Jay Gaulard

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How Old is That Wood Shed?

I was looking up homesteading blogs a few days ago and came across one that I found very interesting. I can’t seem to find it again, which is a shame because it had some really great content. If I remember correctly, it had a set of rules to live by if you decide to live in the country. The best one was “Don’t be lazy. Ever.”

For some odd reason, that one stuck in my head. While I’m not sure what the author’s definition of lazy is, I’m sure it’s something like, “Oh, I know I’ve got to get that done, but I’m not in the mood. I’ll do it tomorrow.”

The lazy thing is probably a rule that was created by way of experience. “Oh, I should really rake the snow off the roof today, but I’ll just wait until tomorrow.” And then the roof caves in from the weight of the snow. “Oh, I should really clean the cars off and shovel the driveway, but I’ll just wait until tomorrow.” And then there’s an emergency during an ice storm and there’s absolutely no way you’re going to get anything cleaned off.” I think you get the idea.

Anyway, I just thought that little tidbit was worth sharing and if I find the post, I’ll link to it.

It’s 3 degrees outside right now, which isn’t that bad. When it’s in the 20s, the house actually gets too hot. For some reason, the pellet stove doesn’t really differentiate temperature output no matter what setting it’s on. It does a good job heating, but come Spring, I think we may have to open a window or two. When the temps drop down below 0, it has trouble keeping up. Right now, it’s warming the house to 58 degrees. I can live with that.

It’s supposed to go down to -22 on Friday night though. I’ll be honest with you. I’m a bit concerned.

Weather Report 12-31-13

As I sat here about an hour ago, thinking of ways to not be lazy and considering how cold it’s going to be on Friday, I figured it might be a good idea to go split some wood. Why? I don’t really know. We don’t have a wood stove yet. But it’s better than sitting around not doing much of anything. At the very least, it would make me feel like I’m somehow helping the situation.

I got all suited up and went outside. First, I shoveled out behind the trailer. That was kind of buried from the last storm. We keep some emergency supplies in there and it’s not helpful to have access to those supplies blocked by snow.

Then, I went way into the back and cleared out in front of the shed doors. I knew I was going to be doing some wood splitting, so I would need to get into the shed to stack the firewood.

Clearing Snow From Shed Doors

After that, I grabbed the axe and split one log. I wanted to start small, just to see if it was possible. It worked out well, so I stacked the firewood from that log onto my growing pile.

Growing Pile of Firewood

Realizing that I was probably looking as tough as all hell, I decided to pull out the bigger logs I cut from the Maple tree I took down a few days ago. There were probably only about six in all, so this splitting episode wouldn’t take too long. I thought that if anyone was watching, they would either think I was crazy or that they envied my prowess.

Splitting Wood in the Snow

I did what I had to do and withing a few minutes, I was finished. I wasn’t ready to pull out the chainsaw, so I stopped with these logs. It gave me about half a pile and finished the second row. Not bad, I’d say. You can see the new firewood on the top of the closest pile. It’s slightly covered with snow.

Piles Of Firewood

After I was all finished, I started poking around the shed. My father and I had a conversation about it last night and I told him that the guy who lived here before us dragged it here from a farm up the road. As you can see, it’s got a wood floor. Now, I’m not sure if he dragged it on the road or dragged it onto a flatbed, but I’ll tell you, anything is possible. Either way, here it sits and I’m fairly certain that this wasn’t its birth place.

So how old is the shed? Interesting thing I discovered today while I was back there. Take a look at this.

Please Do Not Damage Our Camp

It says, “Please Do Not Damage Our Camp.” But what’s more interesting is what is written right below that.

1969

That says, “1969.” Crazy, huh? I knew this thing was pretty old, buy not that old. And as Laura pointed out, that most likely wasn’t written on the very first day the shed was created. It’s most likely older than that. I like things with a bit of history attached to them.

I think my father mentioned putting a heater in the shed to keep things toasty if I wanted to work on something back there. I told him that a heater wouldn’t help much, because there’s a big hole in the shed’s corner. It overlooks part of the pond.

Open Hole in Shed

Yep, there’s the hole. I could probably patch that up if I wanted to. I most likely will.

I found a great blog post yesterday that was written by a guy who loves to split wood. He loves it so much, he hunts wood out and splits it for free. If someone has had a tree taken down, he’ll ask if they would keep the wood and then he’ll stop by and split it. You should read the post. It may give you something to think about.

