Foaming at the Mouth

Well, foaming at the rafters anyway.

Last week was so rainy that it was hard to get much work done.  But the insulation guys didn’t mind a little rain.

They suited right up and got to work.

They made quite a mess, but after the spray settled and they were finished foaming, they went back and scraped everything back down to studs and rafters.

Now we will be able to attach sheetrock.

Then they swept up enormous bags full of the overspray that they scraped up.

It looked like a health department raid on the movie theater concession stand.

While all this was happening inside, Wolf Lightning Protection found time to sneak out and bury the loop of copper cable.  I would never have known it happened, if they hadn’t broken a drain pipe and left the hole open so we could see it and fix it.

And on the days it wasn’t raining too much, the brick masons came down and worked.

Unfortunately, they worked on the back wall over the French doors instead of on the chimney.

You see, after I had a chance to get over the excitement of the chimney being finished, I began to notice that it looked a little squatty.

It seemed shorter than it should be and sort of  -- inconsequential.

 

It didn’t really measure up the the chimney on the plans.  So, we asked Jason the Mason why it was so short.  He explained that they normally make the chimneys 2 feet off of the ridge line, because that is code.  And it is.  It’s the minimum height specified by the code.  So, Builder Gary explained that we wanted it as drawn on the plans he was given.  It took a few days to get them working on it, but finally they did.

They tore off the detail at the top and started up again.  As I stood in the backyard admiring their work, guess what I did spy with my little eye?

Builder Gary gestured (politely) to Santa that the chimney wasn’t quite right, so ol’ Santa put the level on it.  It was pretty crooked.  So, Santa got out that essential masonry tool: the saw.

That seemed to do the trick, and they kept going up. 

Until they finally got it tall enough.

That’s more like it!  And you can see it from the road.

Now that they have finished with the chimney, we were able to get the French doors in beside the fireplace.

Now we are one step closer to being completely dried in and ready for sheetrock.  A little more insulation, a little more roof, a little more inspection and we’ll be closing up those rooms!