Herpin Family: Home Improvements

It has been a busy (and have I mentioned messy) couple of weeks around the Herpin household. Our house is now 128 years old and believe it or not has never been insulated. Under our rather new vinyl siding is the original clapboard exterior of the house. No insulation. How can that be we wonder? Regardless – it was time to insulate for two reasons: 1. The amount of money we spend every winter on heating oil is unreal 2. As much money as we spend to heat the house we still freeze!

We have actually put off the insulation because we knew that it would destroy our interior walls. They would need to drill holes throughout the house and blow in the insulation. But then we found out they could insulate from the exterior of the house. Now that’s a whole different ballgame. Let’s do it!

Pa-Pa Bill arrived on Father’s Day to help supervise the home improvements, run errands, and help out with the kids so I could run errands. He arrived on Sunday and the first project (insulation) began on Tuesday. Lin-Ley was home with Pa-Pa that day so she was to help supervise. Somehow she talked Pa-Pa into letting her lay on the couch in front of the TV. But she did call me at work soon after the work began to tell me, “Mom! Come home quick! Those men are pulling the skin off of our house!!”

There was one man who went around the house pulling off strips of siding.

The second man came along and drilled holes along the wall.

The third man blew in the insulation and patched the holes. Then the first man came back behind them and replaced the siding.

Simple right? Well, yes, but here comes the messy part….

I came home for lunch because I wanted to see how things were going and I was curious to see how the process worked. When I walked into the kitchen my contact lenses instantly clouded up. It was very odd and I could not figure out what had happened. Then a ray of sunlight came through the kitchen window and I saw that the whole room was one big dust cloud. Oh… I can’t even tell you!!!

Have you ever watched the television show “Dirty Jobs”? I had my own version of that show at our house that day. I walked into our bedroom which has painted wooden floors and it was coated with dust. Everything in our house was coated. I just stood and looked around and was overwhelmed. The floors were so slippery that once we were home that evening Tru kept slipping. I had to sit him down until I could get a couple of rooms’ floors vacuumed and mopped before he could even walk around. I guess this just shows just how drafty the house really was. I had to keep telling myself that it was all worth it because we would at least be warm next winter. We better be VERY warm!

So the only thing to do (after I got past the mental breakdown) was to play the Glad Game. Have you seen “Pollyana” (classic Disney movie)? If not – rent it! According to Pollyana in every situation you can find something to be glad about. So I’m glad that:
1. The house is finally insulated.
2. Everything in my house has had a good dusting, mopping, and/or thorough cleaning (whether I liked it or not!)
3. It’s over!

Next on the agenda – new windows throughout the house. The house still had the original windows which was part of the appeal when Dallas and I first saw it. They were wooden framed and still had the original and functioning pulleys and weights. Loved them! However they were super drafty (even with storm windows covering them) as well and it would not have made much sense to insulate the house and not replace the windows. Luckily this project did not prove to be very messy. The men sent to perform the work with very experienced and have done a great job. It really put me at ease the first day they were here to see how precise they were and how careful they were. It was very sad to see the old wooden windows go and especially sad to hear the weights fall into the walls when they cut the ropes and pulled out the old pulleys. But I must admit that the new windows look fantastic.