The Pleasures of Wood Splitting

And if you’ve ever had the itch to head outside when there’s a foot and a half of snow to split some wood, you may want to follow a few good tips. Check these out.

Axe Techniques: Firewood Splitting On Snow

You can also read Paul Kirtley’s full post here: How To Split Firewood on Snow: Key Axe Techniques


Cabin People

I found a few really cool videos on Youtube yesterday. I’m going to post them for you below, but first, I want to encourage you to watch them. Don’t just look at the pictures of them below – take a few minutes and watch them. While you’re in the bathroom. After your wife or husband falls asleep. You don’t need to be an “approaching 40 year old male who always wanted to do something like this but just haven’t gotten around to it” kind of person. I think the message Billy Reeder is putting out there transcends to all of us. And if you’re interested in more of what this brilliant man wants to say, check out his website.

I wrote a post a long time ago that basically asked the question, “If not now, then when?” I was talking about all the things we, as friends, talk about. All the things we tell ourselves we wish we were doing. The lives we think we should be living. Since we’ve arrived in Maine, I’ve told Laura more than once, “I’ll do this as long as I can get away with it. I’m not getting any younger.” And it’s true. I’ve been saying that my goal is to “get away from it all” for years. Too many years, if you ask me. Probably back well into the 90s. It took me all this time to hopefully get it right. And if you really want to be blown away, be sure to watch the second video. I think you’ll like it.

Cabin People Episode 1 – Freedom

Cabin People Episode 2 – Fire


Digging Out After the Storm

These weather reports – they’re enough to drive you crazy. I swear I’m preparing for the apocalypse. When it’s dark outside, I fear the worst, but when the sun comes back and I get to see all the freshly fallen snow, I don’t think it’s possible for anything bad to happen. That is, until it’s dark again.

I’m getting the whole “preparing” thing down to a science. Now I know why people keep everything they’ve ever acquired. They may need it someday. Unfortunately, I don’t have much of what I need, so I’m in collection mode. I’ll get there. Some day.

Anyway, I have to tell you that I harbored a bit of guilt last night. The house was warm and cozy, the pellet stove was full, I had just eaten and taken two Benadryl. I was ready for bed. Laura has somehow managed to stack about ten blankets – one on top of the next – on our “mattress.” It’s practically bullet-proof once you get into it. The thing is, I keep thinking that I’m supposed to be ready for any eventuality that might happen throughout the night. If I’m knocked out, snoring up a storm, how am I going to react if something goes down? Oh well. I guess that’s why they call it beauty sleep. Take it while I can.

We wondered what we were going to find this morning. The snow was really piling up last night. I think the majority fell before midnight. I’d say we got about eight inches in total. It’s always fun to walk down the stairs and peek out the window to get a glimpse of exactly what the damage was.

Pine Tree Outside of Window

This time, it didn’t seem too bad. I’m not sure we’re going to be able to tell the difference for the duration because snow on top of snow doesn’t look all that different than what it was the day before. It’s not until we attempt to walk around that we feel the brunt of things.

I did my shoveling nice and early. I began with the roof and then migrated to the driveway. First I tackle the path to the cars. That’s pretty easy because I just shovel the top layer off the bottom frozen layer. I have no idea how thick that is.

Jay Smiling in the Snow

After I’m finished with that, I generally jump in the truck to drive it back and forth a few times. Starting the truck up is one of the first things I do after shoveling the roof. I have to get it warm.

I’m not sure why I drive around the driveway. I know the goal is to flatten the snow so I don’t have to shovel as much, but it rarely has that effect. When the snow is all fluffy, it doesn’t flatten. I have to wait for the snow to pack like snowball snow. Then this technique would probably work better. Whatever. At least it’s fun to drive around.

Ford F250 in Snow

Driving in Snow with 2008 Ford F-250

I know, I know, I have a reverse light out.

Like I said, driving back and forth doesn’t do much. I always end up shoveling the rest of the driveway. I’ll tell you one thing – it’s fun after a while. It’s good to get out there and put some muscle into something.

Jay Shoveling Snow

I guess Laura got bored of me and went on her merry way, taking picture after picture. It’s so nice to have her doing the photography for this blog now. I can worry about the action and she can worry about capturing it digitally. I then bring it to you and we’re all happy.

This is what she came up with after she disappeared from sight.

First, we have some pine trees on the side of the house. That’s always a classic Maine picture. Snow and pines.

