Just in time — insulation has arrived at this custom home in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. So it is suddenly MUCH quieter and MUCH warmer inside – with no heat on!

Spray foam insulation is newer to the scene that the classic pink fiberglass insulation we all know (Pink Panther has the answer, right?). While the pink stuff has worked great for a lot of years, there is really no comparison to the tight seal and instant warmth with spray foam insulation.

The crew arrives and tapes off all the windows and floors and covers them in plastic. Then they fire up the truck that mixes the actual material, they suit up and start spraying. They fill in between all the exterior framing and up into the roof rafters.

There are 2 kinds of spray foam insulation – open cell and closed cell. Each has different attributes and each is suited to different applications. Here we are using both open and closed cell – closed in the walls, open in some walls and the inaccessible ceilings. Make sure you know what is going where, and why. Some folks only want one kind or the other, but it really should be location driven – the location of the insulation, not the location of your house!

At this point all the rough mechanicals are in – electrical, heating & cooling and plumbing. All the “rough” work – also known as that stuff inside the walls you don’t see but is crazy important to do right – is done. So the spray foam insulation is applied around or on all those rough applications.

When creating a new custom home from an existing 2-flat, it is important that all that stuff inside the walls is done correctly – everything old was ripped out, everything new needs to be up to today’s standards and codes. Once all that nitty gritty stuff is installed and updated and correct – on the funner stuff — finishes you can see!

Next week – DRYWALL!!

all mechanicals are in, insualtion is applied in this custom home by Follyn Builders

getting warm in Follyn Builders custom home

custom built home means

overfill is trimmed off the new insulation in Chicago custom home

every space if filled with insulation in this custom Chicago home

insulation all the way up to the ceiling in this Andersonvilel Chicago custom home

 

So you gut everything out of a Chicago grey stone 2-flat and get it down to the bare bones. Lots of mess, lots of fun with sledge hammers if you like that sort of thing. Then comes the putting it all back together part – way more fun if you like this sort of thing. You know, the custom home in Andersonville kind of thing. I do, I like this sort of thing.

So we had demolition, then we re-built the interior walls. Next up — windows! I bet you forgot about that part? When you smash everything apart, you live big ole gaping holes all over the building. Some opening got smaller, some got removed all together, a few got added. All got new windows with black exterior to go with the updated new look. So, new windows it is. Energy fficient, air tight and no more bugs.

Also going in this week – rough plumbing, electrical wiring and HVAC duct work (that my friends is for the heat to keep you warm in winter and AC to keep you cool in summer). Lots of little bits and moving peices but we are well on our way.

Also check out the NAKED brick picture. That is the same wall from the last post – except it was coated in layer upon layer of white paint in the last picture. Sandblasting all that off revelaed this classic Chicago brick. So cool the homeowner decided to forego drywall in this room and leave the brick exposed.

I will share pictures of the other mechanicals inside the walls next. I know, I know not sexy but when you are building a quality single family home, the sexy comes later, the quality comes now.

Maybe that should be our new slogan: Follyn Builders – sexy quality?

Maybe not. But the qulaity is there, the sexy is coming.