Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Don't Forget To Duck

Remember this? Larry's plan to destroy our basement?

Well, I'm thinking Larry has gone around the bend, insulation-wise. As most of you know, he has spent the better part of the last 4 years tearing the drywall from every single outside wall in this house and filling the space behind it with 3 inches of insulation. A couple of weeks ago, he started in on the walk-out basement. A few nights ago I ventured downstairs into the construction zone and saw this:


Why have a home theater when you can have a padded room instead?

That's right - he's putting insulation on the floor. When I asked him about it, Larry claimed it would prevent condensation and humidity. He said all the DIY guys are doing it - he read it on the Internet.

Why don't I find that reassuring?

Since then, he has added a layer of plywood. He still needs to install the actual flooring. "You know, Larry," I said, "it won't affect me, but you're pretty tall. And the basement ceiling is low. You might want to rethink this."

"No, it'll be fine!" he said, waving his hand around in the rapidly shrinking space between the top of his head and the heating duct hanging from the ceiling. "FINE! Well, that ceiling fan over there might be a problem, but I'll figure it out."

Tell me, is it too late for an intervention?



9 comments:

  1. Yes. Embrace your lack of height and let it go.

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  2. Why do I have a feeling that his way of "figuring it out" is going to involve more construction?

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  3. He's a man with a plan. I have a "hunch" you'll get past that ceiling fan...

    ReplyDelete
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  5. For some reason I find it amusing that the insulation has an image of the Pink Panther on it. Didn't a major character in the Pink Panther movies end up in a padded cell?

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    Replies
    1. You and I were thinking the same thing here, Carolyn!

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  6. I hope I'm wrong, but won't all that trapped condensation grow mold? That would be my concern. Supposedly, if you put heavy mil plastic sheeting under the insulation, and seal that with special tape, it wouldn't allow the moisture to collect on the insulation.
    I only say this because mold scares me.

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    Replies
    1. I think I asked Larry this when he started doing the walls, but I couldn't remember the answer (because science-y), so I asked him again this morning. That's how they used to do it (with the plastic sheeting), but they found that the trapped water still created mold problems. So this new generation of insulation somehow keeps the water out but allows the space to breathe, so it still evaporates. Or something like that - I told you, science-y.

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