Cotton insulation - love it!

Don’t throw out those old worn out jeans you’ve been hanging onto; recycle them!  There’s a good chance they could end up as insulation.  We struggled with what insulation to use and still adhere to our goal of a healthy, sustainable renovation.  We were caught in the Goldilocks syndrome; the fibreglass was cheap but too toxic, the spray foam was too toxic and expensive, the wool sounded great but was too expensive.  The cotton, though, was just right! 

Our double brick house has zero insulation in the exterior walls.  Mia did the research on this and found that cotton was our best alternative. It is made from natural, renewable, recyclable material that is only treated with borax to prevent mould growth.  The fibres are not damaging to the lungs and it contains no toxic chemicals.  It is more expensive than fibreglass but much cheaper than wool and not toxic like spray foam insulation.  For our kitchen reno we only needed one exterior wall insulated so the cost was not prohibitive. 

We contacted Kevin at the Eco Building Resource in Aurora who carries two types of cotton insulation.  We went with UltraTouch 3.5" X 16" X 94" (8 batt/bag). One bag covers 85 sq.ft.  We also ordered 2 x 24 oz. cans of Durafoam 0-VOC low density spray foam insulation to fill in some holes and cracks in the wall.  

Insulation just arrived

We love the product. Here are a couple of trouble shooting points:

1. The insulation batts are perforated lengthways and fairly easy to tear to fit for places with narrower spaces between the studs.  Cutting them horizontally to reduce the length proved more difficult for our contractor.  The batts are not perforated horizontally and a knife did not work.  He ended up tearing it which proved difficult.  When we contacted our supplier he suggested using a non-serrated knife, just ripping it as we did or for larger projects using a skill saw with the blade in backwards.

2. I was not present when the insulation was installed and I was surprised to see that it was all used up when I got home.  We ordered two bags which should have covered the wall with 60 sq. ft. to spare.  Our contractor, who is not familiar with this product, did not unfold the insulation and used it doubled over.  He thought that it was too thin unfolded.  There are instructions to shake it to increase  it’s volume as it is compressed during packaging and shipping.  I checked with the supplier who confirmed that it is meant to be unrolled in a single layer and that it will expand over time. 

Misha

Insulation done and ready for the drywall

Contractor Circus

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, 

come one, come all and watch the 

Magnificent Misha and Mia 

as they juggle electricians and leap through the gas guy’s fiery hoop of death!

So, we have decided to be our own general contractors and hire individual trades and it really is like being the Ringmaster in a three ring circus.  If you haven’t been following along, we planned to do the reno back in April but due to life circumstances we rescheduled to August.  We had done a lot of research and obtained at least 3 quotes on all the jobs. 

When the time came we did not go with any of the contractors we had received quotes from.  They were either not available on the dates we wanted or too expensive.  Armed with the knowledge and experience from the previous months we had 5 days to arrange the electrical and gas and coordinate with our carpenter, tiler and cabinet maker. 

The electrician search was like being in a tiger cage where you are never certain if you or the tigers are in charge.  I called about 5 electricians; our top and most expensive pick was not available on the day we wanted, our second quote seemed great but when it came time to send us a quote we got a major run around but no quote. We finally went with a small local company who had a guy willing to start on Sunday and keep us on schedule.  

The gas guy was a completely different adventure.  We got phone quotes of $300 - $400 dollars that ballooned to $700 - $800 once they came out to see the job.  We were in a rush and not in a great negotiating position.  We went with a family business that quoted us $800 to do the job.  The crotchety, decrepit patriarch of the family did the ever fluid quote.  It seemed high to me and I was able to negotiate a price of $600 with the grandson. When they came to do the work, Gramps real or feigned memory issues resulted in a bill of $650 plus an additional $50 to come back and hook up the stove.  A quick meeting with sonny in the furnace room got us back to the $600 all in price.

Lesson: Know what animal you are dealing with before you get into the cage, let them know who is in charge and never let them see your fear.

Result: Electrical and gas complete and ready for insulation and drywall.  We are walking the tightrope of home contracting, over the tiger pit, while juggling and all without the aid of a safety net!

Misha

Electrical and gas done

Wall today, gone tomorrow!

Our biggest decision was whether to remove the wall between the kitchen and the living room.  After a year of discussion and my persistent repetitive plea of “Ms. Gorbachev, take down that wall!”, Mia relented and the wall came down.  Chris, our neighbourhood contractor, did a great job saving the crown moulding in the living room and the mantle we left will match the load bearing beam in the kitchen.  It will also hide the duct work we must re-route to maintain heat to the upstairs bedroom.  The alternative was to demo the whole living room ceiling to get a flat transition between the kitchen and living room which would have been messier, more expensive and would have ruined a perfectly good ceiling.  Mia loves the wall down and her fears have been allayed.  The space is lighter and feels more airy. We are selling pieces of the wall to anyone interested in a souvenir of the historic event.
Misha


The duct in the middle is still waiting to be moved.




The point of no return

Well, there is no turning back now.  We just removed the last of the kitchen cabinetry and appliances with the help of our friends Todd, Charlie and Dave.  We put the stove and dishwasher out on the curb and within 5 minutes they were picked up by a drive-by scrapper; community recycling!  The scrap went into a 24 cu/yd dumpster we ordered from the local dumpster guy.  The fridge went easily to the basement once we dismantled the door.  It will become the basement fridge for extra garden food storage.  Misha



One last cabinet to go

The Farm Crawl

With our lavender planted and thriving it was time for an excursion to the country. The GO train ride from Toronto to Burlington made us feel like we were leaving Paris for a weekend in Provence.  We met my Dad at Aldershot Station and drove west to Dundas, Ontario for the first stop on our three farm tour.

Kevin and Abigail of Weir’s Lane Lavender had invited us on a Farm Crawl they organized with two other farms. When we pulled up to Kevin’s farm the rows of lavender in the front field and the stucco, Mediterranean style house made us wonder if in fact we were in Provence.

Kevin was just starting his beekeeping demonstration when we arrived.  Mia kept her distance but I had kept bees in my youth so I got right in there and helped with the demonstration.  Not only do the bees pollinate the lavender, but they produce amazingly delicious lavender honey.

After checking out their recent planting and striking established rows, Mia tried her hand at making a lavender wand.

I thought she might cast wonderful lavender spells with it but she mostly uses it to smack me when I annoy her;  at least it smells nice when she does.  The lavender releases fragrance when the flowers are bruised by rolling it between your hands or whacking your partner with it.

Abigail and Mia showing off the final lavender wand.

We toured the farm store, sampled some lavender flavoured food and were struck by the many herbs lavender can be mixed with.

I am going to try and grow all the herbs for Herbs de Provence in the herb garden next year.  I even bought two Royal Velvet lavender plants to plant in our garden.  They are one of the nicest edible varieties.

Misha and Kevin checking out the front lavender field

Our next stop was ManoRun Organic Farm. This rustic mixed farm featured organic vegetables and herbs, horses, cows, chickens and an outdoor brick pizza oven. 

We learned something about the borage that is growing in our yard.  I had no idea you could eat it and use it to flavour water.  It’s great for skin health and apparently a great addition to the compost heap once it is harvested.  We love borage!

The last stop was Jerry’s berries where we filled up on raspberries.  The berries were amazing but I kept trying to switch rows because the berries in the adjacent rows always seemed a little nicer and more plentiful.  Of course once I got to the other row, the row I had come from looked better.  Suffice it to say, Mia filled her container in half the time I did by staying in the same row.  After a short jam making demo we were back on the road and headed to the train station.

The search for the perfect berry; check out the perfect berry picking form.

On the train ride back we reflected on our amazing day in the country and felt completely satisfied with our little taste of Provence as we pulled into the station in Paris. 
Misha

Vegelicious Garden Update

I love gardening.  It's recreation,  therapy and a workout all rolled into one with the added benefit of producing delicious, nutritious food just steps away from our back door.  It also evokes fond memories of my childhood and the kitchen gardens of my grandparents.  I can still taste the sweet peas freshly picked and eaten right out of the garden.  We plant vegetables we love to eat that produce for an extended period or have a large harvest that can be easily stored for a long time. To get a head start on the garden, I made a veggie planting plan in January on an excel spreadsheet roughly to scale.  There are online planning tools that are really great if you like something ready made.  I still plant in rows but I plant close together and band sow my seeds.  There is a movement in vegetable gardening to block plant.  That is when you divide your garden in 1 foot squares and plant a number of squares of each vegetable by broadcast seeding the area or evenly spacing seedlings.  Both systems have their advantages.  Below is my Back Garden Plan.


