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!