Maine Snow on Pine Trees

After that, she took a bunch of bird pictures. I filtered through them and decided this was the best. Someone can comment below as to what type of bird this is.

Winter Bird Eating Bird Seed

Then, she took a picture of the pool diving board. I can only guess that she’s depressed that she won’t be able to swim until next August.

Snow Covered Diving Board

And finally, she decided to show off how much snow there is on one of the bird feeders. No birds, just the feeder. Good enough for me.

Snow Covered Bird Feeder


Finishing the Wood and a Backup Heat Source

I was hoping to move and split the wood this morning, but other issues took precedence. All I was able to do this morning was to move the good wood off the pond. I wanted to get it all (the dead stuff at the top of the tree), but that had to wait for this afternoon, after I got back from running around all over the place. Around 3PM, I was able to finish getting everything I wanted off the ice and then relocated the entire pile to its new home in front of the wood shed. If I get especially ambitious after tonight’s snowstorm, I’ll head out there, grab the axe and start splitting. But I’m fine with waiting until Spring to tackle that. I’m not sure I’m going to want to dig it out from under all that snow.

Snow Covered Pond

The whole thing is, I needed to get this stuff off the pond before it got covered with the snow. If I waited, the project would become exponentially more difficult. And if I decided to wait until Spring rolled around, I’m not sure I’d want to be walking on that ice. And fishing pieces of wood out of water just isn’t my thing. I’ll do it, but I wouldn’t be happy about it. Better to sweat a bit today and finish up what I wanted to than to wait for things to get worse.

Old Wood Shed

Cut Logs

Pile of Wood

This morning was all about running around town in an attempt to find a kerosene heater. I’m nervous about the heat situation up here. I need a heat source and then a backup and then a backup. After tonight’s storm, the temperatures are supposed to drop to -18 on Wednesday. This is after 30MPH winds on Monday. Some how, some way, I have a feeling we’re going to lose power just when things are at their coldest. I don’t feel like being “left out in the cold,” if you get what I’m saying.

I’ll write a separate post about what I’ve done to soothe my mind (heat-wise) later tonight or tomorrow. For now, check out the kerosene heater I picked up today.

Kerosene Heater


The Verdict on the Green Supreme Wood Pellets

This is the second part of my “Green Supreme Wood Pellet review.” The first half, where I basically told you that I bought a ton and had put part of the first bag in the hopper is here.

Green Supreme Wood Pellets Bag

Okay. Are you ready? Here goes. I think these pellets are almost identical to the Maine Woods Pellet Company pellets that I had burned prior to this ton. Strange, but yes.

When I first began burning these pellets, the temperature outside was in the 30s, which was much warmer than it had been just a few days before. I kind of forgot about the outside temperature when I expressed to Laura, “Boy, it’s warm in here. Those new pellets are HOT!” And after burning them for a few weeks, they may in fact be hotter burning than the other Maine ones. The thing is, these new pellets offer up a lot of ash. If I’m not mistaken, even more ash than the Maine ones. Take a look at the picture below. This is what the burn pot looks like just about every five hours, before I scoop the ash out.

Englander Pellet Stove Burn Pot

Now, I’m not too keen on reviewing pellets, especially because there are way too many factors that go into how pellets burn, such as stove design, stove cleanliness and air flow. And I’m not sure if it’s the fault of the Englander Pellet Stove I purchased from Home Depot either, but what I do know is that burning both the Maine wood pellets and the Green Supreme wood pellets result in having to remove big clumps of ash that look like this.

Clump of Wood Pellet Ash - Clinker

I don’t know if this is the infamous “clinker” or not, but I have to take these out of the stove at that five hour interval I just mentioned. Funny, because the “New England Wood Pellet” company blames clinkers on the stove (question #6), “Wood Pellet Reviews” blames the pellet and “SFGate” blames both.

I do want to say, I’m not annoyed at all about this. I think both of these brands of pellets are pretty good, for the money. I’ll buy the Green Supreme pellets again, simply because they’re closer to pick up. If I had to, I’d get the Maine ones as well. And I’d also like to mention that I’m thrilled with the Englander Pellet Stove. It puts out great heat. I am going to be looking at how to adjust the air flow though, because that may be a factor in the ash getting bound up in the burn pot.

Have you burned either Maine Wood Pellets or Green Supreme Wood Pellets? What’s your take on this? What’s your favorite brand of pellets and why?


