This was an extremely busy, productive, and messy day, with electrical and heating/cooling sub-contractors hard at work all day. Most of what they accomplished is hidden in the attic and inside the walls, but there is some evidence of their work.
The new exhaust fan for the bathroom is installed. We’re expecting it to be quieter than the old one, a welcome change.
New exhaust fan for the bathroom.
Openings like the one below have begun to appear throughout the house. These will become our heating and cooling (HVAC) registers when the new furnace is installed.
Openings for ceiling registers are starting to appear around the house.
Our old heating system use ductwork that is built into the concrete slab on which the house was built. These original ducts have deteriorated over the years, allowing water and dirt to infiltrate. In fact, we had a couple inches of water in the old ducts one winter, an unhealthy situation.
Instead of blowing air downward into these old ducts, our new Trane furnace will blow upward into the new insulated ductwork being installed in the attic. The old ductwork in the slab will be sealed off and no longer used at all.
Even after the HVAC guys spent a long, hot day in the attic, there is still a mountain of ducts, adapters, insulation, registers, and yes, duct tape in our garage.
A mountain of HVAC components in the garage.
Throughout our project, a great deal of the work has occurred in our attic — new ductwork, lots of electrical wiring, and new plumbing. Inevitably, this has disturbed our ancient blown-in cellulose insulation. That stuff may be effective, but it is pretty vile! During construction, it gets everywhere, hangs in the air, and aggravates our allergies. For the most part, the construction crews have made a good effort to clean it up at the end of the day, which helps a lot. But there is no way to get it all.
It’s cheap, effective, and oh-so-nasty!