- Dan Schumacher
Pretty In Pink
Well, it's not exactly pink but it sure is pretty to me. The brown ugly duckling of insulation was less expensive and the only brand I could find. I first checked with Home Depot and they quoted me a three week lead time. Lowe's doesn't even sell unfaced R21 batt insulation. I called the local Builders First Source store and they told me they had a shipment coming in on June 28th and they could deliver on July 3rd. Perfect! This would meet my schedule. So, around noon on the 3rd I called to ensure I was still on their delivery schedule since I hadn't heard anything. The salesman checked with dispatch and yes I should expect to see someone by the end of the day. Low and behold I got a call about an hour later from Builders First Source to see if faced insulation would be an acceptable substitute. No, both the building inspector and the manufacturer recommend unfaced insulation. Apparently it didn't come in on the 28th as expected but they were going to get some on July 5th. Not ideal but I figured I could make this work. At this point I didn't think I had much choice. Well, guess what? The 5th arrived and no shipment hence no insulation. I started calling other building material suppliers and the best I could do was find six bags a two hour drive away. I decided to do another Google search and found a regional company called Ziggy's. Gave them a call and they had over one hundred bags in stock. Awesome! I ordered twelve bags. It took two trips with my Expedition and by 2:30 in the afternoon I had the insulation I needed. I got right to work and by 6:00 I had every room done except the north guest bedroom and the mechanical room.
The batts come in eight foot strips. This is perfect. Since I only have seven foot ceilings, I was able to use the remaining 12 inches to insulate the rim joist. So far I have installed eight bags and have little or no waste. I will finish on Monday and call for my last inspection on Tuesday.
I have already ordered 60 sheets of drywall and if everything goes according to plan they will get delivered on Tuesday. To date I have been able to haul everything into the basement myself. These sheets of drywall are probably too bulky to handle going down the stairs by myself. I reached out to one of my neighbor's and I now have a high school student coming Tuesday afternoon to help me.
Trish and I weren't sure what we wanted to do on Independence Day (also known as July 4th). I remembered our friend Sharon told us one of her favorite wines was from Washington. Google Maps said it was just over a two hour drive and the vineyards website said they were open and would have live music from 1:00 to 4:00. We jumped into the fun car and headed to Hedges Family Estate in Benton City, WA.
It was a gorgeous drive and the scenery was spectacular. Rolling hills and wide open plains. When we pulled up into the parking lot there were two Porsche race cars on display. We figured this was part of the celebration. Upon reaching the tasting room we saw that the winery was hosting a private event. It didn't take long to figure out the local Porsche club was having a get together.
After sampling some great wine and listening to a local musician we decided it was time to depart but agreed we would be back soon.
