Insulation and Drywall for the Ceiling (WebpageDate: 2006-08-02)

Next up - insulating and drywalling the ceiling. In order to give space for air-flow and have adequate insulation in the 5.5"s of space between the drywall and the roof allowed by our rafters, we opted to go with high density foam-board insulation. So, we had a lot of foam boards we had to cut to shape an insert in between our rafters. Here are some pictures of our materials - and Sarah cutting a piece of drywall:

Below is a picture showing what the insulation looked like once it as in place. Below that is another view from the same angle showing the final product after drywall was hung - a little sneak preview ;).

In order to not break our backs, we opted to rent a drywall lifting machine. That turned out to be a GREAT idea! For only $32 a day, over two days on a weekend, pushing hard, we managed to put up all the drywall on the ceiling! If our ceiling was more normal (didn't have exposed rafters) it would have gone even quicker. If you are ever doing drywall on the ceiling, rent one of these machines (or buy one if you must - $600-$700 ;) ). Here are some pictures of the machine in action:

These pictures (above) show us using it for the lower section of the ceiling where we overlapped the rafters. We also used it for the upper section, but because it was above the exposed rafters, we had to get the drywall up by hand, get the machine's fork up through the rafters and then put the drywall on the fork. So, the machine didn't help with the lifting - which didn't turn out to be too bad to do by hand, but it helped hold the drywall in place for screwing - that was the most invaluable part. Holding drywall in place while you are trying to screw it in is a royal pain! With this machine, piece of cake!

Now, some pictures of the final product:

Here are descipriptions of photos above:

• Upper-Left: NorthWest corner of the Kitchen.
• Upper-Right: Looking at the West wall from the North end of the Kitchen (Living Room on Left, Kitchen on Right). In this image you can see the center beam - which now has drywall on its sides too (not shown in these pictures).
• Bottom-Left: Looking from the Living Room into the Kitchen.
• Bottom-Right: View from above the rafters - looking from the kitchen towards the living room. You can see we haven't drywalled over the ledger board at the peak of the ceiling yet.

The area is really starting to feel like a real room! Drywalling the ceiling really made the whole space feel a lot nicer - the dark ceiling really absorbed a lot of light. Below is one last picture that really shows how nice things ended up: