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

[tango]

Watching a rather cold looking mixture of rain and snow fall from the sky.

It seems warmer in the area I've been draft-proofing lately. I may still pin a few wooden batons in place and rig up an old sheet of fiberglass to really contain any cold, but I think the worst of the problems are at least partly addressed. Finding the remaining heat leak is easier in the cold, but I don't want to be outside pointing my camera at stuff in steady sleet. It can wait for a cold but dry day. I'm sure we'll have a few of those these coming months.

 

[tango]

Last time it was cold outside the room next to where I've been working dropped to 52 degrees. This time it's comparably cold and the room is steady at 56 degrees. It's not a hugely scientific measurement but seems to indicate I've made at least some progress towards fixing the problems.

Subjectively speaking the room I've been working on doesn't feel as cold, although the area of the exterior door still needs work. Ultimately it will want a new door and probably a new door frame as well, but that's not happening this time of year!

 

[Naiwen]

Yo sup there all man! How are you today? Today, just been catching up on sleep since I’ve had 2 nights in a row.

 

[Lamb]

My daughter left this morning to go back to her apartment so I'm eating breakfast and relaxing since we did a lot of stuff yesterday.

 

[Naiwen]

Hello morning all! How are ye all doing today? Today, because it’s an awfully cold, snowy, windy, dark and depressing day outside, currently feeling like -21C, just playing some games on my Switch before hitting the bed tonight.

 

[tango]

Today was another helping of Fun With Foam.

I've been trying to figure why a particular room gets so cold. I recently described pulling down drywall around the door and sealing a few gaps but I still had a draft. Today I pulled down some more drywall around the window and found some more nasty air gaps. So I got my trusty can of spray foam that will cure down to 30 degrees, cleaned out the gap as best I could, and sprayed the foam into the gap. Since I didn't have anything else to use the foam and didn't want to waste it I just sprayed the entire can into the general space. It's a window well that once carried window weights, so now about 1/3 of it is full of foam. I'll stuff rockwool into the remaining space and add some sound proofing vinyl.

Within an hour of spraying the foam the room already felt warmer. I'll need to do some more major work to get at the other window wells but now I've got a good idea of what I'm up against. I didn't really want to spray an entire can of foam into one space but given our heating bills this time of year I suspect it will pay for itself many times over by the time this winter is through, let alone future winters. If I end up spraying an entire can into every single one of the other window wells I'll gladly pay the cost of it, given the likely long term savings. It's only about $5/can and when I can feel the difference within an hour I know it's working well.

 

[Lamb]

We were in the path of the huge snowstorm yesterday and last night. I'm glad we went out to shovel and snow blow yesterday because there was a lot of rain and ice mixed in as well and now it's all heavy stuff out there. We have a couple more inches to clear out of the driveway.

 

[Naiwen]

Yo sup there guys man! How are you today? Today, since it’s another yet again freezing cold, snowy and overcast day outside, currently feeling like -21C, just enjoying my usual TV show before hitting the sack tonight.

 

[tango]

Spent some time this morning clearing snow, although I think we spent more time chatting with the neighbors than actually clearing. Then a lazy lunchtime before heading to church to record the service for this Sunday.

I made a brief start on getting some more window trim off the window I know has issues but ran into a few problems, then ran out of time before needing to head to church. I took the chance to stop by the hardware store and get some more cans of the foam that will cure down to 30 degrees. I have a big can of foam on my foam gun but that really wants to be at 75 degrees, which won't be happening for a while. It will kinda sorta spray in colder temperatures but you don't get much foaming and it takes a while to cure. Given our heating bills it's worth dropping $5-6 at a time on cans of foam - I figure a can that seals up even one nasty draft will pay for itself many times over within a single season. Even though I hate wasting stuff I've paid for, it's better to waste half a $6 can of foam than to continue to waste heating oil fighting a draft.

 

[Lamb]

Wondering why my internet is lagging this morning.

