While insulators rescued the house from cold weather, we rescued our meadow from a fallen spruce. The house is now warm and the meadow is now clear. An industrious day. Photos and captions below. (To read about the house-building process from the start, put “The Build Begins” into the search box at bottom.)
Strong winds yesterday took down the 80-foot spruce, maybe the tallest on Camp Many Moons. We knew it was starting to die but its sudden death was still a shock. We wanted to clean it up right away to give the injured trees and plants their best chance to recover. The job was made easier by Jeff’s sturdy Iron Mule (see also previous post), which picked up parts of the big trunk easily…
…and moved them into the Iron Mule’s big cargo area.
Its big claw also grabbed scoops of branches. I’m so grateful for that because, in our many previous tree-clearings, I did a lot of branch-hauling. It’s tiring.
Jeff drove his 14,000-pound “toy” off to the burn pile with its cargo of dead spruce.
You may get the impression that I just document things while Jeff works, but I get my hands into it. While Jeff hauled the biggest branches away, I cut the smaller branches from the trunk…
…using my little battery-powered chain saw, which is perfect for pruning. I’ve also taken down small trees (up to six-inch diameter) with this.
Jeff is, of course, the “chainsaw master” with his high-powered beast. He grew up doing this. I didn’t. It took me awhile to feel comfortable with a chain saw in my hand–even a small one.
While we were sawing and hauling, the inside crew was insulating. This is open-cell spray foam. It’s less-common (and more pricey) than the other kinds of insulation — fiberglass, cellulose and wool — but less expensive than closed-cell. A few thought I should go with closed-cell. At a cost of at least $14,000, for a small house! We are building a quality house here, but my funds aren’t unlimited (this job cost about $8,000) and it wasn’t clear we needed it. Most people still use fiberglass. I probably would have gone with cellulose but was influenced. The cathedral ceiling is one factor and the long winters are another. (What would you do? Research for yourself the options for insulating, the pro’s and con’s of each. Choices, choices!)
After the guys sprayed the foam, they trimmed it. Above photo is “before;” this is “after.”
Insulating was a messy (and stinky) business and took two days. By the afternoon of Day 2, it looked like this. During trimming, the leftovers fell onto the plastic that the guys laid down….
…and then they rolled up all that garbage into the plastic and hauled it all away, leaving a clean space. (In this case, the bedroom.) Matt, Ian, and Emmanuel did a great job!
We did get closed-cell foam in this one area of the house–the small bathroom in the loft–because open-cell foam takes up 10 inches. We didn’t have 10 inches available here so the closed-cell, which is more dense, was used instead. The closed-cell foam is hard to the touch; the open-cell is more porous. (You can stick your finger into it.) Some say that a house needs to ‘breathe’ a bit so open-cell is better. And some say closed-cell can cause mold. Maybe I’m just trying to convince myself I made the right choice and I’m not cheap! 😉
After the crew left, we lit a fire in the wood stove and brought the lawn chairs back in to bask in the warmth. It feels good to be insulated! I can now imagine more easily what the walls of this living area will look like…wood here and dark green there. And once I stain the wooden window frames, we can pull off that plastic and enjoy the view! We put that floor protection down in order to stain and paint things. But that will be sometime next year…January, maybe?…as the days start to lengthen again. Sunset comes at about 5 pm now, and it’ll only come earlier until the winter solstice passes. This house isn’t ready to live in yet…no toilet or appliances…and I’ve had enough of roughing it for one year. 🙂
During some of my runs with the four-wheeler, I take Roscoe with me. How he loves to run! He can’t go as far as he used to, but I can still see his “sled-dog” genes! I’m leaving soon, Roscoe, but I’ll be back!
For Many Moons 
Holy Moley, that’s progress! Love the forwarder! When do you head East?
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Yes we’ve been on a roll! Leaving Monday morning. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Give Roscoe some lovin’ from me – safe trip back to your urban home! 💜
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🙂
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Wow, awesome capturing of nature and hard work! Keep it up! 😀
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