new policies and insulation nation

Well!

This week's new policy of not allowing the client upstairs is working out very, very well. The main reasons being, I think, that she hasn't demonstrated any desire to venture upstairs and that I haven't actually articulated the policy. It's all for the best. It's an especially messy time right now and it wouldn't be good for anybody. I'm not completely sure what will happen when she finally does get the urge to head up.

It has been an insulating week and it will continue to be so. It's a disgusting, messy, will-sapping kind of work. But it does make a huge difference. At least it is not terribly hot, which helps. And the Mariners are not playing terribly right now, which also makes it easier to work. So far I've done the exterior wall in my closet and the master bedroom. I've also done the interior walls, which are really just insulated for sound, in the client's closet. For the exterior walls, I used the standard kraft-faced fiberglass bats, which get stapled to the studs. The overlapping little wings make it so you don't have to put up an additional vapor barrier. For the interior walls, however, I'm using this Ultratouch Cotton Insulation product, which I'm pretty sure is just shredded blue jeans.

I got it at the Environmental Crap Center, which has been changing it's name to ecohaus (with a small e nod to e e cummings or whatever) over the course of the last 9 months, though apparently just in it's signage and branding, not their listing in the phone book or their web address. It's typically ridiculous. How does this company stay so rigidly and wholeheartedly disorganized? For so long? Not only do you pay more because you want to build green, you also have to know their products and inventory because they don't, you have to wait around while the person helping you works on solving their cash register login like it's a Sunday sudoku, and if you don't know exactly what you want when you go in, it's like walking into Dante's Inferno. Only the fact that they are located in a city of Prius driving do-gooders explains their continued existence.

Anyway. Insulation. The thing is, the fiberglass is very personally damaging to install. It's long sleeve-glove-respirator time. The cotton is easy on the lungs and the skin. However, the fiberglass is easy to cut to shape. It can be made to fit snugly in odd shaped cavities and around electrical boxes and things with a straight edge and a razor knife. The denim stuff does not cut. You have to tear it apart, which makes neatness an issue and little voids unavoidable. And it takes a lot more time. The compromise will be that I'll continue to keep the inside walls forever in blue jeans and stick with the toxic stuff on exteriors. And I'll be done this week!