Kitting out the kitchen

Taking a brief respite from the nursery to allow the plaster to dry, I've started to tackle the insulation in the kitchen so we can move the water heater. The sparks are using the power cable that was attached to the tumble dryer to temporarily power the new fuse board, which frees up the corner. Same old trick:

• Tear down the lathe and plaster (a very messy job, which isn't helping my cough/cold)
• Adding some noggins between the studs so I can attach the vapour barrier at the top and bottom
• Add insulation between the studs
• Stapling the vapour barrier to the studs
• Finally screwing the drywall to the studs, and plaster over the cracks and screws

In a more modern construction, we wouldn't need to add the noggins between the studs. Insulation has a way of drawing water in, and once wet it stops being so good at insulating. This in particular causes a problem in a wooden building as the water can start to rot the timbers.

In the roof there's an additional problem. The asphalt shingles are nailed to the roof, and a lot of the nails go through the roofing boards. These nails are exposed to the outside temperatures, including the freezing cold, and frost can form on these nails inside which will quickly soak the insulation in the rafters when it warms up. To prevent this, when installing the insulation polystyrene rafter vents, which are stapled to the roofing boards before the insulation is installed. This allows crucial air flow to keep the nails and roofing boards dry, when combined with ventilated sofits and further ventilation at the top of the roof.

Once we've finished drywalling that half of the kitchen, we can start to fit the kitchen cabinets.



Oh yes - and I apparently don't know my own strength. I've managed to snap the bolt on my circular saw that determines the cut depth.

The pink rafter vents can be seen in the photos of the nursery below: