Adventures in Renovation

Saturday I smashed the half wall. It had to be done. Ever since we first built it, it wiggled around when you put any weight on it. No matter what I did to it, I couldn't seem to make it any stronger. At first I thought the drywall would make it strong. And if I had just put drywall on it right after I built it, it probably wouldn't have been fine. But I just kept coming back to the half wall and messing with it. I added a bunch of lag screws. I added a bunch of steel brackets and connectors. But last Saturday I was adding a steel connector and the nail just blew the stud apart because it already had so many huge nails in it. That was the final straw. I tore it all out to start over. It was a real bitch too because those steel connectors are really hard to take off.

It's a good thing though. The next wall will be way better. When I took the half wall down, I could see that the floorboard it wall nailed into had been punctured so many times that it had totally split apart. The next wall will be screwed right to the floor joist and I'm going to build it with deck screws so it'll be really tight. Also, I plan on putting 5/8 inch thick drywall on either side for extra density. It'll be awesome.

In other news, my new insulation arrived yesterday. It was tricky to track down this new cotton insulation. It's made of recycled cotton denim. I'm real excited to put it in. Here is what they say on their website:

"UltraTouch contains no chemical irritants and requires no warning labels compared to other traditional products. There are no VOC concerns when using UltraTouch, as it is safe for you and the environment."

"UltraTouch contains 85% post-industrial recycled natural fibers making it an ideal choice for anyone looking to use a high quality sustainable building material."