This picture was taken the next day, so they hadn’t gotten quite that far. Still, the entire flooring system in place and most of the insulation? Not bad.
The foam insulation under the foundation is the one of the few non-natural product we are using. With our obvious concerns about mold, it was the only insulation we felt comfortable using in an exterior application.
It was actually a bit of a scene as we arrived home while they were cutting it. Which meant yucky dust everywhere. We couldn’t go near them, be outside (to do things like, say, unpack the car) or open the windows. They were racing a thunder storm and there was simply nothing to be done about it.
We are deeply committed to avoiding manufactured wood. In the current house the sub-flooring consists of rough-cut pine boards from a local mill. Unfortunately, since on the first floor we still have yet to install a finish floor, it causes several problems, not the least of which is driving me absolutely batty. The long and the short of it is that it’s impossible to clean. Impossible. The cracks all fill up with dirt and crumbs and anything else that happens to be around. And with three little boys, there is a lot around. I couldn’t even begin to tell you the number of pencils that are currently wedged in our floor!! Then the boards expand and I can’t get the stuff back out...
Ever looking for a good way to torture yourself?? Get on your hands and knees with a scrapper and a butter knife and try vacuuming out the cracks in my floor. Just don’t forget to hire a toddler to periodically climb on your back. And be sure to reserve and entire afternoon, because even after several 3 straight hour stints I never seem to get even close to done.
This go round, the plan was to avoid cracks. AT ALL COSTS. Alright, maybe not all costs, but it was a high priority… The most obvious solution would be to finish all the floors right away. With our budget that wasn’t a possibility. In the end we decided on making our sub-floor do double duty as a finish floor. This is either going to turn out to be a brilliant idea or flat-out stupid, no where in between. Only time will tell. For now we’ve got a beautiful yellow pine tongue and groove floor. (Really beautiful, I love it.) Now the tricky part is going to be keeping it nice during the building process.
In other building news, Steve was the lucky recipient of our first major, building related, injury. He’s at the hospital right now having it checked out (after having spent the day at work telling people that he “just knew” his wife was going to make him go to the emergency room. uh-huh. I guess after 9 or so years, you start to learn a little something about you partner… He assured me before leaving that when the receptionist asks the reason for his visit he will respond with “my wife made me come”. And I assured him that that was fine…so long as he went.) I’m just hoping nothing is broken and that he will be able to heal quickly and without much pain!
Update: Nothing broken! He has to ice it several times a day, take it easy and wear a brace for a bit. Five out of five members of the hospital staff let out exclamations of alarm upon seeing his foot. To which he repeatedly responded with “It’s not that bad!” and chided them for making his wife seem reasonable… ahem. 
No building progress to report today. B the Builder decided to take a day off after working all weekend. Steve was at work all day and then in the ER for the better part of the evening. And I’ve been busy entertaining three little boys with a case of the sniffles. As B the Builder is apt to say…tomorrow is another day…