So... What are YOU doing? - Part 8

[Naiwen]

Good afternoon all, enjoying a hazel nut cream coffee and a blueberry iced tea. Lunching on leftovers with orange juice. Doing aroma therapy and music therapy till dinner and hitting the deck tonight.

 

[Krissy Cakes]

Listening to music and browsing.

 

[Lamb]

Listening to the birds outside and wondering if the the mesh that covers the sides of the shutters got moved and they're getting back behind the shutters. I will need to get a tall ladder before spring and fix all the gaps.

 

[tango]

Listening to the birds outside and wondering if the the mesh that covers the sides of the shutters got moved and they're getting back behind the shutters. I will need to get a tall ladder before spring and fix all the gaps.

Hope it's a simple job. I have soundproofing issues that are going to be quite complex - when my house was built there was no such thing as a truck and road noise was when your neighbor went out on his horse before you did. So needless to say the house wasn't built with the concern for noise reduction that a more modern house might have. I've found a few places that are going to need some potentially major masonry work to block out noise. Thankfully I've found a couple of places that sell a variety of noise deadening products, so hopefully they will also help.

 

[Lamb]

Hope it's a simple job. I have soundproofing issues that are going to be quite complex - when my house was built there was no such thing as a truck and road noise was when your neighbor went out on his horse before you did. So needless to say the house wasn't built with the concern for noise reduction that a more modern house might have. I've found a few places that are going to need some potentially major masonry work to block out noise. Thankfully I've found a couple of places that sell a variety of noise deadening products, so hopefully they will also help.

Do you have any insulation blown into the walls that could help? We had a brick house for a our first house and there was no insulation in the walls at all.

 

[tango]

Do you have any insulation blown into the walls that could help? We had a brick house for a our first house and there was no insulation in the walls at all.

When my house was built I'm not sure the concept of insulation even existed. Some walls have subsequently had cellulose blown into them but in many places it has settled or apparently wasn't there at all. It's intriguing to look at the walls through the lens of a thermal camera - you can see the individual wall studs and where the cellulose has settled based on the colors.

A bigger problem is where the house was extended. Some of the joins aren't particularly good - from what I can tell they are structurally sound but if a brick didn't quite fit the builder just broke off pieces until it did. So there are places where the inner face of the brickwork is broken away, meaning cold air and noise can get in easily. I've found and fixed a few of them but I have a nasty feeling there are at least two more than run the entire height of the house.

One half of the house is ripped apart as part of my ongoing renovation and that part now has polyisocyanurate insulation panels in it. One room used to drop into the low 40s if I left it closed for a few days in the winter and, now it's insulated, even when it goes well below freezing outside for days at a time the room doesn't drop below 50. The soundproofing is also hugely improved, but I want it better still. The material I'm looking at isn't particularly cheap (I'm expecting it to run to $8-900 to cover a room about 14 feet square, including the ceiling) but if it shuts out the noise it will be worth it. If it does I'll put it in the rest of the house as I go.

 

[Naiwen]

Good morning all, had about 12 hours sleep last night, enjoying my usual breakfast and my morning coffee.

 

[tango]

Speaking of thermal camera images, I went outside today and had a look at the outside of the house with my thermal camera. It's a lot better than it was before!

One thing that fascinated me was that I noticed in one wall the entire wall was cold but it had a narrow warm strip beside one of the windows. At first it confused me, but then I remembered I didn't finish a piece of work there so that's the one part of the wall that doesn't have insulation panels lining the inside. Interesting that I could see the difference from the outside.

There are still a couple of warm spots I can't yet explain. Perhaps there's a gap in the brickwork I haven't noticed yet, but I can't see corresponding cold spots on the inside. I suspect I've got an issue in one place that lets the warmth into the brickwork where it rises and then creates a warm spot at the top of the wall. That sort of thing is likely to be a challenge to identify. But I can but press on and keep fixing things as and when I find them.

 

[Naiwen]

Good afternoon all, having an iced peppermint latte. Lunching out on an A&W's mama burger trio. Seeing my therapist this afternoon.

 

[Lamb]

Going to get groceries.

 

[Naiwen]

Good morning all, had about 12 hours sleep last night, breakfast is my usual and morning coffee.