The first things to be planted in early April were peas, onions, kale, lettuce radishes and early carrots.  End of April our broccoli, cabbage and kohlrabi seedlings went out along with carrot, parsnip and beet seeds.   By the second week of May the tomato, bean, sunflower, celery and squash seedlings were in and bean seeds planted.  The basil and cucumber went in late but should be fine.  

May Back Garden

In the kitchen garden we planted crops we most often use as it is just steps from the front door: scarlet runner beans, lettuce, kale, kohlrabi, onions, collards, spinach, arugula, radish, celery, coriander and sunflower (for aesthetics).

May Kitchen Garden

In our herb garden the sage, oregano, thyme, mint and curley parsley survived the winter so we just had to plant some cilantro, rosemary, dill, garlic chives, Italian parsley, lovage and chamomile.

Herb Garden

My strategy was to get the cool crops in early so we could start harvesting in May and early June.  I planned to do a second later planting of another crop alongside the lettuce and spinach since these do not do well in warm weather and will be done by mid-June.  By then the second crop would be ready to take over the row.  I also like high density planting to get more plants in and keep down the weeds.  If your soil is rich most plants can handle it. Here are the veggie gardens in mid-July.

July Back Garden

July Kitchen Garden

So far the plan is working.  By mid-may we were eating early salad greens, radishes, onions and herbs.  In early June we added beet greens, kale, collard greens and zucchini .  We even had beans from the bean seedlings that were ready before the snow peas. 

Now in mid-July we are heavily harvesting beans, kale, onions, garlic  and the last of the peas. Broccoli, sunflowers, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers are on the way.  Misha

Rain barrel in the front yard - Curb appeal faux pas or not?

We installed a rain barrel in the back yard and have been contemplating putting one in the front as well. Our Norway Maple is a very thirsty tree. It sucks most of the water from the front yard and its canopy acts like an umbrella deflecting water out to the edge of the yard.   Our hope is to divert water from the roof onto the front yard to provide additional moisture for our native woodland plants. Our only hesitation was the aesthetics of the barrel in the front. A plastic barrel sitting in one’s front yard is not the most appealing look. See what I mean?

We are also still conscious of our neighbours’ scepticism of our front yard native garden project and a rain barrel in the front does not help. Despite this concern, we went ahead and bought another rain barrel from the Toronto Botanical Gardens.  They had the best price and we like the idea of supporting them.  We chose the terra cotta colour to blend in with our red brick. Mia was confident that we could integrate the barrel with our native garden. 

How we did it

The rain barrel came with a tap I inserted into the small hole at the bottom, a debris trap that sits in the hole in the top and an overflow connector and pipe that attaches to the hole on the back side of the barrel near the top.  

The first step was to unscrew the elbow and the drain pipe extension from the down spout. Next I placed the barrel in the area that we wanted it.  Our neighbour had some broken patio stones she no longer needed and I used these to create a solid base for the barrel and to raise it up to improve flow from the tap.  I placed the barrel on the patio stones to accurately determine where I should cut the downspout.

Next, I eye-balled where to cut the downspout using the old elbow joint and a piece of drain pipe.  It is critical to maintain an angle downward to the top of the barrel. My trusty hacksaw cut through the drain pipe quite easily.  Mia helped hold the drain pipe steady which made the cutting easier.

After that, all I had to do was attach the old elbow to the cut downspout and cut a piece of the old drain pipe and attach it to the elbow to reach to the barrel.  Then I connected a new elbow to direct the water to the hole in the top of the barrel.  I secured the pipes together with drain pipe screws and all we had to do was wait for rain. 

We covered the barrel with a cloak of our Prince of Darkness Clematis to help camouflage it. 

We added some ferns and plants to make the corner look luscious and green. The barrel blends in well and we have no regrets in installing it in the front yard. Misha