Take a moment to recall the movie Ghostbusters, more specifically near the end of the film where Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Dr. Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) and Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson) had to fight the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man to save New York City and all of mankind.The Stay Puff Marshmallow Man is symbolic of our trials with insulating our attic space in two respects: First, in what seemed like a relatively easy (albeit labor intensive) job to get to the point where could have our attic foamed, we had to remove everything within the area in order to start with a "clean slate". In my mind I thought a couple of weekends and we should have it ready. What a joke! Referencing back to the symbolism of the movie: the thought of the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man as something evil seemed a bit off.
Below are pictures giving an example of what we started with. The attic was partially finished off in what appeared to be the mid to late 70's. It was not our style and therefore would need a certain amount of attention regardless. Add to the fact that the knee walls were further to the interior of the space than what we would like, it made sense to demo everything.
In this picture you are looking towards the east (or the back of the house) at the portion which was finished.
This view is towards the west (or the front of our house). This area was never finished which puzzled me as there were two additional windows that could allow light and fresh air in if needed.
The second reference to the movie is when the 'Busters were able to roast the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. The two pictures below show the foam insulation installed, but not completed. After this picture, our contractor (Architectural Sprayers, Inc.) preformed an inspection of the foam and noted any areas that were either lacking in coverage or happened to shrink after being foamed.
The picture below shows one of the areas after being trimmed and marked after inspected.
This is of the same area after the deficient areas were addressed.
My next post will detail the specifics of how we modified the rafter areas to accept more insulation while also creating air channels to keep a positive air stream flowing from the eaves to the ridge of the roof. I will also explain why we undertook this project right now as well as detail a project which was also completed during this project that had proved elusive.......until now!