Down Come the Birch and the Maple

Today was one of those days that just might pass you by. It’s a day where you wake up, do some stuff, do some more stuff and then realize that it’s dark outside. Then, you eat and go back to bed. Winter has many of those days and if we aren’t careful, we’ll end up staying inside much more than we should. I think it’s because of the short amount of sunlight. Although, that’s supposed to be getting longer now.

Around 3PM, I realized that I hadn’t gone outside yet. Since I get bothered if I don’t get my fill of adventure, I suited up and went to do a little shoveling at the end of the driveway. I ended up not doing much shoveling because the snow was too hard and icy. I figured I’d just drive over it a few times with the truck next time it’s started. That’s so much easier than laboring in the ice, especially since it’s been snowing almost every day here lately.

As I was walking back to the house – shovel in hand, I took a detour and headed back toward the pond. I wanted to see if it had the same layer of ice/snow that the rest of the area had. I wanted to see if I could shovel a portion of it and slide around a bit, kind of pretending that I had ice skates on.

Lo and behold, the pond was in great shape. It only had a few inches of fluffy snow on it that I easily shoveled off in a few short minutes. Well, I actually shoveled a portion of it. I ran back in the house and asked Laura to come out to get some pictures of the event. I saw her walking out a few minutes later. By that time though, I had the chainsaw in my hand and I had already cut down that ugly, bent birch tree. Check out the Autumn picture of it here. It’s the first picture. Obviously not the other ones.

Cutting a Tree on Ice Pond

Pretty strange change of events huh? “Hey Pumpkin, can you come out and get some pictures of me shoveling the pond?” And by the time she gets out there, I’m cutting a tree down. Let me explain. When I realized how thick the ice was, I saw an opportunity to drop the Birch tree I’ve been looking at for weeks on it. If I did it on the ice, I wouldn’t have to deal with dragging it out of the water with the truck, come Spring. I think that makes sense. All I’d have to do is cut up the wood on the ice and then walk the logs off.

Standing With Branch in Hand

Carrying Wood

Having the pond frozen like that made things so much easier.

When I was finished getting all the Birch wood off the ice, I started looking at that maple tree I never finished cutting down. You can see those pictures over here. Since I had Laura there watching, I figured I would quickly knock the Maple tree over and try to get as much of it off the ice before it got dark. I did that and removed about half the wood before my chainsaw chain somehow tightened up on the bar. When that happens, I have to stop and make some adjustments. Today, I figured that it was a good time to call it a day. I was already sweating way too much and was rather uncomfortable. You can see the size of the wood in this next picture though.

Standing Next To Fallen Maple Tree

I’m thinking that the wood I got from today’s adventure will finish up my cord. Can you believe that? Just from poking around the property, doing some cutting and splitting, I was able to fill the shed with about a cord of wood. That’s pretty good. Now we just need a stove and to get it hooked up. I’ll do this over the Summer. Tomorrow though, I’m going to finish gathering and splitting today’s wood. I’ll stack it up in the shed and take a picture of it. You can be the judge of how much it is. Maybe my calculations are off. Until then.


First Maine Christmas

I woke up this morning around 7:30, which really isn’t all that early. I usually get up at 10:30 though – because I fall asleep so late at night – or morning. Laura and I began cooking dinner past midnight because we ended up getting into a heated conversation about something. I’m not sure what it was. I just kept rolling around in bed. I couldn’t sleep.

I tried to see through the dark curtain material we recently hung over the curtain rods to keep as much heat in as possible. But as much as I tried, I couldn’t make out if it was a sunny day or a cloudy one. I know the forecast called for sun, but I wasn’t sure of the weatherman’s accuracy this Christmas day.

As I kind of stumbled down the stairs in an effort to get over to the pellet stove for refilling, I noticed a bright light coming through the downstairs window. Sunny. Indeed it was. And actually, what I was looking at was the sunrise. Our very first Christmas day in Maine and my very first sunrise – in Maine (too).

Back Yard Sunrise in Maine

As you can see, the ice is still hanging on mightily to those tree branches. I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon either. Unless, of course, it warms up. Then, it’ll seem like it’s raining in the woods. I’ve experienced that before and it’s really something else. Having the sun blast down on you, only to feel the freezing cold droplets of water falling on your head from the branches above. Ice like this changes things so much.

