Concrete Slab and Spray-Foam Insulation

For the past few weeks, a lot of little things have been going on that aren't worth blogging about.  This includes more electrical work, installation of fans, and some additional ducting.  Even though a lot of necessary things are happening, it seems like things have slowed down quite a bit.  Fortunately, a few major events have taken place as well.   One is that the concrete slab was poured for the thermal mass in the house (and also in the garage).  Another is the addition of spray-foam insulation wherever there are no pre-insulated SIPs walls or ceiling.

Concrete Slab (Click image for more photos.)

It was necessary to insulate the concrete slab on the interior of the house because this slab is acting as a thermal mass for storing heat.  When the sun warms up the concrete, we don't want to lose all that energy to the ground.  The only other interesting aspect of this process from my perspective was how long they had to "work the concrete."  They began early in the morning, around 6:30 or so and had poured all the concrete before lunch time.  However, as the concrete settled and began drying, they continued to pat and re-smooth it every couple of hours or so.  We came back after dinner around 7:00 to write our names in the concrete and they were still there, just finishing up.

The Jacksons (Click image for more photos.)

The second major event that happened was the addition of spray-foam insulation.  By using SIPs for the walls and a portion of the roof, we have a very well insulated envelope for the house.  However, there are a couple of places where we opted for a more traditionally constructed roof and we wanted to be sure we didn't negate the value of the SIPs used elsewhere.  To this end, a thick layer of spray foam insulation was injected underneath the second-story roof and above the ceiling in the den.  These are the only two places where there are no SIPs.  The spray foam goes on sort of like spray paint and then it foams up into a thick whipped-cream-like substance that fills every nook and cranny.  When it was all done, it looked like there was at least six to eight inches of foam insulation everywhere.  They even sprayed around some ducts and in the basement against the wood frame at the top of the basement walls.

Spray Foam Insulation (Click image for more photos.)