Week 3

They stripped the foundation forms and upon inspection guess what. We see a hole in the basement wall. For some reason the concrete contractor thought he needed to jump the foundation at that point. Why is beyond understanding. Why would anyone with a common sense think that not closing the walls in a basement is a good idea. He also forgot to place the beam pockets. The foundation work is certainly not up to my expectation. It is not structurally unsound just sloppy. As I suspected the original concrete contractor was not available (because we had to wait so long for the permit) and not wanting to delay the work, Steve got a last minute replacement. Well the problems are to be corrected at the contractor's expense. We had a couple of rainy days and not much work is done. But then they came to reform the area that needed to be fixed. Meanwhile the carpenters continue to work on the dormer. They opened up the inside and I could finally see the framing. I notice that the frame is not as thick as I had expected.
Confession: I assumed that the guys understood how the dormer should be built. Well it is solid and looks good but the thickness of the barrel frame is barely adequate for insulation. The alternative is to use sprayed foam insulation which does not need venting and is more efficient. The guys bring in rigid foam insulation panels trying to convince me that it will work. I could not see how it would form to a barrel roof, I guess they can score it but there will be so many cuts and pieces that the insulation value would be lost. The truth is they are not equiped to apply sprayed foam. It is a specialty so I began to research and hunt for a company that can do it. One company that specializes in it would not come out just for the dormer, they need a bigger job I began considering using this type of insulation throughout. It is supposed to be a better product but it is also more expensive, about 30% more. Apparently it is so energy efficient it qualifies for a tax credit. 

See Pictures http://adventures-in-remodeling.blogspot.com/p/week-3.html