Barn, Snow and Trees

After I did a little work on some old websites I hope to revive in 2014, I went back to bed. It was probably 8:00. I slept in to my normal 10:30 when I heard all sorts of commotion downstairs. Laura was laughing and making such a racket! I pulled myself from bed. I slept deeply this time. Whenever I wake up and end up falling back to sleep in the morning, it’s the good sleep. Not sure why either. But it always works out that way.

I later found that Laura had been taking video of the cats. That’s what the noise was coming from. They were modeling, I’m sure, and she was recording video and snapping pictures. I wasn’t aware of the extent of things until I looked on her camera later on. Yeah, she took a lot. I decided to steal a few of the better pictures of Finnegan and Voleman and call them their Christmas portraits. So serious!

Finnegan the Black Cat

Voleman the Orange Cat

As you can see, I had to twist the photos ever so slightly so their eyes were lined up horizontally. Makes for such drama. Fierce!

This afternoon, we went for our annual Christmas walk. This is the time we use to reflect upon our choices and wonder why we do the things we do. Our Christmases are probably the most low key Christmases possible. The most we do is call a few loves ones. And I think that’s enough for us. I don’t know. That’s the way it’s been for a while and that’s the way it’ll probably be for the rest of our lives. If we changed it now, I think we’d probably freak out a little. Going for our mid-afternoon walks in the cold has become somewhat of a tradition for us. Get all bundled up and head out into whatever mother nature has decided to throw at us. This year it’s the ice. The road was covered with it. And like I said above, so is everything else.

Ice Covered Flower Bud

When we got back to the house, and after we ate a quick late lunch, I suggested that Laura and I exchange gifts. My mother had two glass jars shipped to arrive here yesterday. Since we never got a chance to buy each other anything, I handed her both of the jars and she handed one back to me. We had presents for unwrapping. We did and were surprised to find items of such quality. My mother has very good taste.

Le Parfait French Glass Canning Jars

What you are looking at above are two “Le Parfait French Glass Canning Jars.” Quite heavy and well made. When I told my mother that we’d love some canning jars, I’m not sure I knew what was available out there. I had no idea she’d go for the imported from France ones. Really nice to look at and will look splendid on the counter top.

I’d like to say Merry Christmas again, but by the time you read this, it’ll be the day after. Ah, what the heck – Merry Christmas again!


I’m Worried About the Snow

It’s twice now I’ve tried to explain to Laura that I’m worried about the snow. “What if we didn’t go far enough North? What if we don’t get enough snow?” I’m not sure she’s too concerned about how much snow we’ll get and I’m sure she knows I’m being facetious. It’s just that the snow has changed the landscape so much. Even though we haven’t been here more than a handful of weeks, I think I’m becoming attached to it. Things just look better when the ground is white.

Snow Covered Field

We had to run out again to get some food from the store today. I cleaned the ice off the cars for at least an hour. To heat the windows up, I had the cars running the whole time I was cleaning them. You should have seen me – lightly punching the hoods and the roofs – just enough to shake things loose. When I’d hear things get a little hollow, I’d know I had broken the connection between the ice and the paint. I’d give the whole ordeal a great swipe with my sleeve and everything would fall to the ground. And I did this all while wearing my little rubber shoes. My feet were cold and wet when I was finished.

Dead Flowers Coated With Ice

While we were out, Laura was able to take a whole lot of pictures. The trees are still completely coated with ice. There were spots we had to pull over just to get a good look. Clouds directly overhead, ending straight ahead of us allowing the sun in. It was like a band of blue skies between the cloud cover and mountains. All that with that bright sun. It made the trees look – well it made them look rare, if that makes sense. There’s only so many times I’ll probably see that combination of instances in my life.

Ice Covered Trees

Snow Road and Sun

I think we’re down to about eight inches of compressed and very icy snow now. We had almost a foot, then it rained and formed an ice layer, twice, and then it snowed about an inch on top of that.

We’re starting to see snowmobile trails all over the place. There are markers out in the middle of fields, little stop signs near the roads and today I even saw one of the trails named, “Memorial Trail…” I’m not sure of the rest, but I liked the fact that snowmobiles are respected and allowed to be ridden in this part of the world. Remember, Maine has over 14,000 miles of very legal snowmobile/ATV trails and actually encourages their use. To me, that’s amazing. We even took a walk up our very own road just a few days ago to find two trails with snowmobile tracks in them. I came back to look on the computer for some information on where they went. Let’s just say they went up into no man’s land. Basically, you can get anywhere on a snowmobile from just a mile away from where I sleep at night. Amazing again.

