The attic is DONE!

Wow. I can't believe we got this done in a month. We ROCK.

By Saturday we were completely finished hanging the beams, which left 2 things left, seal some bad flashing on the roof, and cleaning up the attic, which included bringing all the storage we currently had up there back to the basement.

As usual, I eventually used my trusty moving method, which is "I'm tired, and look out below, because boxes are now being kicked down the stairs". I used the same method when moving out of the condo. I must say, it works quite well, as long as those fragile boxes are carefully labeled.


Here's Mike fixing the flashing on the roof. It was a pretty terrifying experience, considering the roof was pitched way more than he thought it was.



After all the boxes were down, it was time to clean up all the sawdust from the sawing and drilling.

Keep in mind, this is a GIANT broom. Yea, that's a lot of sawdust...

Check out the roof! Yay us...


By Sunday afternoon, we were done, and waiting for Eco tec to come for the installation on Monday morning.

Well, we hit a snag...

Eco tec came Monday morning around 8:30am. They set up the attic, taped up the windows and brought the hose into the attic. We waited, and waited... around 10am they told us they had to run to Crafty Beaver because the hose was broken, and they were going to try to fix it. By 11:30 they told us the bad news, they couldn't fix the hose, and would have to come back tomorrow.

Ok... now, Michael had to shuffle all his Tuesday meetings around so he could work from home again. He wanted to be here to make sure everything looked good.

Fast forward to Tuesday, they arrived at 11am, right when they said they would.


Here, they bring the hose from the truck, through the kitchen window, and straight up into the attic.


They were here for 4 hours. And this is what occurred:



Pretty cool huh? Already, we notice a huge temperature difference upstairs. Now, I'm hoping this weekend will have at least an 80 degree sunny day for the real test. Usually, 80 and sunny = over 100 degrees.

And lastly, Safety Inspector Sid, upset that he can't perform his duty upstairs...

Almost there...

This is been a crazy month, with almost all of our time dedicated to hanging the 2x4s in the attic. I'm so happy to report that we are almost done, I'm thinking Saturday is the day, which is a good thing since Eco tec comes to install the insulation on Monday!

The last thing we have to do is install the beams over the attic ladder, and this requires Michael to remove the pulley system for the ladder. This makes me very very nervous, but we've recently bought a 16 foot ladder, so if needed I can bring it to the window for him to climb down to safety if he gets stuck up there.

Luckily, we've had mostly nice weather for August, absolutely unheard of, so lucky we are.

Also, along with the insulation, we get a freebee rain barrel! Whoohoo! My lawn will be happy.

Speaking of which, our lawn is not happy. I'm about at my wits end with it, and a prairie garden is looking better and better instead of the grass. We've decided next Spring, before the leaves are on the trees, we'll seed again and hopefully the sun will get and keep it established. If that doesn't work, I'm done with it.

Now, onto the most exciting news... I got the Wii game Rockband. It's uber fun, and I've been enjoying working my drumming chops back up.

After I bought it, I came dancing into the kitchen to tell Michael about my new fun purchase, something we can enjoy after the evil attic is complete. His response? Honey, we have a basement FULL of REAL music equipment. Why don't we play those instead of the fake instruments. Hmmm, good point. But Rockband is fun, and Michael's getting into it. Last night, we downloaded 10 new songs and had a blast. Living in the limelight the universal dream.... (yea, we had to get some Rush...)

The injury list

I'm hoping I don't need to add to this in the future.

Anyone who knows us is aware that we always incur an injury whenever we travel. A sprained ankle, a broken shoulder, cracked rib, it always happens.

Now we can add injuries incurred in the attic.

Me: Sprained wrist
Michael: Concussion.

Mike was hanging a piece of wood. He tightened the first screw, and, ala the Three Stooges, the board swung around really fast and nailed him in the head. He actually fell back, but then continued working.

Cut to the next day, and had he told me this right away, a trip to the hospital would have certainly happened. He was still feeling a bit out of it, but he said he began to feel better in the afternoon.

My mom threatened to drive to Chicago to drag him to the hospital if I didn't take him, but, after looking online at the symptoms, and making him talk and tell me stories to check for slurred speech and delay time, I was pretty convinced that he would be ok.

Last night, there was no work on the attic, as I prescribed rest and relaxation.

Today Lollapalooza starts. Forecast for the weekend? Thunderous downpours, and heat upwards of 98 degrees with a heat index at 107.

We're thinking of skipping most of the afternoon to try to let the afternoon rain and heat pass.
Today's band's to checkout:
STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9
Thievery Corporation
Andrew Bird
Depeche Mode

Although, I must say we're really looking forward to Sunday's lineup. Seems to be the best day.
Neko Case vs Vampire Weekend? May be a tossup, but will try to catch a bit of both.
Still struggling with Lou Reed vs Snoop Dog. I'm thinking Snoop Dog will win out, as he'll put on more of a crazy show.
The Killers vs Janes Addiction? Easy. JA wins. I've seen the Killers 3x.

