Attic DONE

1/22/17 Several weekends of hard work and the attic is done. 

  We are finishing up on the super heavy lifting!!  Attic floor required 26 full sheets of 3/4" plywood. The two of us lifted each sheet onto the scaffolding and then onto the attic rafters for installation.  It wasn't as easy as that sounds.  That is... after we lifted each sheet of plywood onto the cart at the lumber store, we unload them from the cart into the truck, following up with unloading each one from the truck onto floor inside the house, THEN lifting each one onto the scaffolding and up to the attic rafters. 

  Each sheet of plywood was installed with screws and plywood clips for extra stability.  Now there is nice space in the attic and there will be plenty of room for storage after the air conditioning unit and duct work is installed. There is one cutout for the return air vent and the attic stairs are installed. Next, water heater installation in the attic and finish plumbing. 

Rejoice! Ceiling rafters finishing up today - and met the AC man!

Working so hard to finish these rafters!!  18 sets - Tough work.  

This process was a bit excruciating. 😆

We trimmed each 20' board outside.   The boards were trimmed on one end, wall side,  so that it would lay flat on its side on the supporting wall frame once in place. Pre-drilled holes helped with screwing the boards to the wall supporting frame.

Next, we carried each board into the house,
carefully maneuvering about the scaffolding and placed the board on the floor.

 We connected a rope via one c-clamp, took a deep breath and hoisted one end up to rest on the center supporting beam. 

Then the opposite end on the floor was hoisted up one step of the ladder at a time until it could be rested on the side wall support.

Slow and easy was the name of the game.

Each set was securely joined in the center of the top beam with an additional board.

 Rejoice!  all 18 sets are up, secure and ready for the next step.  Getting close to electricity installation and air conditioning/furnace installation!!

We met with Platt Air Conditioning and signed off on our system. The configuration will enable us to have a very comfortable home, even when taking into account the wood burning stove we will install and the open coupala.  The coupala will have two metal boxes installed that will cover the louvers. One box will house the vents for the plumbing. The other box will house air intake system to supply the "foam" house with clean air when the wood stove is burning. Once the two boxes are installed, the spray foam insulation will seal up the coupala. Having transit windows in the hallway doors to each room will eliminate the need for return air vents in each room.