Energy Audit

I forgot... it's been so long since updating... We had Mark Lydon (Artisan Energy) come out and do a preliminary blower test on the house.  It was great having Mark there, he's an enthusiastic proponent of making good energy decisions.  (Of course I warmed (ha) right up to him because he said what a job we were doing...)

We closed everything up and he installed a fan blowing out the front door.  That put a vacuum on the house and sucked cold air in from all of the little holes and cracks that we didn't have plugged.  After a couple of minutes, we walked around with his thermal camera and could see the cold spots.  There weren't many, but it was good to note them so that we filled them before installing the ceiling and drywall.

The results were 0.9 ACH50.  This means at 50 pascals of vacuum, we have almost one complete air change of the house per hour.  A typical house is 5-10!  Our's will most likely drop some more also when the drywall is in and cracks are filled.  Some pics below.  That's me in the left and our radiant heat in the right (looking up at the basment ceiling).

Makr and his stuff

We've got the power!

Wow, we have been lousy at keeping up with the blog... on the other hand, we've been busy too, enjoying the early spring and getting lots done.  Here's a quick list and some pictures. (wow, mine are out of date... I'll need to get some from Laura)

• Ceiling - done
• Drywall - done
• Electrical - done (tomorrow)
• Tiling - under way (looks terrific)
• Some painting and other minor stuff

We are pushing to get the guest bedroom and bathroom in order so that we can move in June.  The Holy Goof is back on the market and we're told that real estate is moving better than the last couple of years.  We're anxious to get on site and wrap things up.

The Hangin'!

We wanted to show you a couple of shots of the Yahara River taken from the house in winter. The southeastern sun is gorgeous and warms the house even on the coldest days. We've had many warm days, too, and the River has been alive with Canada geese. A bald eagle regularly flies over the river right at our eye level. Some days it's hard to get construction work done because the bird-watching is just so great.

We had our "Drywall Party" yesterday, and some wonderful friends came and spent their entire Saturday working hard hanging drywall with us. It was really great to get a good start on such a big job, but the best part was knowing how lucky we are to know so many fine, loving, and generous people. Thanks SO much to Henri, Kathy, Rich, Kreg, Evelyn, Mike, Leslie, Valli, Jack, and Laura's daughter Julia. Honorable mention to Spence and Deb who stopped by to provide moral support while sharing a shift at their book store. Thanks again, everybody, and most especially to Henri.

  

There's gonna be a hangin!

Yep, that's right.  We're gonna have a good ole fashioned hangin.  Next Saturday, some friends are coming around and we are finally going to hang drywall.

Last week was busy, getting ready for the rough-in inspection.  Mostly electrical work wrap-up stuff along with Laura always cranking on her part too.  The inspection went well, he only had a few small things that I had to fix.  This week will be insulation, another inspection, and then drywall.

The weather has been really warm, so the river keeps freezing and un-freezing, really confusing the geese and ducks.  There are over 1000 a day that come and go.  It's very amazing and very cool.

January news

Well, here we are already part way through Feb.  We've been busy.  Besides getting married on 12/31 we have gotten back to pushing forward on the Walnut Bank. 

Lots of wiring, and window trimming.  I've should be able to finish the rough in this weekend and Laura has finished the upper (close to the road) window trim including varnishing.

Every little thing we do seems to take a bit more time and more tweaking.  However, it's still great fun and we love working along side each other.  It will be a special place.

The move in date is hard to predict.  We are still pushing forward, but we don't want to drive ourselves crazy.  I suspect that we will put the Holy Goof back on the real estate market in April, and then wait to see what happens.

Here are some pics.

MOVIES!!

I've done a little editing of the time lapse videos.  Here are two that take a few pics every day at noon.

See the post dated 12/8 it's newer than the one below