As I’ve been reading the book, oddly enough, New York and New England have suffered a year of unusual weather and natural disasters. This year alone, we’ve had THREE devastating floods, an earthquake, two hurricanes, innumerable tornadoes and — a mere week ago — a freak October Nor’Easter that dumped 32 inches in Maine. I was shocked to read the blog of one of my friends. who reports that in Connecticut they STILL have no electrical power. Cindi has had to throw out all the food in her two refrigerators and freezers. News reports say the storm killed 8 people and cut power for at least 4 million households. Wow. Cindi said she has a generator, but there is no gasoline available, so they are out of power completely. Because of the immense snow and downed trees, travel out of the area is impossible, So they are stuck in the disaster zone. Wow.

It won't be long....

And that got me thinking.

My husband and I have discussed “emergency preparedness” before. We have two sump pumps that work day and night to keep water out of our basement. We’ve experienced numerous floods (so many I can’t count anymore), but only once did we lose power in all our years here. If we lost power — especially during a heavy rainfall or hurricane — we’d be inundated with flood waters. So we discussed getting a generator, thinking this would solve our problem. But after reading Cindi’s situation, I wonder if that’s really the cure-all we originally thought. In a natural catastrophe, the gas stations may not pump gas. Then what?

So I don’t know what to do. I feel rather frustrated because everything in our society is SO reliant and integrated with the electrical grid. It makes me feel uneasy. I like to have a contingency plan, but there really isn’t anything. And I thought, “Well, we could get a wood-burning generator, right?” But our chainsaw needs gas to cut that wood. We have SOME wood in the back, but I don’t think we would have nearly enough. And where would I store it? If another flood rages across my land, all the wood is down the pike.

I’m beginning to think “emergency preparedness” is a pipe dream. There’s only *so much* you can do, because no matter what, you are reliant on other people and groups in the community being prepared, too. Which, as we see with the numerous disasters this year, few communities are. I do wonder about my own community. Are they so busy building sidewalks and shopping centers for electronics and plus size bridesmaid dresses that they forget the other things, too? Like BOATS, lol.

Hm. What do you think?

Is Emergency Preparedness A Pipe Dream?

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Where could she be??

Right before I took this photo, she was sneakily peering at me through the slats of the blinds. She looked hilarious, like Peter Lorre in Casablanca or something. But as soon as I got the camera, she turned away. Stinker.

The living room is in a bit of disarray these days. Heck, EVERY room is. We’re still not completely moved in (stuff is still in boxes in the garage), and my scads of shelves that I intended to build have still not materialized. Right now, the emphasis is getting the place buttoned up for winter. But it’s been TOO COLD to do anything outside. And looks like we’ll have rain until Monday or Tuesday. :-p I am so sick of rain that I could scream. I’ve been sick of rain now for about 10 years!

Good news is that, once I install the last baseboard heater and we have our other heaters in, and once I parge the holes in the basement and seal the open cracks, I can concentrate on our phone station area. Half the junk you see scattered in the living room here will finally be placed on shelves and in drawers, then. Yay!

The Hubs got called in to work for another week, though. Which means he will not be around to help out with anything. It also means that our gas pipeline installation will have to wait another week. We’ve been waiting for a break in his schedule since June… but it hasn’t happened. I think we’re going to have to call in a plumber to do the job. Winter is just about here and we still have no heat!! I don’t think we can wait any longer. Oh well, maybe it’s all for the best. Thank God, my husband has been working good hours! I’m grateful for that.

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!

Find the Kitty Friday 11/05

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So I install fiberglass batts. This is a dirty, laborious job, especially in the heat of summer when the LAST thing on your mind is January snow. But come January, we will be SO glad we did this. My valiant daughter, Alice, assisted me with this venture. The other kids helped with chores around the house so that I could turn my full attention to the installation. I have the greatest kids in the world, I tell ya. One daughter slaved away outside, on the asphalt on a blistering day, to hang and then take down the loads of laundry.

Here’s part of the dining room wall. This was the most difficult of the two rooms to do. For one, the studs here are spaced very oddly. You may have two studs 8 inches apart, then another stud 18 inches apart. Fiberglass insulation comes in 15-inch widths, so you can imagine all the cutting and fitting we had to do.

Also in this room, some of the studs had dry rot, from a very old water problem– the previous owners built a small porch and allowed a leak to drip over the window for many years. That entire section was rotted out by the time we bought the house. I had to try and replace some of it with wood, so that we will have something to secure the sheetrock to, when the time comes. Another corner had no wood at all– back in the days of plaster and lathe, furring strips held up the plaster, and there was no need for the modern-day framing that we see today. Indeed, the hardest part of renovating an old house–where most of the labor occurs– is in form-fitting it to modern-day size demands: 15-inch fiberglass, 16″ on-center framing for sheetrock, 4 x 8 sheets, etc. Back in the olden days, they didn’t have these and so didn’t account for them. It’s a real PAIN to have to do this, believe me.

I used faced fiberglass batts AND plastic vapor barrier. It’s a little much, I know. Supposedly, the facing on the batts makes a semi air-tight seal. But not in this house. My home is balloon-frame, AND with all the slicing and dicing of the batts we had to do, there would still be a lot of drafts coming through. So we stapled large sheets of vapor barrier to seal the cavities even more. I had done this in the living room, and the difference that winter was astounding. NO drafts! It was the first winter we didn’t have to wrap ourselves in blankets just to keep warm. (And that goes without saying that the forced-air furnace system was woefully inadequate).

