Playing Catch Up

It feels like I'm always playing catch up these days. There is just so much going on and simply not enough hours in the day. With James getting sick this week and both of us feeling somewhat overwhelmed and exhausted by balancing housework and actual work (as in the kind we get paid for), this blog has sort of fallen by the wayside. Ooops. So, without further adieu, here's an update with pictures from the past two weeks on the job site.

First...the big reveal! Drumroll, please! Yellow or Green? Yellow or Green? Yellow or Green???

Green!

We chose to go with a mix of vinyl clapboard siding and polymer shakes from Certainteed. We were torn about how to finish the outside of our house and had a lot of factors to consider while making the decision. Material type, environmental impacts of the products, and of course, cost. We settled on siding from Certainteed because while it's vinyl/composite, it has some redemptive qualities because it is made of 60% post-consumer recycled material and will last at least 30 years without needing to be replaced, which is a "green" quality in itself. You can read more about Certainteed's sustainable building materials here.

Work has been moving along on the inside of the house as well. Insulation is complete! As I mentioned in a previous post, we insulated the house with a hybrid approach of super efficient closed cell spray foam and traditional fiberglass batting. The house feels and sounds so different now that it is insulated. Maybe that's because it's super duper insulated (yes, that's an actual "official" designation). Our ceilings are insulated to R-40 and our exterior walls better than R-21. In addition, we went through the house and sealed every crack and crevice with caulk. Nothing's getting through those walls!

Our amazing stoneworker, John did an awesome job on our front stoop. Isn't the bluestone beautiful?! We have smaller matching ones for our two back steps as well.

This was also an exciting week because the sheetrock was started! Having walls totally transforms the entire floorplan. This is the only picture you get until it's all done. Looks different, doesn't it?!