// Energy Solutions is blowing our insulation donated by Demilec. It is called SEALECTION Agribalance and is made of refined vegetable oils. With our thickness of (1,2,3,3.5,4,5) inches the R value is (4.45,8.9,13.3,15.6,17.8) ˚F*ft2*h/btu. R value is a measurement of thermal resistance, so the higher the R value the better the insulation. Glass wool batting insulation has an R value of about 3.5 ˚F*ft2*h/btu for each inch.

// The 70 inch shower drain was installed today and our plumbing inspection was approved! Yipee! The first rail for roof racking was installed. Windows are going in! The clear story windows above the mech room are there. The TV and data cables are wired. Although everyone has been working their bottoms off, we are still a week behind but hopefully we will be able to catch up by the 6th because the installation guy is coming on Tuesday.

// Kyle, Tori, Darlene, Erica and I attended the 2009 Energy Summit at Stanford today. It was a productive but long day. We made a lot of great contacts and got to use our model for the first time! Everyone was very interested in it. The billboards were put on today, there is a giant light switch on the side of the house! We are using billboards as a weatherproofing cover to replace Tyvec, because we don’t want the word Tyvec visible through the siding of the house. The roof flashing was started. Plumbing supply is going in. Electrical was started.

// A lot of visitors today, but I’m sure we are only warming up to more and more activity on site. Building inspectors paid us our first visit today. They will be back tomorrow to approve our site. Today the shear wall nailing was finished and the framing of interior walls is complete. I was incorrect with saying there were finished on Friday, there was very minor touches that needed to be done. The roofers came today as well and began adding crickets. Crickets build up the roof to guide the water to the drain. They also made cutouts for the drains. Vertex Mechanical, our plumbing donors, also came today. They did a rough layout of the plumbing.

// Hot Hot Hot! Construction was very eventful despite the heat. Milgard, the company that donated the windows of our house delivered them today! All of the interior walls are framed and finished. The end cap doors were all framed and all the pocket doors were framed. This was an excellent first week of construction. Allison and I attended PCBC today and made some excellent connections with people wanting to support our project! (Thank you Chris Akins for our passes!).