Baby, it's cold outside!

Winter just decided to get with the program early this year.  November and December have shown record temperatures and precipitation for our area, while we scrambled to get the house insulated and heated, and keep the yurt comfortable in the meantime.

As our insulation was being installed, we had crisp, cold temperatures as Autumn showed off its dazzling colors.  We were happy to have a company out of Missoula, MT, called Energetechs, install our insulation.  Energetechs is a company specializing in building homes at the highest energy efficiency possible, and have plenty of options from start to finish in building a 'green' home.  We decided to fill our twelve inch thick walls with blown-in cellulose, and the crew at Energetechs were happy to travel to Whitefish to insulate our home.

Learn more about Energetechs at www.energetechs.com

In preparation for the arrival of the insulating crew, Tanner busied himself in running most of the wiring for the house.

               



              I prepared for the insulators, by taping all of the windows with plastic and sweeping and vaccuming months of sawdust from the floors and cavities of the walls.

Windows taped and ready for insulators

Energetechs arrived on a gorgeous autumn day, and began shooting cellulose into the walls.

When Tanner had described this process to me, I don't think either of us realized how messy it would be!  Some of the insulation doesn't set up right away, and they seem to just be able to scoop and reuse any of the excess that doesn't make it into the walls on the first try. 

Loft, insulating in progress

Living room view from loft

The power house of the cellulose spray

Keeping cans of spray foam from freezing in the yurt

Getting all of the crevices...

Finished!

Completed insulation

Once our hired help had done their job, Tanner got the chore of using a lot of spray foam to seal all of the window gaps and edges, to make our home as free from drafts as possible.

In the meantime, our friend Mark, has been our plumbing expert and has been toiling away on our mechanical room and putting together the prettiest grouping of pipes and gauges most homes would envy.

With the insulation complete, our timing worked nicely to get the heat turned on in the first floor slab.  We were all thrilled with the result in seeing the temperature gauges showing the boiler's heat and the return from the slab, rise and hover to a comfortable, stocking feet temperature.  Mark excitedly showed me how it all works, and what all of the lights, meters and gauges mean.  We are thrilled to have his help in letting us find the best in plumbing to meet our needs.

Moose and Chilko, awaiting a winter storm

With a heated house under our belts, Mother Nature let loose with all sorts of snow, (more in one night than at any one time last winter) and eventually sub-zero temperatures, ( far lower than we've experienced the last two winters!).

With a scene this pretty, who would complain?

I got the chore of raking snow from the yurt roof for the first turn this year.  We are both hoping for enough snow to get to trade that chore a few times.

The cold temperatures, -18*F was the lowest we saw, were a challenge in the yurt, but surely nothing to complain about too loudly.  Tanner was able to stay close to the fire and keep it going non-stop, and during the crisp, sunny days the yurt stayed really warm.  During the night, with non-stop fire we would still awake to temps as low as 52*F inside, but we could build the fire up to a comfortable level pretty quickly.  We are thrilled to have very few problems with the yurt as of yet this winter, knock on wood, which allows us far more energy to focus on the house.  The warm, cozy house!

Cheers!

Autumn Song

 The whisper of Autumn in the air means many things to those who live in the mountains, and incidentally, those who live in a yurt.  The western larches begin to turn their golden color, basking in the warm light against the bright blue skies, vivid in the crisp air.  Huckleberry bushes turn all radiant colors of red, orange, and yellow, creating a rainbow carpet along the forest floor.

Work pants have seen better days, as they have worked overtime building the house.  Time to switch to a sturdier, less air-conditioned pair...
The yurt has been getting progressively colder each morning, and the crackle of the wood stove keeps us warm when the frost arrives in the early mornings.


With colder temperatures we are once again preparing for our wood-burning season.  Summer left us abruptly this mid September, and Autumn came in full force, reminding us that we tend to live in wool for most of the year, here in the northwest corner of Montana.  As opposed to last year, we have an abundance of firewood that has been drying under the hot sun all summer, and under a tarp when the rain arrived this fall.  Our firewood is dry and easily accessible, and my brilliant husband decided that Wall-E was going to do the hauling for me this year.

Pallet block unit

With an abundance of wooden pallets, Tanner devised a plan to stack the split wood on this unit, in order for Wall-E to deliver it conveniently next to the yurt.  The original pallet block was a bit too large for Wall-E to accommodate, but with some small adjustments, hauling turned out to be a very quick job.

Nice looking wood pile, autumn 2013

Oops, not sure how that one got on here...

On the house front, things have been going well with the help of expert advise, some spare hands here and there, and of course, Tanner's undying commitment and deadlines in getting this thing finished.  Plumbing has been getting established, but pictures for that are still in progress.  Wiring and electrical has been in progress at the same time, and a timely visit from Tanner's parents, gave him an extra hand installing outlet boxes and pulling wire.

Kitchen outlets and oven fan vent

Tanner, pulling wire in the loft

Tanner had Bob get into all of the tight spaces

The meeting of the minds

As always, the dogs are of no help

Soaking after a day of wire installing

We have about a week and a half before we have insulators coming to install on our second-and-a-half stories, with plenty of wiring and plumbing to complete.  You can rest assured that Tanner is working like crazy to get it all done, and I think he'll be roping me in on my days off to help get things finished.  Updates to come!  Cheers!