I'm going to be showing a lot of pictures of progress. Progress is not always pretty. But it is exciting, and the fact that these pictures show giant steps in the progress of White Church Gallery is extra-exciting, if such a state of being exists.
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| 'Bout to get extra-excited! |
Some things that were never meant to be seen by the general public are actually quite pretty. Women's underwear can be very fancy, and I've seen shiny engines under the hood of a car that should be hanging on the wall as art.
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| Fanciness. |
The church's underwear-engine is the spray foam. But it's not all that pretty. It's more like flannel underwear than silk.
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| After the plaster and lathe was taken out, the church was looking a little bare-bones. |
You could see daylight through some of the planks.
So we had it spray foamed. Here's a messy before and after...
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| Messy before... |
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| Messy after! |
But the Church is as snug as a bug in a rug! No breezes blowing through the walls now! No weird smells coming from the ancient wood. It just feels different in here!
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| Spray foamed walls. |
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| The Wine Room! Cozy! |
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| Windows aren't insulated...yet! |
So what is spray foam? Why not the old school pink fiberglass? Here's what I got from Wikipedia:
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| Spray foam insulation saves on energy costs and lowers utility bills. Studies by the US department of Energy show that 40% of a home's energy is lost as the result of air infiltration through the walls, windows and doorways. Buildings treated with spray foam insulation typically insulate as much as 50% better than traditional insulation products. |
It's got a higher R-value than most other insulators. That means it's cozier, comfier, and just better. To me it looks like a cake that was frosted! To cold air it looks like a inpenetrable blanket.
The next layer on the cake is the drywall. I've been asked why we got rid of the old plaster and lathe, and why we didn't replace it with the same.We got rid of the old plaster because we really needed to insulate the church, and spray foaming was the way to go. So the plaster had to go, so that the spray foam could get where it needed to go.
We are trying to do this project right. The Church was built with loving hands over 100 years ago, and it has lasted this long, even though it fell into disuse (and possibly misuse) in the meantime. We'd like it to last at least another 100, long after we're gone. We put a new roof on to prevent further decay. We added an economical and earth-friendly heating/cooling system, Geothermal. [Spoiler alert] We put in a septic system! And someday the Church will have water! (and with water and septic come a bathroom!) So we are spending the money and effort now to make sure the Church will survive into the next century.
As far as what we'll replace it with, it's an economical and aesthetic matter. We're using drywall, but we will be using a paint that has a stucco finish, so it will actually retain some of the look of the original plaster, without being as heavy and expensive as plaster and lathe.
So, it's a work in progress, a little messy at times, but we're always working toward making it better!
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| And it's all ours! |