Hopefully no injuries this weekend. 5 years running, no injuries at Lolla (KNOCK ON WOOD).

Attic 101

Here is what we've been up to lately on our pre-insulation installation:

Oh what fun it is doing construction in the attic in August. Why we didn't finish this in July when it was always 75 and below is a good question, guess we were too busy enjoying the weather with BBQs.

So, now that it's always 100 degrees and above upstairs, time to start the attic project!

Here is a very quick tour of what we are doing.

I'm now known as "the drill girl". It took me a while to figure out how to handle the drills, as I sprained my wrist during the first 5 minutes I started. After it healed, and we actually got the correct drill bits which didn't jerk my wrist around, we were all set.

So...

Step 1: Purchase 150 2x4s.
(1 down, 149 more to go!)

Step 2: After getting up the funky ladder to the attic, make a saw horse. Measure and cut wood. Luckily, most of the pieces don't need to be cut, but for those that do...


Step 3: Let the drilling begin...
First, we need to drill a half inch pilot hole. Next, grab another drill, and drill the remainder of the way with a small hole. Lastly, grab yet another drill and screw in the 3 1/2 inch screw.


Step 4: Attaching the wood (the real fun, and also Michael's part)
Here's where it gets tricky. I have to make sure I've made all the screws even, as we have to press the 2x4 against the existing beam for Mike to make pilot holes. The existing wood up there is so hard (he's thinking walnut, but not sure), that without the pilot holes, the screws won't go in.
So, another drill to make the pilot holes, then change the bit to screw in the 2x4.

And.... repeat.

It's a hot, dirty, messy, exhausting job, but I'm happy to report we're almost half way done!!

The fun continues...

We have been working very hard on the attic - and we'll post about it soon.

In the meantime, I'd thought I'd share what happened last night.

We took a break from the work around 7 for a BBQ. After said BBQ, we decided we were just too tired to continue, even though it was probably only 70 degrees in the attic due to the wonderful 60 degree day August 1st blessed us with.

So, Michael goes to close up the attic, (we have an insane pulley system we'll have to show you all later) and all of a sudden, the ladder (probably built sometime in the 40's) starts retreating up crooked. CRAP. There's a box blocking it's path to push it up, and now it's gone of the track. So, up Michael goes on the crooked ladder to investigate, with me wincing each step he makes.

He gets up there, and says, Ahh, I see the problem, and KABOOM - The ladder (which still attached) goes crashing off the stairs and into the wall, of course shattering the light hanging on the basement stairs.

So, there we stood, me on the main floor, Michael stuck 15 feet higher in the attic, and a slight panic starts, as we realize this could be very very bad.

Somehow, we get the ladder pulled back up, and realize both sides of the track are split. Double crap! He somehow gets it back on track, but this will be a priority to fix since we'll be using this oooold ladder a lot, since it's our only access to the furnace, er, I mean attic.

Yea, the camera is still in the attic, so I can't post any pictures of all this fun, but, stay tuned...

Pre-insulation Installation

After doing much research and getting several quotes for insulating the attic and master bedroom walls, we've reached a decision.

1. We will not be insulating the bedroom walls.

2. We're insulating the attic with what we believe to be the best product on the market, and it's a green product called Icynene.

The reason we have decided not to do the bedroom walls, they will need to drill a hole every 18 inches from ceiling to floor board to inject the insulation, and neither of us are ready for that mess. Instead, we think we'll try to tweak the furnace to pull the air into the bedroom, but that's another post for another day.

So, the product is called Icynene, and it's a spray foam which expands to the roof of the attic in seconds. We believe (and research seems to back up our thoughts) coating the roof with this product will keep heat out in summer, and cold out in winter, to make the attic very close to the house temperature. Now, Michael knows more about this, and I've been pestering him to write a post, but alas, nothing. So, you get to hear from me. Want to know more about this cool sounding product? Check out http://www.ecotecinsulation.com/

We need to have 5 1/2 inches of Icynene sprayed on the surface, and there are 2 ways we can have this product installed; either directly over our joists in the attic, or by building up the joists with 2x4's, and having the foam sprayed between these joists, thus leaving the beams exposed. The pros of adding the wood, if we ever want to drywall the space, we can. And considering we want to use it for a ton of storage, the less likely my head will poke through the foam, since it will be covered. So, we're gearing up for this fun construction project.

So, before anything can be done, we need to add quite a bit of wood to our attic. In the summer.
Granted, we've had what I believe has been the coolest summer since I can remember, but I'm sure that will change the day we head up to start this work.

First order of business? But a cordless drill. Michael has been drooling over this cordless drill, so I can see that purchase in our future. Next, measure and purchase all necessities, wood, screws, nails. Finally, say goodbye to our nights and weekends for the next month or so. Currently, Peoples Gas plus the Federal Government are offering rebates on this work. But, in the case of the gas company, it's offered until the money runs out... so, we're sort of in a bit of a hurry to get this done.

Also, the reason I'm typing this post at this ungodly early hour? Because I lost the bet and won the bad side of the bed last night...