Here’s one last shot for you. It’s from our way back to the house this afternoon. Merry Christmas everyone!

Snow Covered Road in Maine


The Ice Storm That Almost Was

I’ve been getting weather alerts on my phone for the past two days. They’ve been warning me of a gigantic, horrendous, magnificent ice storm that’s going to completely cut us off from the civilized world. What we once knew, would be gone. I know I’m being a bit dramatic here because the warnings weren’t actually that bad, but the frequency I received them made me wonder if something terrible was really going to happen. If at the very least, we’d lose power for a while.

Well, the alerts have stopped. I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s raining anymore. We survived. Watch though, we’re going to get slammed with something unexpected tonight. I’ve spoken too soon, I’m sure.

As the fellow up the road promised, you can almost skate on the icy top layer of the snow. It’s very slippery out there and if we had to drive somewhere – well, let’s just say I hope we don’t have to drive anywhere. Not until tomorrow at least. We have to go to the food store for Christmas dinner supplies. We’ve got a quiet night in.

Ice Covered Twig

Both Laura and I really wanted to go out there and take some nice pictures of the ice hanging from the trees. I put my big 300mm lens on and was less than thrilled with what I came back inside with. There was no sun and the ice didn’t sparkle and any which way. Needless to say, my report to Laura only depressed her. Enough to keep her indoors and away from the camera. I hate it when that happens.

Icicles

I’ve already managed to delete all this afternoon’s pictures from my camera. The only two that were worth posting have already been above. Oh well. If there was one good thing about today’s clouds and rain, it’s that I got to hook up a sump pump discharge assembly in the basement. I didn’t finish it completely, but it’s almost there. Hmmm…maybe I’ll take a few pictures of that for you. Tomorrow perhaps, when there’s a break of sun. I have to go back outside to offer you the complete scene. Until then.


Insulating Basement Rim Joists

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on home insulation and one popular space I see a lot of people talking about is the rim joist area of the basement. Apparently, rim joists are either avoided, forgotten about or simply never insulated for one reason or another. I think it probably has to do with their size and location. The areas between the floor joists aren’t too large and they are located up in the corners of the basement ceiling. It’s difficult to imagine they are letting cold air in the house (or letting warm air out).

As I go through the basement here, I look for two things. First, I try to find drafts. I know they’re there. I can feel them and as Peter from Dover Projects put it, drafts in a basement can cause something called a “Stack Effect,” where the air leaving the top of the house can pull air in the basement through openings, acting similarly to a chimney. Warm air wants to rise through the chimney, thus pulling cold air from everywhere else. If anyone has had to deal with a traditional fireplace, you know how cold it gets in every room besides the one with the fire in it.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I can see daylight through a few gaps in the basement walls. Those gaps are generally around pipes and wires. Regardless of what caused the gaps, they need to be sealed.

The second thing I look for is areas that would allow cold air infiltration and condensation due to low thermal resistance. This is basically the “R-Value” you hear everyone talking about when it comes to insulation. If you have a low r-value on exterior walls, cold air will “fall” from them (kind of like old one pane windows) and moisture will condense on them. Warm, humid air settling on cold rim joists leads to mold and wood rot. Not a good thing when it comes to basements.

What’s good about the basement here at the house is that the rim joists are already insulated with fiberglass insulation. The thing is – the current insulation isn’t really up to snuff when it comes to modern standards. Even with a paper vapor barrier, warm air and moisture can seep behind the fiberglass and condensation can form on the wood. Also, I’m afraid to say, fiberglass insulation just doesn’t do all that much by itself, when house wrap, other complementary types of insulation and very thorough installation are absent. There are better ways to insulate.

My plan is to put pieces of two inch rigid foam insulation in between each and every floor joist, along the entire rim joist. After I friction fit the rigid insulation, I’ll seal the edges with painter’s caulk. This should both seal and insulate, the way it should be done.

Since I had a few extra pieces of rigid foam laying around from my previous insulation project, I started with a few areas against the rim joist last night. I finished those areas the way I just described and think they look perfect. Just the way I want. If I can get the rest of the areas done like this, I’ll be happy.

Here are some before and after shots from last night’s work.

Rim Joist Insulated With Fiberglass Insulation

Rim Joist Insulated With Rigid Foam Insulation

After this is through, I’m going to tackle the walls, but I’ll leave that for another post.