Hey, wow, I haven't posted anything in this blog in two months. Whoops. Let's see if we can remedy that.

We had a short break in the weather over the last two days (50 degrees, which is practically a heat wave in February). Unfortunately, it's supposed to snow again on Monday (heralding the traditionally associated arctic chill for the foreseeable future). Spurred by the warm weather (and the frelling $200 heating bill I got last Thursday), I decided actually to do some insulating, which, let me tell you, sucks. I'm sore all over. Crawling around on your hands and knees on 2x4s for 3 hours bites and the dust is really unpleasant (although I made light of the fact that I had to wear a dust mask by making Darth Vader noises). The previous owners also pitched in to make it more difficult by building obstacles in the way, so I got to practice my flexibility. I'm also finding that insulating my attic is going to be really damn expensive. I'd bought six rolls of insulation (as much as would fit in two trips of my car) and I've used it all up already and only done one layer of one side (I still have to do a second layer and then two layers for the rest of the attic). Ouch. I'm still not sure what to do about the "main walkway" in the attic (the previous owners nailed down plywood sheets in order to use the attic for storage while leaving the sides open); there is almost no insulation underneath it, but tearing up the plywood to insulate underneath it and then putting the plywood back down is going to be a *huge* project. Even then it would still only be half the thickness of the rest of the attic. I toyed with the idea of making my own "false floor" above the existing floor, but that would be almost as much work as tearing up the floor that's there. I guess I'll insulate what I can and what until my dad can take a look at it. I'm sure he'll be able to think of something. Maybe drill some holes in it and blow it full of that "blow in" insulation they make. I dunno.

Just to sum up: crappy old insulation . . . good new insulation. Crappy old insulation . . . good new insulation. I don't know how much difference it's going to make since I can't insulate the entire attic right now, but hopefully it will help a little.

Judging by how I feel right now, I think I'm going to make millions designing an exercise program based around insulating attics. "And one and two and stretch that piece and three and four and balance on the 2x4 to keep from stepping through the living room ceiling. Now carry four more rolls up from the basement, that's it." I'd also like to point out to those of you who knew of my little objection to going up into my attic at night ('cause it's damn creepy up there, and seeing "The Grudge" with the ghost that lures people up into the attic and kills them didn't help) that I finished for the night at 3:30 a.m. (when I ran out of insulation). So there. (It's still damn creepy, but a worklight and a radio help.)

Posted at 3:47 AM.  |     |   Permalink to this post.