 

[tango]

Spent more time than I should have putting a jigsaw together with my wife. I lost track of time and ended up without enough time to do my walk in the woods, so did a walk around town instead. I can walk in the woods tomorrow. It will be colder than today but should be manageable.

Tonight we're going to hang out with a friend and catch up over a beer or two.

 

[Naiwen]

Good night all, been doing an hour aroma therapy and music therapy, meditating till dinner and drifting to sleep tonight.

 

[Lamb]

Spent more time than I should have putting a jigsaw together with my wife. I lost track of time and ended up without enough time to do my walk in the woods, so did a walk around town instead. I can walk in the woods tomorrow. It will be colder than today but should be manageable.

Tonight we're going to hang out with a friend and catch up over a beer or two.

Jigsaw? Or jigsaw puzzle?

My sister-in-law tortured us by giving me a 1,000 piece puzzle with little birds all over it. I've never had such a complicated puzzle before but we finished it. My husband wants to frame it. Nooooo.

 

[tango]

Jigsaw? Or jigsaw puzzle?

My sister-in-law tortured us by giving me a 1,000 piece puzzle with little birds all over it. I've never had such a complicated puzzle before but we finished it. My husband wants to frame it. Nooooo.

Putting together a jigsaw puzzle. I have a jigsaw (the tool that cuts things up) but it came ready-assembled. I don't think my wife would be much help putting the power tool kind of jigsaw together.

Years ago I had a jigsaw puzzle that was square, with the same picture on both sides. One side had the picture rotated 90 degrees relative to the other side. For good measure it was a very repetitive pattern - I forget the exact picture but something like a plate of baked beans or similar. That one kept me busy for a while.

You should frame that puzzle with the birds. Firstly it will show your sister-in-law how much you appreciated her gift and, perhaps more importantly, if it's sealed and framed you never have to put it together again.

 

[Naiwen]

Good morning all, had about 12 hours sleep last night, having my usual breakfast and my morning coffee.

 

[tango]

Wanted to get out and clear my head today but didn't feel like walking in the woods with high winds and the potential for strong gusts and snow. So instead I went for a longer version of the walk I do around town with my wife. The difference was that I was going at my pace rather than her pace, and my legs felt like nothing was going to stop them. I added an extra loop towards the end because I'd hoped the walk would be a little longer, and ended up doing exactly 5 miles in 70 minutes. In the woods I'm pleased if I can maintain an average speed around 3mph but here, on tarmac and without such big hills to attack, my average worked out something like 4.3mph.

Of course in the woods my average speed is often dragged down if I stop to enjoy the vistas, which isn't a rare occurrence. If I'm taking time to enjoy the views then an overall average of 3mph isn't happening...

 

[Lamb]

Putting together a jigsaw puzzle. I have a jigsaw (the tool that cuts things up) but it came ready-assembled. I don't think my wife would be much help putting the power tool kind of jigsaw together.

Years ago I had a jigsaw puzzle that was square, with the same picture on both sides. One side had the picture rotated 90 degrees relative to the other side. For good measure it was a very repetitive pattern - I forget the exact picture but something like a plate of baked beans or similar. That one kept me busy for a while.

You should frame that puzzle with the birds. Firstly it will show your sister-in-law how much you appreciated her gift and, perhaps more importantly, if it's sealed and framed you never have to put it together again.

Too late. Already shoved it back in the box so I could put the table it was on back in the basement. Plus now I can send it to her when she's bored and have her do it!

 

[Naiwen]

Good night all, been doing about an hour aroma therapy and music therapy, relaxing online till dinner and heading to sleep tonight.

 

[tango]

Too late. Already shoved it back in the box so I could put the table it was on back in the basement. Plus now I can send it to her when she's bored and have her do it!

Awwwww.....

My current jigsaw puzzle is sitting on my dining table under a 3/4" thick piece of plywood. It makes absolutely sure the cat can't get at it if we go out and he decides it's a big thing made up of lots of mouse-like objects. As far as I know he doesn't jump up on the table - he's been punished often enough he knows he's not allowed to - but every once in a while he forgets himself with other things.

I keep thinking of getting some basic boards cut, maybe 36x30 inches, to use as bases for jigsaw puzzles. It would mean if we want the table back before we finish the puzzle we can just lift the board up and put it somewhere else. I'd just need a couple of wall-mounted brackets to slide the boards onto. Come to think of it, I've got an idea where that might work.