 

[tango]

Need to head into town to get to a bigger hardware store. I need a couple of blades for one of my tools and the only options the local hardware store has aren't good enough for what I need. It's one of the few areas I've found Dewalt tools to be way below par quality wise - just about all my power tools are Dewalt but the blades they make for one particular tool just don't hold up. It really gets tedious spending nearly $20 on a blade only to find it barely cuts through anything before going dull and needing to be replaced. I have some carbide tipped blades that will cut through stone, I'm just not sure how well they will cut through aged wood because the teeth are so fine. The problem is the Dewalt "wood" blades seem to work OK with new wood, but when dealing with wood that's nearly 100 years old they struggle, and don't cope very well at all if they even slightly catch on the stone behind the wood when it finally gives.

Once I've got some blades sorted out I can continue pulling at window trims. I still need to figure out how to get some wall units off the wall - some of them look like they'll just be a matter of undoing some screws and lifting the units down but others look like at least part of them are built to fit the space. It's really weird seeing a combination of units screwed into place and units that look like they've been made out of some pretty heavy duty wood. And somewhere behind it all is the source of another nasty draft. Oh what fun...

 

[NewCreation435]

It is open access day at our mental health agency so I am doing assessments. I did one this morning

 

[Naiwen]

Happy Friday all! How are you? Today, because it’s yet another very cold, dark and gloomy day outside, currently feeling like -13C, just relaxing online before heading to bed tonight.

 

[Lamb]

Couldn't get our snowblower working so now we need a repair man

 

[tango]

It took a bit of doing to get at the window well on the other side of the window I was fighting with the other day. It turned out the piece of wood covering it over was wide enough to go behind a couple of wall units. Thankfully I figured there was a cavity behind it so rather than risk trashing an expensive oscillating blade I cut a hole a few inches long and then let rip with my reciprocating saw. It made fairly short work of the piece of wood, then I sprayed another can of foam into that cavity. Things are improving, now I only have three more window cavities to address. I have a double window with one cavity at either end and something - as yet I don't know exactly what - in between them.

 

[NewCreation435]

Started using a new continuous glucose monitor this morning and was trained on it with a trainer on zoom. Hope it helps

 

[tango]

Not a great night for me last night. Not sure why, but sometimes I just have a bad night. I had been tempted to try and get at the other window wells today but it's really cold outside so I don't want to start the job and find I can't finish it, leaving any air gaps exposed. It doesn't help that I disconnected all the electrics in that room so the only source of light I have is a portable work light. I'm thinking it might be worth temporarily rigging something up so I can turn a light on in there if I need to. It wouldn't be a pretty job but that doesn't really matter.

If nothing else I'm glad I've got at least two sets of air gaps fixed up now. It's hard to be sure about overall savings on heating bills given much of the house still has the radiators disconnected so figures are artificially low at the moment. I had hoped to cut our bills by a third but the way things are going I'm wondering if I can cut them more deeply than that. The thermal images of the sections we're currently using suggest we've got some nasty thermal issues behind the walls here too, so fixing those up is likely to result in more hefty savings. That will be nice.

 

[Naiwen]

Happy weekend all! How are you? Today, I’ve just had leftover pizza with lemon iced tea for lunch. Tonight, just playing some games on my phone before heading to sleep.

 

[tango]

Had a nice long Zoom chat with a couple of really good friends.

Also gave some thought to how to get a power socket and light into the room I've been working on lately. I may need to plug in an electric bar heater and it would be nice to be able to do it without running a long extension cord in there, and it would also be nice to be able to flick a switch and get central lighting without having to find somewhere to prop a battery powered worklight so it shines where I need the light. I've pretty much figured out what I want to do, and I think I've got enough offcuts to be able to make it work without having to cut lengths off my rolls of cable.

Otherwise it wasn't a hugely productive day today.

 

[Naiwen]

Yo sup there all man! How are you today? Today, I’ve just had leftover pizza with lemon iced tea for lunch again. Tonight, just playing some games on my Switch before heading the sack.