A strange phenomenon -- the tree on the east has dropped most of its leaves, but the one on the west had lost almost none. Thanks to Brenda Harper for the photo!
So now my husband is fascinated with spray foam insulation and wants to use it everywhere. He says the quiet in the basement now is amazing, since the drywall isn't up yet, and the insulation absorbs sound waves. A sensory deprivation tank. The perfect spot to meditate. That sort of quiet where your ears feel full of cotton.
Someone once pointed out how quiet Amish homes are, because you don't get that constant background hum of electric appliances. That's the sort of quiet I want.
I could see this spray foam stuff being especially useful for our garage back in the city, both for warmth and for sound-dampening. It's where my husband practices his bagpipes, so both qualities would be welcome.
The insulation in the entire lower half of the building was completed in one day! We're very pleased with Yvon and the work they carried out so efficiently, carefully, and quickly. My husband reports it was a fascinating process to watch, the team did a great job cleaning up, and the final result is pretty amazing. And very pink.
Not an inch was missed. As my husband said, if we had mice before, we don't now!
Thanks so much to Josh, Felicia, Owen, and Rick! Thanks also to Charlie and Laurie for great customer service and making it all happen!
(Kitchen pass-through hatches neatly covered)
We've been having some electrical work done by Zavitz to make the basement of the church more livable (outlets, ceiling fans, etc.). The Zavitz team has been excellent, hardworking, and skilled at what they do. They even noticed our sump pump needed rewiring and did that without even being asked. They should finish up this week, just in time for the insulation people to come. Once the drywall is in, they'll have to come back to do the final bits (installing lights and switchplates, etc.).
As they were working, my husband wandered the building, thinking ahead to what we may need or want to do in the future. I'm glad he was there to ponder, because he thought of some things I wouldn't have, like a two-way switch so that we can turn the lights on from either side of the room (right now you have to cross the room in the dark) and an outlet for a cooling unit under the stairs for a potential "cold cellar" spot. He is very good at thinking ahead and seeing the whole picture, whereas I get caught up in minutiae and sometimes fail to see the overall plan. Our careers reflect this tendency -- he was a social worker and psychotherapist, helping people with whole-life matters, and I've spent the last thirty-five years proofreading and filing and editing details. And doing needlepoint.
Sometimes the two different approaches can be handy when we work together. For example, we need to put a wired-in smoke alarm in the balcony at the ceiling level, but the lathe-and-plaster walls can't be disturbed. We talked about building a wall beside the staircase, but it's a tricky angle because of the sloping ceiling. A heavy wall couldn't be anchored at the top. We mulled it over a while, tossing ideas around, and came up with the concise solution of a pillar instead of a wall, like a tall post at the end of the stair railing, and I think that will work. It will serve its purpose but also be architecturally interesting, and it will be lighter than a wall so easier to anchor.
It's hard to think ahead to how we might live in the building and what we might need. This process of rezoning has gone on so long that I think I've sort of lost momentum and vision. It's been good to see some actual progress and to think ahead to life in the church. If it ever happens, it will be lovely.
So...the spray foam insulation is happening next week. The drywallers are supposed to close up the walls the following week, and then hopefully we'll be warm for winter. However...
Just by accident, my husband found out from a building inspector he knows that we were supposed to be involving the Building Department at the Township in all of our work thus far. Um...We thought we have been. No, it turns out that we've been dealing with the Planning Department, and that's separate from the Building Department. I guess we weren't clear on that. Apparently the Building Department has to see the spray foam insulation before we close up the wall (the insulation company's word and invoice aren't good enough). That, or we have to hire ANOTHER ENGINEER to inspect the spray foam and sign off on it, so that when the Building Department is approving the change of occupancy later, they will have record of it being approved. So hubby is spending today filling out paperwork and drawing a floorplan that we didn't realize was needed yet (when we were told about it in 2021, it said the floorplan was to be submitted for building and plumbing permits, and we're not at the permit stage yet). But apparently they would like it now, so that's how he's spending the evening. Hopefully someone can come inspect the insulation next week so that the drywalling isn't delayed. We'll see how fast the turnaround is. It's hard to get tradespeople, and I'd hate to delay them yet again or we may lose them.
May I make a humble suggestion? Could the Township please create a pamphlet that outlines this whole rezoning process in detail, in bulletpoints, laying out what the steps are, what can be done simultaneously and what needs to be done linearly, as well as an explanation of who does what at the Township and who we're to report to? We are so confused about what to do and in what order and who to involve. We think we're done with one thing and then find out there's more and yet more to do. We thought we were dealing with one department when, in fact, we were dealing with two. The pamphlet should also outline all the specialists and engineers and surveyors and consultants that applicants need to hire, just so any poor future schmucks who undertake this process will have an idea what a financial drain they are entering into.
I so wish I could rewind time 2 1/2 years and make a DIFFERENT DECISION! Why didn't God strike me down dead before letting me make such a foolish purchase as this church? I will be 95 and in a nursing home before I get permission to live there. Meanwhile, there are Ukrainian refugees at the airport and homeless people under bridges and a desperate need for housing, and I have this lovely old building sitting empty. If I could move into it, it would free up my city house for someone in need.
The funniest thing today? My husband has to produce a "current floorplan" and a "proposed floorplan." And really, the only difference between them is that we want to move the kitchen sink about three feet to the north. That's it!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had hired Carosyl to frame in the basement. It turns out there's a reason why their job was so speedy. My heroic husband has spent the last two weeks up at the church cleaning up after them and correcting their framing job. Occasional two-by-fours were tucked into place without being nailed, so they pop out if you touch them. Because the boards weren't properly fastened in place, some of them have warped. Sometimes only one end was nailed. They forgot to frame in the east wall of the kitchen all together. They were told we were going to install electrical outlets in the centre below each window, but they didn't provide centre boards for the electrical boxes to be affixed to, so my husband has had to buy more wood and add those. They placed studs in such a position that drywalling will be impossible (drywall doesn't bend). They didn't fill in the doorway we're removing. They didn't place boards in some spots where they will be needed to hold in the spray foam that arrives next week.
He will spend the next two weeks up there as well, supervising the rest of the electrical work (shout out to Zavitz, who are doing a great job!), the spray foam, and the drywalling. He also met with Mayor Rombouts, who toured the property and chatted with him for an hour about the difficulties we've encountered. I haven't been able to go up, because I'm working and need internet and electricity, which have been sporadic up there as the electricians have been working. And there are things to manage here at home. So we are apart at Thanksgiving, just as we were apart at Easter.
I have never felt so thankful, though. I married a man who can work with both his head and his hands. I married a selfless man who will put everything on hold and devote weeks of his life to working on this project he surely must privately think is crazy.
