Insulation and Drywall

The rain continues, practically unabated, but we are still making progress! After a brief hiatus for Christmas which we spent drying out on the Kona side of the island, we returned to begin the interior painting. Prior to that, we had put up some insulation in the ceiling and a couple of interior walls. For the ceiling we used R-19 (6") kraft-faced rolls to reduce heat and noise from the metal roof; and for the walls, we used R-12 (3.5") primarily to reduce noise transmission between rooms. I would have preferred to use insulation without the kraft paper (less chance for mold and mildew), but apparently, this stuff is standard on the B.I., and plain fiberglass batts are hard to find.


Here's the living room showing the insulation stapled to the ceiling joists and the wall studs. We decided not to insulate the exterior walls because it doesn't get as hot up here at 1,900' elevation, and the wide roof overhang and the lanai both reduce the sun's impact on the walls. Time will tell if that was a good choice.

This is Mason and Francois starting to hang the drywall. These guys look small, but they were running around carrying 4' x 12' sheets of gyprock and lifting them up with no assistance. Very often, one crew does the hanging and another does the taping and seamfilling. Even our little house took 58 sheets of gyprock to do the walls and ceiling.



Rooms are taking shape, and it's starting to look like a house inside! It took them only 2.5 days to finish hanging the drywall including attaching the bull-nose molding on windows, doors, and corners.

Here's a shot after the taping and seamfilling were done. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Eddie and his son at work, but their card is posted under the "Recommendations" post. They also sprayed on a light "orange-peel" texture. Because of the rain and low nighttime temperatures, we had a 1,500-watt electric heater going to speed the drying process. Even then, it was pretty slow.

And here's Katie rolling on the primer coat!