It felt good to be productive again despite the snow.

The snow yesterday wasn't too bad.  My apartment was completely melted off by the time I left this morning.  Sullivan not so much.  These were all clear prior to the storm. 




It totaled about three inches up there.


The creek.


I started off by shoveling the end of the driveway so it would melt off quicker.  I did around the mailbox too since my postal guy is a bit whiny and won't deliver if he has to drive in any snow.


I then actually got to do some real work for a change.  I went up and started working on the insulation again.  The murphy knife I got from Dad cuts through insulation like butter.


I also went through and installed all the electric box backing insulation.  The batts won't fit behind the electric box, so you usually use small pieces of foam board.  A lot of people don't bother to insulate it at all, but that leaves a channel for the outside air directly inside, and can ruin the efficiency of a wall.  I ended up buying a couple pieces of pipe insulation and just laying them flat behind it.


Unfortunately some noob didn't install some of the electric boxes (*cough* most *cough*) correctly, so I had to bump a lot of them out a little bit.  They should stick out about a quarter inch from the studs so that they are roughly flush with the paneling.  Aka not like this:


I also found out something else interesting: not all of my single gang boxes are the same size.  They all came out of the same bin at Home Depot, but some are a full half inch deeper, which naturally caused me some headaches cramming insulation behind them.


That said, they are all now installed properly and I even did the dual-gang boxes.  They are especially difficult to move because of the way they nail in, but I didn't destroy any of the boxes moving them. 


I got lucky, I bought 1" pipe insulation to do the dual-gang boxes, and had the perfect amount leftover to run some behind the pipe in the wall in the bathroom.


I just opened it up and tried to wrap it around the pipe, and then rotated it around to the back.  It is meant for a 1" pipe, not a 2", so it only covered the back half of the pipe, but that is sufficient for what I was looking for.


Even though it may be hard to tell by this picture, I also cleaned up.  It was nearing the point where you couldn't walk around freely.


I also came across this.  Apparently insulation is as bad for mice as it is for humans.  Fortunately he only got one piece before keeling over, I had plans for these smaller pieces.


I also fitted the bottom two pieces underneath the large window.  Unfortunately I didn't have my spare staples with me, and my staple gun ran out, so I didn't complete it, but by this time it was getting later in the day and I was getting hungry.


I left around quarter after 4 since I have a few things to do this evening, like get a hair cut.  It was constantly in my eyes all day.  Most of the snow had melted off by then.  I am guessing tomorrow all the new stuff will be gone.




Even some of the areas that weren't ever clear are starting to clear off.


It felt good to actually make progress for a change.  I hope to get the insulation work done this week, at least the wall portions anyways.  Matt was mentioning he might come up at some point though, so I might leave the insulation for him and start working on the plumbing again.  It won't be warm enough for the PVC cement until next weekend, but I can finish the pex parts.