A roof above our heads

While we eat breakfast in the living room on the camp stove, a new roof is built above our heads.

Not do we need new shingles, but our home's lack of insulation definitely extends to the roof. In winters, our lack of roof insulation is obvious when the snow melts on our house first. Our sweet home is great at melting snow (i.e., wasting energy!)

As part of the overall Deep Energy Retrofit, Rising Sun installed the structurally insulated panels (SIPs) provided by SIPschool and Mid-Atlantic Foam on our little addition, as well as our roof. Check it out!

laying SIPs roof on addition - raise it

laying SIPs roof on addition - place it

laying SIPs roof on addition - nail it together! Like Leggos!

Rising Sun tied in the entire roof in no time at all - the SIPS were laid right over the existing roof.

You take the high roof, and I'll take the low roof, and we'll lay the SIPs in no time! (old on left, SIPs on right)

Strange cut? No, Rising Sun! An opening for a future window

Although a metal roof is appealing for many reasons (e.g., longevity, water collection), architectural shingles made more sense for our budget. 

We're excited to be working with a locally-owned, West Virginia-based company to supply much of the roof material: Hartland Planing Mill. Named for the section of town by the rail line where they began, Hartland Planing Mill is a custom molding company specializing in quality Appalachian wood products that ship globally; we've relied on them to supply many of our building materials, so you'll hear about them again! 

We got excellent help -and fun feedback- from Tyler, who is 5th generation at Hartland (his great, great, great granddad founded the company in Clarksburg in 1912)! 

Once color decisions were made, Rising Sun installed the shingles in no time! I find it all quite amazing and beautiful...Peanut will be excited to have a roof overhead once out!

Pewter-colored shingles - side and font of house

shingles and a tan - back of house with SIPs on walls too

Sera and Peanut (at 37 weeks pregnant) and new roof

  
SIPschool will host classes onsite to train folks on SIPs instillation - for information or to register check out their site here.

Kitchen essentials

They're not sexy. They take time. They take strategy. There is no need for color choice. 

framing the kitchen (taken from where the wall to the living room used to be!)

 

What are these kitchen essentials, you ask? They are plumbing, electric, and drywall. And they're done!

kitchen without drywall (taken from door)

Drywall - living room behind plastic that was once a wall

kitchen drywall with exposed beams and new mudroom in the entry where light pours in....

Last step in the drywall was the ceiling. Chris from Rising Sun had a vision to reflect our love of water. Not only do the ceilings have the look of water - the drywallers made us a river above our dining room! Just when I thought kitchen essentials were not sexy...when we get windows and electric turned on, I'll try to photograph our new river...

new dining area where built in pew will go - below our "river"

What's growing in our yard

It's spring, it's beautiful, and we're growing so much in our yard. Let me give you a photo glimpse:

Greens, peas, radish, and garlic - among the disassembled fence parts and wood

More raised beds! ..that took a few minutes for the Rising Sun guys to build (it would take us months to build those)... Just what we wanted! How did Chris know?

 

Before we have time to ask him, Chis is busy unloading SIPs from SIPschool

Nico even more excited about "raised beds" now that SIPs are multiplying...

Look at all that's grown: kayaks and doors (far left), structurally insulated panels (SIPS), and Peanuts (at 36 weeks, center)!

Tiny Peanut clothes seem to grow well with SIPs

Camping at home

So it was short-lived, but, without a real door, and with tarps tightly wrapping that section of the house, the sounds of the wind reminded us of camping on the Oregon Coast when we first started dating. It's rare to feel that romantic and in touch with nature in your own home...

...well, of course, until our 6 favorite guys from Rising Sun show up and start working in the kitchen (just a wall away from our bed)...

early morning view from the living room

our tent

As luck would have it, the West Virginia spring wind and freeze warnings held off until our days of camping at home. The day the exterior walls came down, we had a severe weather watch, complete with torrential downpours,  lightening storms, and hail warnings. 

The Rising Sun crew sealed up where our side door should be with plywood, and wrapped the house with tarps.

The weather calmed by evening, so we checked out the work from the inside...

Sera and Peanut strike a pose at 34 weeks

Nico "unlocks" the door

come on in!

oops! Hope Peanut can fit...

The next day, the structurally insulated panels (SIPs) from SIPschool were prepped and installed by the Rising Sun crew within hours!

"airing out the house" - looking into kitchen before SIP installation

Chis explaining prep of SIPs

burn off edge, glue and nail 2x4

up, up, and away!

wall + insulation = SIPs!

Nico's view from the inside

like a puzzle (that we live in)

top it off with a roof

And now...Oakland Street's new profile!

With walls and a new door, we're just waiting to tie in the roof...install the windows... plumbing...electric...drywall...just when we were getting used to camping at home!

Arrival of the SIPs

It was a balmy evening preceding a frost (...warning, at least). Winds gusted a cold front, making it nearly impossible to cover and protect our budded peach tree (not to mention the pregnant belly that seemed to restrict the stretching and jumping). 

oh, boy, SIPs have arrived!

My fourth attempt ended in frost fabric over my head. Unveiling my awkward cloak, I looked up to see the welcome arrival of a trailer bearing 21st century building materials, just in time for another scheduled wall removal.

It was Al Cobb from SIPschool who made the big delivery from PanelWrights that brisk evening. 

He was bearing structurally insulated panels, or SIPS for short, to use for the walls and ceiling of the addition. Fabricated nearby Virginia by PanelWrights, panels are simply thick foam sandwiched between two OSBs. Rather than framing a house first, these SIPS just "lock" into place, forming walls and roofs. There's an animation of the panel construction here.

the visionaries of the project - Al Cobb (l) and Chris Bailey (r)

This is just the beginning of the SIP use, however; they'll be used to wrap the entire house (sides and roof), as part of a Green Retrofit.  From what I gather, SIPs have been used in West Virginia only for new construction - there's not a case where they've been used for a retrofit.

Because it's new, our little SIPs house wrap will also serve as as a local and regional training opportunity by SIPschool, coordinated with Rising Sun Construction. Stay posed for details!

Al chat with Chris about construction details - walls and roof soon to cover the "deck" upon which they stand

The SIPs have arrived! Now, out with that side wall...(depending on how you're counting, we're up to four...)