It's electric!

Wherein I Don't Really Write Much About the Post Title

Somehow I felt like having the opportunity to use a terrible post title like "it's electric!" was too awesomely awful to pass up. This post could talk some about the electrical bits of the room, but upon reflection, technical talk about 20 and 30 Amp circuits, sub-panels, and consummate dimmer switches is not the way to increase my readership. So I will talk super-briefly about the only sorta interesting thing I have going on up there, electrically speaking.

As anyone who has visited my house can attest, there is a metric embarrassment of electronics wiring that was done by the previous owner. This includes in-ceiling/wall speakers throughout the house, speakers out on the back deck, automated lighting controls, and much more. This "wired-to-the-hilt" mentality carried through to the third floor, as well. There were lots of signal wires, two network cables, two phone lines, several cable TV runs - the whole deal. Although lots more elaborate schemes were dreamt up, I put together a design that will pull it all together in a panel with a cable TV hookup, network jack, telephone jack, speaker terminals, and a feed of audio from the central system in the basement. The room will require an amplifier, and then will run to a pair of wall-mounted speakers that will supply the room with tuneful bliss.

Come back, I promise that's all!
As much as anything, that last paragraph was to remind me what I'm supposed to do with all these wires when it's time to put it all together. Moving right along...

Is it warm in here, or is it just all the insulation?
I'm glad you asked - it is the insulation (or at least it needed to be). With the electrical wires in place, the major barrier between me and drywall was insulation. Since my alleged purpose for the renovation was improved thermal performance, insulation was key. Framing as we did with 2x4's, we were able to use R-13 fiberglass batting insulation. This was definitely not the thickest available, but it was the best compromise between wall space and performance.

In the photo, you can see the front of the room mostly insulated. The straight, evenly spaced studs were very appealing as a practice spot for the novice installer. The insulation is unrolled from its bundle, measured to fit the space, then cut with a razor knife to the right length. It is then wedged into the cavity between the studs, and often will stay there on its own from friction. In cases where it's not a tight fit, or when gravity is fighting you (like in the photo), each run is stapled to the studs. The photo above has a rookie mistake (can you spot it?! Interactive!), and much of the rest of the room was done better once I knew. To make it easier to drywall over, it is recommended that the paper should be stapled to the inside of the studs rather than their face, since it helps them stay visible until the drywall goes up.

The photo on the left shows the back of the room, with a new skylight (!), and lots of insulation, including along the ceiling. A trick that Mike taught me is shown on the left of the photo - when insulation doesn't want to fit the regular way (in this case - cavity was too wide), turn it and make a patchwork to cover the space. Maybe not ideal, and definitely more work, but it picks up the slack from either sloppy or tricky framing.

The most important thing that I learned from all of this insulation nonsense was that wearing the proper gear to do the work was critical. I could get away with wearing shorts on the warm evenings up here, but long sleeves and gloves were very necessary, as well as a respirator and safety glasses. I have only a moderate itchy reaction to fiberglass, but I had enough of it that I learned to take precautions against having much of it, and always showered immediately after I was done working, which seemed to help.

Next Up...
I call some contractors and get some bigtime work done. To be fair, this was always the plan - DIY on things I can do (framing, insulation), and get the experts where it's going to be most visible (drywall, tile), or for systems I have no business tinkering with (HVAC).

Next post will cover HVAC install, beginnings of bathroom tile, and the final framing before drywall.

Plumb Excited for another hlog post!

Plumb Pudding

As exciting as all of this framing was, Mike had to give me some bad news. As it turns out, plumbing and electrical bits all have to go in the walls before we were allowed to hang the drywall. Although I didn't see the need for this sort of extravagance, I was assured it "turns out better with the pipes on the inside" of the walls. I'll take Mike's word for it.

Fortunately, Mike also had the foresight to have us tailor the framing to handle the plumbing needs. In order to supply the sink/vanity area, toilet, and shower, the pipes that extended up from the second floor would need to be split. One branch would head through the interior bathroom wall to the shower head. The other branch would run to the outside wall, and through a wall framed on the inside of insulation (no frozen pipes, thanks!), split to feed the toilet, and then continue over to the vanity area. The waste pipes would run below the supply lines in much the same way. All of these would share a common roof vent, which presented a bit of a challenge. The solution to this was to create a vent line for the sink and toilet that was run through the attic space, and joined up with the shower vent directly under where it would exit through the roof. Very clever plumbing!

To make it as easy as possible to plumb, we had done our best to construct allowing for the plumbing. However, in some cases, it was nearly impossible to do this without having pipe in front of us. So, for most of the supply lines, they were progressively pulled through and drilled through the studs one by one. After this plumbing was all run, nailing plates and stud reinforcing plates were added to keep stray drywall fasteners out of my pipes, and to strengthen the studs that had significant portions removed for plumbing. As can be seen from the photo, the shower base pan was also put into place at this stage, giving a surprising realism to the suggestion that this area could one day be a bathroom. This was identified as a Great Motivational Tactic!

One last plumbing picture will share the detail of the unfinished plumbing - this photo shows the back of the vanity and the waste line/vent line behind it. The lower pipe carries the waste water past the toilet and around to the plumbing stack, the upper pipe runs from the toilet waste pipe to vent through the attic space through the roof.

Bonus feature: If you look close enough in the top of that photo, you can see the bottom of the small skylight that was installed over the shower area. Since it's been a while since the last post, there'll be a bonus close-up photo of the finished product of the skylight! I decided to share another photo that shows a bit more of that skylight in the rough installation phase. My more observant readers will also notice insulation installed throughout the room, as well as the beginnings of electrical work. Depending on how boring I decide explaining the electrical plan for the room is, I may choose not to post anything about the electrical install. So, feast your eyes on this tantalizing bit of it!

Next Up
Exciting thoughts and photos from insulation installation, two more skylights installed, and the beginnings of tile in the bathroom.