Operation Overlay commenced
So I've got this house, y'see.
It has a few wierdnesses. Some of them are obvious; like the doorway from the lounge to the hallway that's been gibbed over on the lounge side, but just filled with ply and painted white on the hallway side (that's in desperate need of having a forced-perspective painting in some form or another painted on it), or what used to be the back door, and has been turned into a window in the master bedroom ensuite by the simple expedient of putting moulding all the way around it.
There are some less visible wierdnesses also; when the previous owner put in downlights in the living room, they rearranged the ceiling insulation; in some cases pulling it out and stacking it on top of the next row of insulation (leaving a great big gab in the coverage), while in other places simply lifting it, installing the downlights, and then popping the insulation back down directly on top of the light (not, like, cutting a hole to give clearance around the hot light, or anything).
Last weekend's trip into the roof involved resolving this weirdness; putting the insulation that was sitting next to the gaps actually _into_ the gaps, and cutting clearance holes around the down lights. This week I got a test bale of batts to see how much pain was going to be involved in laying another layer of batting over the existing insulation, to bring the level of coverage up to something the rest of the world would recognise as actually insulated. The learnings from this is that batts are really packed in _tightly_ to the bales; they expand by a factor of three to four when you cut the bale open, and laying insulation is something that you can do by yourself, but it's a pain in the arse; it'd be much easier to feed chunks of batt up if there were someone in the roof space to catch them. But all that said, it wasn't too much of a pain, and next weekend, after I get paid next, it'll be time to buy another five or six bales, and overlay the bedrooms, studies and living room. Then I'll have to stare at the messes that are the bathrooms and kitchen, and work out how to get around all the bits and bobs that emerge from the ceilings thereof.
In other news, I found these: http://www.nzlightingltd.co.nz/shop/LED+Lights++Lighting/LED+GU10+Lamp.html and have ordered a couple, to see ho they work out; with the living room, dining room and kitchen between them having fifteen halogen down-lights, swapping out the 50W halogens for 0.8W LEDs would represent a pretty significant power saving (and given that the halogens cost about $10 for a two pack, the price difference is less insane than it might appear at first glance)
It has a few wierdnesses. Some of them are obvious; like the doorway from the lounge to the hallway that's been gibbed over on the lounge side, but just filled with ply and painted white on the hallway side (that's in desperate need of having a forced-perspective painting in some form or another painted on it), or what used to be the back door, and has been turned into a window in the master bedroom ensuite by the simple expedient of putting moulding all the way around it.
There are some less visible wierdnesses also; when the previous owner put in downlights in the living room, they rearranged the ceiling insulation; in some cases pulling it out and stacking it on top of the next row of insulation (leaving a great big gab in the coverage), while in other places simply lifting it, installing the downlights, and then popping the insulation back down directly on top of the light (not, like, cutting a hole to give clearance around the hot light, or anything).
Last weekend's trip into the roof involved resolving this weirdness; putting the insulation that was sitting next to the gaps actually _into_ the gaps, and cutting clearance holes around the down lights. This week I got a test bale of batts to see how much pain was going to be involved in laying another layer of batting over the existing insulation, to bring the level of coverage up to something the rest of the world would recognise as actually insulated. The learnings from this is that batts are really packed in _tightly_ to the bales; they expand by a factor of three to four when you cut the bale open, and laying insulation is something that you can do by yourself, but it's a pain in the arse; it'd be much easier to feed chunks of batt up if there were someone in the roof space to catch them. But all that said, it wasn't too much of a pain, and next weekend, after I get paid next, it'll be time to buy another five or six bales, and overlay the bedrooms, studies and living room. Then I'll have to stare at the messes that are the bathrooms and kitchen, and work out how to get around all the bits and bobs that emerge from the ceilings thereof.
In other news, I found these: http://www.nzlightingltd.co.nz/shop/LED+Lights++Lighting/LED+GU10+Lamp.html and have ordered a couple, to see ho they work out; with the living room, dining room and kitchen between them having fifteen halogen down-lights, swapping out the 50W halogens for 0.8W LEDs would represent a pretty significant power saving (and given that the halogens cost about $10 for a two pack, the price difference is less insane than it might appear at first glance)