Drywall is Going Up!

Here's the parlour with its new plywood ceiling and interior insulation added between the strapping. Our contractor has been busy this week with these additions in the parlour and front bedroom. He's hanging drywall!

It makes me feel as if we are on the home stretch, at least for this phase. After the rest of the 2 rooms are drywalled, he will mud & prime the walls. It'll be warm & useable for us!

I'm going to get measurements for the ceiling in these rooms, and see what the tin ceiling panels will cost. I've got my heart set on them, the pre-painted cream coloured panels are gorgeous & period-perfect... But I'm afraid we won't be able to afford it, especially with the U.S. exchange rate the way it is now (weak Canadian loonie).

We'll see. Worst case, we hang some ceiling lights semi-temporarily and wait a while before we proceed any further. We were going to wait on the wallpaper & refinishing of the fir floor anyways. The coffers are running dry!

More Insulation

Now that the mouse nests have been removed, and wall cavities bleached and cleaned up, we are installing styrofoam insulation panels. They're in big sheets, 2" thick. My husband has a system for measuring & cutting the pieces. We explained to our kids that it's like Tetrus, and they didn't know what we were talking about.

It is satisfying though, when the parts fit together, especially in these irregularly shaped spaces in our ancient walls. We put two pieces in each space, so it's 4" of insulation. This is followed by spray foam in the wee gaps and corners that remain. We finished the gable end wall, on the front of the house. We've lots more to do!

Insulation!

Never before seen at the Little Blue House... insulation! We now have new wall joists and insulation in the bedroom. (Actually, the crawl space was insulated last summer when we replaced the home's foundation, so I lied.)

Furthermore, we plan to raise the ceiling about 6 inches. That's fantastic news for my 6'4" husband. It will give us a few more options when it comes to finding a ceiling fixture also. 

Our trusty contractor is going to insulate the ceiling, too. Room by room, this restoration is slowly moving along. Next step: finding a window to replace the one that's broken. We may end up buying a new one. We will of course stick to a period-perfect wood frame sash window. I shudder to imagine what that will cost. I'll let you know.