Sorry to disappear for a month or so; life (and work) got in the way: trip to Portland to witness niece marry Jake, and lots of work on the house. Let me bring you up to speed, in bullet format:
* Bought and installed numerous fixtures for the master bathroom and closet, including one-foot square ones for the ceiling, fan/light/night light combo for the toilet compartment; exhaust fan for the shower, and LED lights (our first foray into this new technology) for the walk-through closet. Light-emitting diodes last something like 20,000 hours and suck a fraction of the power. The ultimate test will be if my wife can distinguish the difference between blue, black, and brown socks (and you readers who have gone to work with mismatched socks know what I’m talking about).
* Bought yet another tool: a hammer drill. Wished I had bought it two years ago. Sends a masonry bit through brick like a hot knife through butter. Well, maybe a cold knife–but still pretty darn fast.
* Passed plumbing, structural (framing), mechanical, and insulation inspections. I think it would be pretty hard to screw up insulation, but DC does have an energy code. The trick there, actually, was what to do with the unvented roof: vent it somehow? spray foam insulation, making it watertight? You don’t want lots of water condensing, creating mold and eventually rotting your timbers. After doing hours of research into the issue, and coming so close to ordering spray foam, I went low-tech. I stuffed R-30 fiberglass insulation into the 8″ cavity, and will line the inner ceiling with a plastic vapor barrier.
More later.
Steve and Emily's DC Renovation 