It took much longer then I thought it would but, the insulation and vapour barrier is now finished and inspected. I decided to use Roxul rock wool insulation for a number of reasons. The rock wool is fire retardant, it doesn’t collapse on itself over time like the pink stuff does leaving parts of uninsulated walls, but the main reason was the ease of installation. The insulation is installed by compressing it in between the studs or rafters and then letting it expand. As long as you have 16 or 24 inch centered studs or rafters the insulation holds itself in place. If the space between your studs is smaller you can easily cut the insulation with a bread knife. Again very simple to install and the price difference to the pink stuff isn’t that much. So I insulated the attic with 2 layers of R22 giving me R44, the exterior walls in the upper and main level with R22, the basement with R14, and I insulated the interior walls with Roxul Safe ‘n’ Sound to provide a bit of a sound barrier. The vapour barrier, on the other hand, was a much bigger job then anticipated. Between taping the ceilings, vapour boxing the outlets, and using that awful Acoustic Sealant around the windows, doors, and along the base of the walls I was extremely happy when the job was finished.
While I was doing that I had a plumber come in and install the water pipes, hotwater tank, pressure tank, filters, pump, pipe to the lake, and the heat line (to make sure it doesn’t freeze in the winter). While I wasn’t overly pleased with this plumber he has been more then willing to come back and change/fix anything that needed to be changed/fixed. The plumbing inspector took a look and gave it the thumbs up.
My next step was to get a contractor in to drywall the place while I stayed home with the family for a few weeks and then I’d come back to paint. That plan went awry when I could only get one contractor to call me back and he quoted me at $16,000! That was way out of my budget. So with a couple of buddies we hung drywall on the ceilings on the main floor and green board in the bathroom. I’ve mudded, sealed and painted the ceilings with no major blemishes so I’m quite content with the result.
Instead of drywall I decided to go with tongue and groove knotty pine that I will get from a local mill. The mill will also install the pine for a price that is very reasonable and falls within my budget. This should be complete in a couple of weeks. I’ll continue to work on the bathroom while the pine is being installed and we should see a drastic change in the looks of the cottage by the end of the month.
Till next time.
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