The Attic Smells Different Now

It seems almost impossible to believe that we could have started this project in February, but Google assures me that I took the initial photos for this project on February 16, and who am I to argue?

And the project is... insulation in the attic! I know, I know... we're so cutting edge.

Chris stapling the insulation

This took longer than you'd imagine.

The easy part was adding insulation to the lower walls of the attic, although even that seemed to take forever, mostly because there's all this stuff in the attic, so we had to keep shifting all the attic-stuff from wall to wall in order to get at the next section to work on.

Then the hard part -- sorting out the ceiling. This occupied most of the next work day at the farm. We decided that since the ceiling is so high and we're not actually using the space for anything other than storage, to build a kind of false ceiling for insulation batting to rest on and be draped across. Like so.

See how the peak of the roof is actually beyond where the insulation is?

We figured this way, there would be a clear cold zone, plus we wouldn't have to try to deal with getting the insulation way up to the roof peak. That makes it sound like this was less work. It was not. It's not that it was terrible, but insulation is one of those things that isn't heavy, it's just totally awkward and floppy, like trying to string a slinky across a gap.

We did eventually get it all in place, and then took a break from installing insulation over our heads in a place where we could stand up... in order to install insulation underfoot, in the "real" attic where you have to mostly crouch down and try to keep your balance on the joists lest you go crashing through the ceiling and suddenly create a lot of plaster work for yourself.

And by "we," I mean "Chris." I'm usually not claustrophobic, but that attic makes me want to scream.

So fluffy and warm!

But eventually, we got back to the big attic to add the finishing touch -- craft paper to cover the interior side of the insulation and keep it from dropping strands of fiberglass all over everything. This, too, turned out to be rather more involved than initially hoped, but it also took up far less of the roll of craft paper than I was expecting.

Speaking of pillowy...

The unexpected bonus of all this work is that now the entire attic smells like brown paper bags, which is, at least in my opinion, an improvement over the previous smell of... whatever it is that old houses smell like. Old wood, guano, and dirt? In any case, brown paper bags is definitely better.

This summer never got super hot -- we never even bothered install the window air conditioner in the bedroom at the farm -- so it was hard to tell if the insulation was helping to keep the house cooler. But hopefully this winter we'll notice some benefit!

Final 2018 Projects?

Well, 2018 wasn't quite as productive a year as we might have hoped, but we had another good push on projects here in the 11th hour. Now that we have heat, December was actually a little project marathon.

First, we wanted to keep all that lovely heat inside. Most of the windows have storms, but a few didn't, so Chris built new storms for those. We also moved the storm door that was previously on the (modern) door between the kitchen and the lean-to out to be on the (original) door into the parlor; Chris also added plexiglass to the dining room screen door for some additional insulation.

              

Probably the biggest end-of-year project was painting the parlor. It was covered in wood paneling, which over the years had taken on a decidedly greenish tinge. Plus, we'd patched in a fairly large section where the front window no longer existed, and that paneling was darker and less green, so the whole thing was looking a bit shabby.

This took forever (ok, it took basically one full day) because of all the trim and because we had to brush every single groove in the paneling where the roller wouldn't reach. In the end, though, the room looks so much brighter and fresher!

Also, we put up some Christmas decor. Because Christmas.

The TV is sitting on an impromptu project -- it used to be on a rickety folding tray that was barely big enough to support it, and we'd picked up this old radio cabinet at an auction way back when we bought the farm. It's been sitting in the lean-to ever since, but Chris got a quick coat of polyurethane on it, and now it's all shiny and doing its job holding up the television (and providing a little much-needed storage). 

The next day, we had dueling dining room projects: I was patching the plaster, and Chris was turning the wood burner so it didn't stick out into the room so much. As you might expect, both of those seemed like they were going to be quicker projects than they really turned out to be. But we did get an unexpected bonus -- behind the wood burner, covered by the protective mat, we discovered another heat register!

As you'll see in the pictures, we did even a bit more -- on Boxing Day, my family came up to spend a day just hanging out at the farm, so Chris and I went up early and set up the dining room table. This had been the table and chairs from our house, which we replaced... a year or so ago?... and have had sitting around waiting for the dining room at the farm to be ready for them.

Wood stove in progress and completed...

         

Patching in progress and (mostly) completed...

       

We may still make it up there one more time before it's technically 2019. There's hope that the dining room might get primed yet this year. But basically, it's looking like the end of projects for 2018.

Here's hoping that 2019 brings

• A completed chimney removal, roof repair, and wall (re-)instillation in the space between the dining room and kitchen
• An end to the upstairs bedroom project that was literally one of the very first things we started
• More project wrap ups
• Less bats