The Greened House Effect

My work spraying the FoamItGreen spray-foam insulation on the north was the first step in the actual Deep Energy Retrofit of the exterior walls on our old house.  This step would ensure that our house was air-sealed from the outside, since the spray foam expands as it cures, invading every little nook and cranny.  This was only the first wall of three that would get the “curtain wall” treatment – I would have to retrofit the large, west wall and the south gable end myself at some point later on.

The first full week of October was upon us, and we were still without a proper roof.  We tried to be philosophical about the whole thing – it would all be over soon, right?Then we’d have a nice, new roof.  Sure.  Try telling that to yourself in the middle of a rainy night, as the blue tarps slapped and whipped at the house corners, and you’ll find it cold comfort.  We needed to get the roof on, and we knew it needed to happen soon.

Above: OSB sheathing goes on the addition walls . . .

Below: LP's TechShield Radiant Barrier OSB Sheathing goes up on the roof.

Below: The TechShield viewed from inside the addition . . .

Before the roofing could start, however, Stalwart had to finish the sheathing.  That was well underway Monday morning, with both the OSB wall sheathing and the LP TechShield Radiant Barrier OSB roof sheathing quickly covering the studs.

About lunchtime the Pro Via truck arrived to deliver our new windows and doors.  I was glad that we had the addition roughed in so that the professional, triple-pane windows and high-end fiberglass doors had a place to live while they waited for installation.  This addition to the Deep Energy Retrofit was crucial – the windows from Pro Via have an actual R-value of R-9.  Compared with our 70-year-old single pane windows, we were expecting a huge savings in energy.  On top of that, though, the new windows and doors look fantastic, making sure that we were not only updating the building’s energy efficiency, but also making the home beautiful in the process.  Pro Via also offers Inspirations Art Glass in their windows and doors.  That would bring even more beauty to this Deep Energy Retrofit.  Deep Energy Efficiency, beauty, durability, and distinctive style – Pro Via was helping us to bring all of these things together.

Toward the end of the day, Sherri snapped this shot of the guys working on the addition roof sheathing. 

If you look closely, in the top left corner of the picture, you’ll see me up underneath the blue tarp, working on the rounded dormer trim that needed to be in place before Stalwart Construction could put the rubber roofing on.  I spent more than a few days under the tarp this way as the dark clouds rolled in and out.

As the week wore on, showers dotted the schedule.  Nothing much, but enough that we had to be constantly wary.  Still, Stalwart got right to work with the roofing as soon as it was possible.  We were excited to see how the EcoStar faux slate roof tiles would look off of the pallet, and up on the roof, but first the crew needed to install the underlayment.  This meant EcoStar’s GlacierGuard at the roof edges and corners, and EcoStar’s AquaGuard across the whole surface before the 80% recycled rubber slate-like tiles could be applied.  The end of each work day found us re-tarping what had been uncovered that morning – the process of un-tarping each morning and re-tarping in the afternoon was a tedious, if necessary, job.  We were all looking forward to that new roof.

Above: Patrick & Travis install the GlacierGuard

Below: Travis tarps the roof for the night . . .

By Thursday, Matt and the crew were ready to start installing the roof tiles on the addition roof.  Matt and Patrick worked the tiles, pre-bending and installing them in a staggered pattern, while the rest of the guys prepped the main-house roof with the GlacierGuard and AquaStar.  As the roof tiles went up, the neighbors began to stop by more frequently, and even strangers would stop to ask about our new “slate roof.”  It was interesting how many people thought it was real slate – a testament to EcoStar’s attention to detail with their product.  According to EcoStar reps I talked with, the molds for the tiles were actually taken from real slate samples, giving EcoStar an amazing edge detail that was randomly varied throughout.

Above: Matt installs EcoStar AquaGuard underlayment

Below: GlacierGuard goes on main house roof . . .

Above: Matt installs the EcoStar roof tiles . . .

Below: Installed tiles -- note the 1" offset reveal. This will help to give the house a "cottage-like" feel once we're finished

Below: Noon on the first day of real roofing -- here comes the rain again . . .

Matt and Patrick installed the EcoStar tiles using stainless steel roofing nails – since the EcoStar tiles have a 50 year warranty, the nails and underlayment would need to last as well.  That’s one big reason EcoStar provides a whole system for roofing, including not only the tiles, but also several underlayments and the stainless nails.

Above: Drip, Drip, Drop little October Shower . . .

Finally, our luck with the weather ran out.  A big storm came up overnight on Thursday, dumping tons of rain on the tent that was our house.  Even though we had all paid close attention to those tarps, constantly setting and resetting them against the wind, they were simply no match for the storm that hit us.  I woke up at 3am and checked key spots in the house – everything was dry.  But when I got up at 7am, water was leaking in above the back door, above the front door, and through the glass-block garden window in our bathroom.  We quickly tarped over the trouble spots and then went about cleaning up.

Considering how long we’d been living under the tarps, we’d been lucky, but we didn’t feel very lucky that day.  The interior damage was slight – the living room ceiling had some slight drywall damage, and the garden window would need some skim-coating and new paint.  We were able to get dried out, and I figured that I’d just add those drywall fixes to the list when we finally get to the interior work on our Deep Energy Retrofit.  Still, it made me uneasy to know how exposed we really were.  Worse than that, where had water gotten in that we couldn’t see?  It was all a bit unnerving.

Damp and tired, we limped into the end of the fifth week of work on the Greened House effect.  I tried to look at “the big picture” – that we would, at the end of this project, be more comfortable, save money, and help to fix our society’s Economic, Climate-Change, and National Security problems.  It was a tough sell.  We found better comfort in our usual rituals.  We cooked a big meal with friends, drank a beer or two, and spent time laughing and talking about anything but our big, self-inflicted project.  Here’s to better luck next week.