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I can't believe it's been so long since I posted last.
All of the siding is installed except the peak of the walls at the east and west ends. The weather has turned nasty and there's plenty to do on the inside, so the peaks might not be finished until spring.
We are working on insulating the walls now. Since it is a pole barn, the outside walls are 7 inches thick so it takes a lot of insulation. We have chosen cellulose which is a recycled product, made here in Indiana, and also turns out to be the best insulator for the cost.
Normally it is blown into the walls, but we are filling them by hand as we put up the vapor barrier which is old billboard tarps. This picture shows the process and a typical wall section with the 2-foot spaced nailers in place.
Drywall will be installed vertically along the original outside walls and horizontally on the apartment's east wall which is vertical studs, 16 inches on center and not a true outside wall.
We started by breaking up the bales of cellulose ourselves. It was slow going and not all that effective. On Thursday we borrowed the cellulose blower from the store and blew about 30 bales into the bedroom. Sandy fed the machine for about 2 hours outside into the dark. I was inside where the cellulose was coming out of the hose, trying to bag as much as I could while it piled up like a gray snowstorm in the room. It even stuck to the walls like snow would in a blizzard.
I got a bit covered with the stuff.
From there it is bagged and dumped into the walls. The entire process still takes time, but the cellulose is ground up more finely and it was all ground up in a few hours instead of literally days which it would have taken the way we had started.
Tomorrow my son is coming from Indy to help lift and install drywall on the ceilings. Sandy and I got enough of the walls insulated today to make his trip worthwhile.
All the electrical wiring is done except for two lights and switches in the attic which can be added even after the ceiling drywall is installed. The best part of that is no more extension cords everywhere.
Our radiant floor system was delivered, too. It came on two large pallets. One had the tubing, the metal plates and the entire control panel with gauges, valves, and the no-tank water heater. The other pallet contained all the panels that will cover the floor. Stay tuned for pictures of that system.
