dew point (temperature where water condenses) falls within the spray foam and since vapor can’t permeate the spray foam it avoids any potential for moisture to accumulate in the joist space. The insulators also caulked any joint between two pieces of wood. This is to ensure that there is no air leakage at these joints. I found this entirely unnecessary since we did the zip r-panel outside all of the studs but they did it anyway…

We also helped spray foam all the voids around the windows. This is one of the weakest points in many homes so I volunteered to tackle this to be sure that it got done the way I wanted.

Once all the spray foam and caulk were complete they installed fiberglass batt insulation in the wall stud and roof joist cavities. Some of you may be surprised that I used ‘standard fiberglass’ but keep in mind it’s paired with spray foam at the roof and zip r-panel at the walls. Sure, there are other types of cavity insulation that are considered ‘better’ than fiberglass batt but it is only better when you start expecting it to do more than just insulate. Both dense pack cellulose and blown in fiberglass are better at stopping air movement but I already had that covered with the other materials so what I was looking for is the highest r-value per inch at the best cost. And you can’t beat fiberglass for that.

In addition to insulating the exterior envelope for thermal purposes, we also installed fiberglass batt in all of the interior wall and ceiling cavities for sound.

Once all the insulation was in place, the drywallers began their work. The board went up pretty fast. Most of it was hung within a week. But then it took nearly three more weeks to tape and finish it all. There were some veteran finishers on the job and one of them told me that in 40 years of experience, our house was the hardest projects he had worked on. With all the windows and natural light it shows every imperfection so they spent a lot of time trying to do their best. They also went over all of the walls/ceiling with a very thin skim coat to try to even everything out.

It has been so exciting for all of us to see the progress. Bri’s room was one of the last spots where they hung the drywall and the next time we were at the house she told me ‘Mom, I’m going to go see if they finished that wall in my room.’ It’s really starting to look and feel like home.