Day 103: Interior plastering and ceiling texture

On Friday Joshua, Trevor and I completed interior gypsum wall plastering. It is great to have all of the APEX blocks finally covered. Here is a pic of the sliding glass patio door on the bedroom south wall.

Marty applied and knocked down ceiling texture while Trevor, Raphael and I shuffled scaffolding around. Between the rain this week and the water evaporating from the plaster, the house is humid like Florida. Below is a pick of Marty up top with Trevor and Raphael below. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Green comment for today:
When selecting finishes, especially those inside the home, consider the simplest materials with the least amount of additives. This will result in the best indoor air quality. For example, my interior wall finish is 99% gypsum plaster (plaster of Paris).

I chose to avoid premix or ready mix materials because they contain vinyl compounds which act as binders. Once applied, the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) portion of the binder will evaporate into your home atmosphere potentially affecting respiration in folks with chemical sensitivities. It is true that the VOC concentration will reduce dramatically over time, but it is best to not allow the material in the home if it is not needed.

To determine what is in a product, look at the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). This can be confusing when a manufacturer decides to include a series of products on one MSDS. You sometimes see the words "may contain one or more of the following" in the Composition/Ingredients section of the MSDS. In this case, you need to call technical support to see if the particular product you are interested contains any offending ingredients.

Day 82: Insulation, grading and garden wall

The folks from Tri County Insulation finished spraying foam insulation today. They completed a 7 inch average thickness application in the entire ceiling. The R-value of the 7 inch layer is approximately 40.

Tri County Insulation also installed UltraTouch batt insulation in the interior stud walls. This insulation will reduce sound transmission between the bedroom, bathroom and family room.

Steve continued doing a great job grading and shaping the landscape while Justin, Trevor and I built a small garden wall by the southeast corner of the home. The wall will prevent collapse of the east hillside in front of the bedroom patio door.

Green comment for today:
Consider using UltraTouch batt insulation from Bonded Logic to insulate your wall or ceiling cavities. The advantages compared to typical fiberglass batt insulation are:

• It is made from recycled cotton denim resulting in lower manufacturing embodied energy
• It emits no harmful particulate matter into the air resulting in improved indoor air quality
• You can touch it during installation without getting irritated skin

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Day 43: Loft floor

Several weeks ago, I picked up a variety of wood materials from Heritage Salvage in Petaluma, CA. Part of that purchase was 1-1/2 inch thick douglas fir tongue and groove from the floor of the dismantled Fort Hill Lumber Company sawmill in Grand Ronde, OR. The wood is dry, brittle, battered, beaten and torn. In other words, it has lots of character.

On Friday, Joshua did a great job selecting nice looking pieces and cutting them to length. Justin did a great job persuading the boards to line up and nailing them home. We drilled holes in the boards for each nail to prevent splitting. Screw nails were used since they resist backing out. Subfloor adhesive was applied between the rafters and floor boards to provide additional strength and prevent squeaking. Anyone trying to remove this floor in the future will invent some new swear words. Here is a pic of part of the floor, some nails, a big hammer, and a bigger hammer. Sometimes the boards need much persuasion.

Here is a pic of Cindy on a sunny part of the 40% complete floor. It looks awesome (she does too). I can't wait to see it sanded and oiled.

Green comment for today:
Use low VOC adhesives for improved indoor air quality compared to more commonly available adhesives. We used OSI Greenseries subfloor adhesive. I hope that low VOC adhesives soon become the common or only choice. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.