Inspection Time

South Side

Jack and his assistant Chris have finished the rough plumbing and it has already been inspected.
Somehow  they also maneuvered the furnace under the stairs and it is ready to be hooked up to the new gas line that was installed last week. Rick is almost done with the rough wiring and it will be ready for inspection soon.  Each has packed up their tools and equipment and we won't see them again for awhile.

Furnace

 Robbie has shingled the whole house finishing up around the front door and it looks mighty fine. It seems that he has been around most of the summer  and we've become accustomed to his banter and are sorry to see him move on.

So we turn our attention to insulation next. We are busy comparing the different types and getting bids from 3 different contractors. I am well aware that conventional fiberglass insulation will be the most cost effective but dense pack cellulose was high on my list of green things that I wanted to use in the house. But again it will all depend upon the cost.

We certainly have had our encounters with fiberglass insulation. When our water heater leaked last December Chris had to crawl underneath the house and remove a lot of it. The rest of it we took down with garden hoes when the house was off its foundation. After 25 years it had become really nasty stuff and I swore I never wanted to see it again. Spray insulation has become popular but it is a lot more expensive to install and it is made with petroleum so I just don't think that it is environmentally friendly. Dense back cellulose insulation has been around for a long time. It is simply recycled newspaper that is shredded and pulverised. Then the fibers are impregnated with non toxic borate compounds . This makes it fire retarding, rodent resistant and mold and mildew inhibiting. It also makes a great sound barrier. The process entails stapling netting to the interior framing and blowing cellulose into the wall and ceiling cavities filling every nook and cranny around pipes, wires and recessed lighting fixtures. That's something that fiberglass batts can't do.  Tests have shown that cellulose insulation resists air infiltration 40% more effectively than conventional insulation.  We know that it is going to be more expensive but we are willing to pay a bit more for a green product.

Lake Wequaquet boathouse

I think that September is the most beautiful month of the year on Cape Cod. Generally it is warm and sunny. The light is deep and heavy with color. Tourists have returned home and the kids are back in school so there is less traffic on the roads and fewer people at the beach. I didn't take much beach chair time this summer but I plan to now. The water is still comfortably warm and the kayaking is easy because there aren't as many power boats around. I plan on swimming until it just gets too cold. Years ago my father kept track of his first and last swims at the lake by recording them on the boathouse wall. Reading his bumpy writing on the boards, it looks like the latest swim he ever took was September 24th in 1989. I'll see if I can't beat that.