foam, foam, everywhere

Life in Vermont includes some pretty harsh winter weather, and we have been doing what we can to maximize the ability of our house to stand up to the elements. This includes using high-density fiberglass in the walls, coupled with two inches of pink board on the outside - for a combined R-value of 31. To date, we have run the pink board up to about 12 inches below the roof overhang, leaving just enough room to manuver while installing the soffit. Another side benefit of the pink board exterior is a house that looks like it is fit for CandyLand. Evie is pretty pleased with her pink house - although she has wondered aloud why it couldn't be purple.

We also decided to spend the extra cash up front to have six inches of polyurethane foam sprayed into both slopes of our gambrel roof - covering a total of about 2,000 square feet. Five guys from New England Foam and Coating literally stormed our house the last week in August and within four hours had completed the insulation of the roof. The spray foam results in an R-value of 42+ and provides an airtight seal along all of edges. Using spray foam also means that we don't have to vent the roof, or put up vapor barrier between the insulation and the sheetrock and tongue and groove pine that will be used to finish the roof interior.

The plan, as it stands right now, is to focus on finishing the downstairs so that we can get ourselves moved into HighMeadow Lane and then finish the upstairs once we have taken up residence, so you may not see too many more photos of the second floor over the next few months.