The
day started with a bang with the arrival of the insulation
company and the stucco company. While the insulators worked
in the crawlspace insulating under the floor, the stucco
men began by wrapping the garage in Tyvek and nailing
on the chicken wire for the stucco. The insulators needed
this completed before they could spray the cellulose insulation
in the garage because the nailing would disturb the cellulose.
They also needed the garage well swept because they recycle
any cellulose that hits the floor. |
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Gabriel
first stapled on the Tyvek, then nailed the chicken
wire over it. Since there needs to be a vapor barrier
under the stucco, we prefer to spend the extra few hundred
dollars for Tyvek because it allow moisture to escape
through its membrane, but it doesn't let moisture in
from the outside. Felt paper is more commonly used because
it's less expensive, but it will let moisture pass both
ways.
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Once
the windows and other items in the garage were covered
in plastic, they mixed the cellulose with water from
a tank in the truck then sprayed it into the wall cavities.
Once they were filled another man came by with a straight
edge and trimmed the cellulose even with the studs.
The material has an adhesive mixed into it that allows
it to stick to itself and the walls. The air became
clouded with dust from the spray (above center photo).
The end result (above right) is slick!
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What
wasn't so slick was the installation of some of the
interior wall sound insulation. Instead of cutting
the batts where the wires ran and carefully cutting
and fitting the batts into the cavities, this is what
some of the areas looked like. After a call to the
superintendent, they agreed to come out and correct
the problem areas.
Since the whole point of this insulation is to reduce
sound between rooms, leaving gaps and badly cut pieces
defeated the purpose.
These things are to be expected occasionally. What's
important is to catch the problem as and correct it
promptly; certainly before final payment is made for
the service.
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The
stucco workers found a nest in the dirt by our foundation
with some squiggling critters inside. At first they
thought they were rats (!!!) but upon closer examination
noticed that they had large ears and no tails, so we
decided they were rabbits. Our youngest son, Evan, (our
resident self-educated biologist) moved the nest down
the hill and held them for a moment before settling
them under a bush in hopes that the mother would discover
them again. At the end of the day I went down to check
on them.
They were gone....(sorry, Evan)
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