SBF# 17 Closing In

Most of the air sealing is complete.
The 1st floor is being mudded and taped, the 2nd floor is done. We need to seal the basement and root cellar doors. We are anxiously waiting for our 2 Linnwood, rebated, double gasketed doors. And the 2nd floor joist penetrations need to be sealed. Then we are ready for the blower door.

We did notice some spot melting on the roof where a wall met the sloped ceiling. I found a couple of old wiring holes through the top plate and an unsealed seam. But the melting seemed unlikely with such small air leakage given the 18" of cellulose. Upon closer inspection I noticed the top plate actually broke the line of the sloped ceiling, meaning we have a little thermal break here. I'd say the top plate pushes into the ceiling about 4". I am thinking that a few leftover foam pieces could easily fit between the studs to make up for the penetration.

One sign that the envelope is getting tight is that the plastic in the basement is billowing inward as the wood stove is sucking out the air. We will not notice this once the basement insulation is installed, but we are holding off for now until we do the blower door test.