Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Winter Storm Advisory

Hello all!

Much as we were hoping to be able to post all about how we'd finished insulating the cabin and had drywall up by now, Mother Nature has been disinclined to acquiesce to our demands  :(

First we got another cold snap and couldn't stay warm enough to work. Then it started snowing. And snowing. And snowing.

In just this last week, we've gotten over a foot (close to two!) of fresh powder and it makes transportation brutal. It's about knee deep, with chest-high drifts here and there. It's that fine granular snow that packs in around tires and boots, just sucking you down and making it impossible to move.  And the wind has been hell... blowing all the fluffy powder all over trails, roads and into every nook and cranny.

We did finally cave in and buy some house wrap so we could get some sort of barrier on the exterior and to stop the wind before we blow the insulation. I'd prefer to use felt paper, but it's still too cold to work with that (probably for another 2 months!) and we really needed to weather the cabin in ASAP. We can work with the wrap down to -10, and it's been a little warmer than that recently.

Oh well, we'll have some extra felt for a later project then ;)

G-man is heading into Fairbanks with our neighbor Ken today, during a break in storm fronts, to pick up the insulation blower and another construction heater. If we can get the fire going downstairs and the heater going upstairs, we should be able to keep the cabin warm enough to seal things up and blow in all the insulation by the end of the week. The weather liars are saying that we'll have daytime averages 10-20 above with nighttime averages around zero for at least a week, so if we can overcome the snow and wind to get that done... then it should be REALLY easy to keep the place warm enough so we can hustle to get to the drywall and interior finish work and we can move before April. **please please please**

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to your end of week report and hopefully pictures. I hope the weather cooperates with you and that you have success.

I love seeing a new update as i am living through your blog and wish you the best.

Thanks from CO

Dan Lynch said...

Glad to know you are surviving, PC.

I'm looking to be snowed in for a while myself, but I can just throw another log on the fire and enjoy the situation. Someday you'll be able to do the same. :)

Jerseykat said...

Fingers crossed that you make it into you house by April.
You've come so far and done so much it's tough being in the home stretch.

Quinton said...

Wow! I checked your blog this AM and the temp is 35 above 0. Maybe spring has sprung. :) Ya all will be running around in shorts and T-shirts today. I've got my fingers crossed for ya.

Anonymous said...

Did G-man make it back from Fairbanks with the blower? Exactly how do you plow loose material into the walls with no sheet rock already up? Sorry for my obvious ignorance?

Plickety Cat said...

Spring isn't quite here yet... if this is anything like last year, we've still got one or two cold snaps left before things really warm up.

G-man made it back, but not with the blower since they'd already rented it out :( The weather wouldn't have cooperated with us anyway... super windy and snow/ice/rain mix because of the warm spell. And, of course, we got infected with some funky head cold because we had contact with other humans ---- ARG!!!

5 feverish days of snotting and hacking while the tent blew to Oz and back. Such a pleasure. Just now starting to feel better.

So, to blow the insulation, first you have to staple up a poly mesh material... sort of like the stuff on the bottom of sofas and box springs. That way you can still see the cavity while you're blowing to make sure you got it all packed in there good and tight with no voids. Then you come back and install your vapor barrier over it, and then you're drywall.

Anonymous said...

That sounds easy enough I could even do it...lol

Ya the cold is a snot isnt it? Im still trying to get over mine.

Wash