This week crews working on the exterior siding and interior insulation made progress incrementally. The clapboards went up row by row; the cellulose insulation was blown in stud cavity by stud cavity. The work will continue on both fronts next week. Here’s how it looks now.

There are several steps to insulating the interior. First, the exterior stud walls were covered in a permeable cloth mesh stapled firmly to the framing. In the attic and parts of the basement, plastic was used for the same purpose. This was in preparation for blowing in dense pack cellulose using a long hose. To insulate for sound between floors, the crew used HP Timber batts. (To learn more about HP Timber, a new Maine company click here.)

While all this was going on at the worksite, our GC was busy with his excavator, capping the newly discovered old well and installing a well tile to protect it from driveway traffic.

There is so much water coming from our artesian well that Gary had to add a “bleed,” a second pipe to divert the excess water. We asked him to aim the diverted water toward one of Carol’s flower gardens that she had created downhill from the farmhouse, under the cherry trees. This extra water is clean and cold and may one day supply the plunge pool we have been fantasizing about or feed a larger farm pond. We shall see! In the hot dry days before the well was capped, I used the rising (sandy) waters to fill a 5-gallon jug to water my seedlings. Can’t wait for a standing pipe!

Gary’s excavator proved very valuable this week, for capping the well, preparing a site for a generator and trenching to Carol’s flower garden.

And he used it to move huge granite slabs, salvaged from the old basement, which our mason is excited to incorporate in the design of new front steps.

At the end of each day, after the dust settles and the crews have gone home, we have the farm to ourselves, to garden and get a foretaste of what life will be like living at the Red House.