11 Baha 167 B.E. (Baha’i Era)
Soundtrack in my head: JBC, “We Love You (554 Mix)”
We are having one-third of our attic converted into usable common space, and as a part of that effort, we insulated the new room this past weekend.
We rented an insulation blower machine–a big 165 lb. monster that we somehow miraculously got up onto our back porch. It consisted of a blower motor and a big vat with an agitator blade at the bottom. Connected to it was a big 100 ft. hose that we ran up through the attic window. The insulation consisted of 20-30 compressed blocks of recycled fiber which was crumbled into the machine, while others of us in the attic would blow the insulation into the walls. For the most part, the walls consisted of studs which were covered with plastic, and it was neat to see the insulation fill up behind the plastic. We also had to insulate the ceiling, which up until that point was a pointy roof with some rafters below it. We had to stretch plastic little by little across the rafters and blow some insulation on the top, until we finally had a plastic sheet ceiling with about a foot of insulation on the top.
It was a big dusty mess. You can see in the picture the measures we had to take to keep the stuff from getting in our eyes and lungs. It was particularly crazy for those blowing the insulation in the attic–sometimes it would literally be snowing insulation and our hair and clothing would sometimes get covered with the stuff. Despite that–or actually perhaps because of that, we really enjoyed ourselves.
We also felt a big sense of accomplishment. One of our concerns all along has been common space in the house, and we’d been talking about developing the attic for quite awhile. People worked in shifts, but a lot of people worked some pretty long hours, and people were working at the project from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (In addition to the insulation, one person also did a beautiful paint job on one of the common rooms as well).
It really felt like a high point in our co-op. It felt great to see people pull together to get the job done. Most of the house contributed–even the eight-year-old in our house pitched in some.
This co-op house keeps getting better and better. I really think we have a strong community–a lot of what I’d envisioned and dreamed of when I first started thinking about intentional communities a long time ago.
(thanks to Sarah for the flattering picture!)
