lyndale renovation 2015 & 2016
insulation & audio

January 2016
Last week a brutal cold snap clobbered Minnesota and there was no insulation in these walls. Now the insulation is
in place and the tempature has risen by something like thirty degrees. Frickin' Murphy's Law!

In the living room facing east and south —
The original plan was that just the kitchen and north-door areas would be insulated, but demo revealed a complete lack of insulation in
the living room and dining room walls. We've decided to bore into these walls and use blown-in insulation.

The living room east and south corner —
Edgar made openings in the plastic that has, up till now, protected our wood work and walls. As you can see in this photo,
we're through protecting the walls.

The living room east and north corner —
Val and I set out to rehab the kitchen and wound up revamping the entire first floor. This photo shows some of the
first-floor wiring updates as well as the scars from the blown-in insulation.

The Kitchen facing west and north —
Scott, discovered that the fridge—that will be placed to the right of the closet—would not open wide enough to remove inner trays for cleaning.
The original closet framing had to change. Here, the impact of the framing change is revealed by the chunked-out section of the poured floor.
More sub-floor material can be poured into this spot and this will not affect the tiling to come.
Scott caught this problem at a perfect time (Pre-sheet rock and tile!). He handled the problem with
typical Scott competence and elegance, even volunteering to pay for the cost of the framing change.

The Kitchen back-area looking up —
This area was once a porch and there is no second story above the ceiling shown here. There was also no insulation in the old ceiling. Now, despite opening up the west wall with windows, this part of the house will surely be cozier and less energy consumptive.

The Kitchen north wall —
Another previously chilly spot is now decked out for comfort and efficiency. The old over-the-sink window is still in place,
The new window is onsite and will be installed next week. Shown on the right side is an interior wall that requires no insulation.

From the Kitchen, facing east and south —
The area around the nasty old back door was another cold spot in need of insulation.
Though I've loved our house from day one, I've always hated the back door. Check out the cheap plastic accents
on the door glass; now faded to a sickly nicotine yellow! Soon, a gorgeous new wooden door is coming to this spot.

A view to a view to a view —
Before the old door gets replaced, here is a curious view...
Past the door to the mudroom; past the mudroom to the side yard; past the side yard to the sister's house across 45th Street.

From the Kitchen, facing west —
A new, late-breaking addtition to the project will be more insulation in the ceilings of the kitchen, dining room and living room.
This is soley for sound-dampening. Though we play music house-wide, it is also nice to have the ability to isolate areas from sound.
Val doesn't always want to listen to the Dead Kennedys, and I don't always want to listen to Johnny Cash even though, I suppose,
they're pretty similar ideologically.