Here’s the kitchen.

If you recall, I had mentioned in previous posts that the kitchen had no walls behind the old cabinets. Whenever we opened a drawer or cabinet, freezing-cold air would blast through. Well, I MADE SURE that this kitchen is going to be air-tight and warm this time! I really can’t wait to see how this system stands up to winter’s cold.

Here are some tips for installing (or inspecting) insulation, should you need to:

• Don’t squeeze the insulation into the cavities, if you can avoid it. Because my home has brick noggin between the studs, I did not have enough depth for the thick batts, so I did have to squeeze them in. But squeezing or compressing fiberglass reduces it’s insulating qualities.
• If you have stud cavities of varying widths as we do, measure carefully. Cut the batts to a perfect fit. While installing the batt, start at the top and tuck in the pink fiberglass from the sides while trying to leave a paper tab so you can staple the paper to the wood stud. This helps to hold the batt up, and to improve the seal.
• Dust your skin with baby powder before, during, and after working with fiberglass, to help prevent itching skin.
• Have a VERY sharp utility knife with extra blades on hand. The small bit of tar in the fiberglass batt facing sticks to the knife and dulls it, making the job slower and slower. Change blades frequently.
• For 2×4-inch framed walls, install the 3 1/2-inch fiberglass batts; for 2×6-inch framed walls, install the 5 1/2-inch fiberglass batts. These batts are specially designed to fit perfectly in the stud cavity; they will fill the depth of the studs appropriately. Also, some municipalities regulate the insulation’s R-value, or quality of insulation you can use. My area regulation says I must use a minimum of R-13 for walls in 2×4 framing, and R-19 for walls in 2×6 framing. The higher the R-value, the better the insulating quality of the material.
• Most vapor barrier rolls come in 10-foot lengths. Don’t cut the length when you install it– only measure for the width. Hang the sheet up at the top of the wall, and staple down (it’s handy to have a helper pull the sheet tight so you don’t get wrinkles in the plastic). When you come to the bottom of the sheet, cut off the remaining extra length– but leave a 2-inch lip onto the floor. When you set your sheetrock against the wall, the board will rest on that plastic lip. You can caulk the small gap where the sheetrock sits, thus creating a seal against floor drafts.

The Department of Energy has a website with a page on Insulation R-Values recommended for the United States. And here’s a good Insulation Fact Sheet, too.

So this project is done. Whew! I am strangely surprised at how terribly tired I am from the job. My daughter is, too. Our bones ache, and we are just plumb tuckered. I’m surprised, because installing insulation isn’t all THAT labor-intensive. Demolition was labor intensive! But perhaps it was the heat (we had a heat wave going on) and high humidity? Or going up and down the ladders? Anyway, I don’t think I can do anymore renovation work today. I’m pooped.

Saturday’s goals are to finish running wiring for baseboard heaters upstairs, and create a PVC pipe shaft for a future central heating system installation. I also have to wire for Ethernet before we close up the walls. And here’s hoping The Hubs gets the PEX plumbing system completed! We start hanging sheetrock in the dining room on Sunday. Today, I get the insulation inspected. I have a lot of work to do for my job today (writing articles), so I think I’ll recuperate from the insulation while working on articles.

Insulation- DONE!

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Sheetrock prices are still steady. I have to find out from what country this stuff originates– I won’t buy Chinese-made sheetrock because of all the health problems it’s caused. I wrote a post about that here, if you are interested: Chinese-Made Drywall Causing Headaches.

I have determined to get Traffic Master Allure flooring. I LOVE the stuff, LOVE it. I wrote more about it, here.

Of course, I have to plan all the electric, too. Wow, prices have really creeped up on this stuff. I will also *hope* to be getting some help installing the electric this time. I did the Living Room and girls’ bedroom all by myself, but the kitchen has special needs. I’d appreciate an expert or two for this. And just think– soon my entire house will FINALLY have electricity!! It’s almost too good to be true!

Yep, I’m installing Cat5 Internet wiring in EVERY ROOM. I dislike wireless. I’ll have to build a control panel somewhere, to accommodate for all the ports we’ll have.

So that’s the latest. I’m really, really getting excited about this. I’m working very hard while it’s still winter, to earn enough money to pay off my bills and save some for this project. I’ll probably have to get a bank loan to fund it all, though. :-p But Lord willing, everything will fit into place. I’ll be sure to have loads of posts with photos as we progress. I am n the process of making the electrical, plumbing, and furnace duct schematic. I figure I’ll start demolition sometime at the end of April or mid-May.

Building Supply Comparison Shopping

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• AM/FM and 8 Shortwave bands
• Numerous power options: 3 AA batteries, or the AC adapter, or a built-in rechargeable Ni-MH that takes charge from a hand-crank or the AC adapter!!
• It has an emergency siren, a flashlight, built-in LED lights, and a built-in cell-phone charger
• Also includes kitchen sink

Well, I’m kidding about that last one. But I suppose it would if it could! It looks superb. The price is right ($30) with Buy.com’s amazing Free Shipping bonus. I think I may get a few- this would make a great gift for my sons!

Preparing for Winter Power Outages

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