Poway Custom Home & ADU | Project Update
Good morning, everyone. I am Brandon with Freeman’s Construction. I’m here in Poway at this brand-new custom home and ADU that we’re building. The weather is cold and rainy this morning for San Diegans. I’ve bundled up the best I can, and I’m going to do my best to show you around without slipping in this mud.
Waterproofing Systems
This is the front of the home. We’ve made a lot of progress since our last video update. We wrapped the home in Tyvek house wrap Tyvek is an air and water barrier that we install before we nail up the siding. The roof is complete. The owners chose a Timberline HD Ultra shingle. Ultra means the shingle is the thicker version of the two HD versions that GAF manufactures. It just gives more protection and a thick, solid shingle look. This home also includes a plate line ceiling tape made by Sega, which we are also using on one of our own in-house construction projects. This plate line tape is also an air barrier that prevents air movement from flowing in and out of the house at that junction point. That’s one of the largest leak points that occur on home, so this does a great job of sealing that up. This tape also does wonders to keep out pests like ants and bugs. Doing something as simple as sealing that plate line can make a big difference.
Inside the Home
All right, let me see if I can make my way through these puddles without falling on my rear like I almost did about a minute ago. Let’s look at what’s happening inside the house. The framers are here today, straight edging all the walls. This is an extremely time-consuming process. They straight edge the entire wall, so the drywall is installed nice and flat, rather than having walls that look like a snake. You can site down the studs and see that the walls are straight, clean, and crisp. Yesterday was a big milestone for this project. The inspector signed off our combination frame inspection. This means that everything that gets buried in the wall passed inspection, framing, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, windows, and low voltage. Now we can insulate and drywall, which is a big step for moving this project forward.
These showers were hot mopped within the past couple of weeks. Hot mopping is probably the most tried and true way to seal up a shower. The hot moppers will build up the shower pan with asphalt roof shingles, which creates slope to the center drain, and then they hot mop over with tar.
The ADU and Spray Cell Foam Insulation
Let’s head over to the ADU. I’m going to venture over there slipping and falling through this mud. The insulators are spraying the spray foam up in the attic and installing the traditional fiberglass batts in the wall. I’ll show you what that looks like.
They are well underway getting this pipe insulated. You can see that the spray foam fills the entire attic bays. That stuff is amazing. It’s just a real light mist to start, maybe only a half inch thick, and then it expands to well over 10 inches. I’m just going to get a quick video of what they’re doing.
Spray Foam Advantages
We’ve been installing open cell spray foam in most of our homes recently. A large advantage is the spray foam increases the insulating factor to a higher R value than traditional fiberglass batts. It also changes the attic into a conditioned space. I believe the attic will only vary about four degrees. The attic is much different from the space below, which is where all the HVAC air circulates. This means that all your ducting, your hot and cold-water pipe, everything that flows through your attic is now sitting in conditioned space. So, if it’s a scorching hot summer, your cold water is not sitting in the pipes in a 150-degree attic space anymore. The opposite holds true in the wintertime, your hot water does not sit up in a cold attic. The water heater and furnace does not have to work overtime, which extends the life of those appliances. Another advantage is the lack of roof and gable end vents. That saves additional building costs and even eliminates all those roof vent penetrations, which eliminates a lot of potential for roofing leaks. Obviously, the roof is watertight when everything is installed properly, but any hole through the roof brings with it a potential for leak. Spray foam insulation increases a bit more cost on the front end, but the long-term savings that I mentioned earlier makes a big difference.
Next Steps After Drywall
The insulators will knock this job out today. We plan to start drywalling next week. That begins a new phase of this project, which is fun for our clients to see as the hung drywall makes the project look more like a home. Painting and cabinet installation begins soon after the drywall is complete.
I’m very excited when we progress to this step. Regardless of whether the schedule has been fun to manage, or riddled with challenges to overcome, there’s always something that throws a curve ball into the project during this time of year, and we do our best to keep moving forward.
Thanks for watching. Have a wonderful day.
We Build CUSTOM HOMES, ADUS, & Do HOME REMODELING
Top Notch Quality Homes, on time, on budget, and without hassles.
Freeman’s Construction, Inc. has been building new custom homes and completing whole house remodeling projects in San Diego County for over 37 years. To schedule a project consultation, please call us today at 760-788-6846 or fill out a request form.
Areas We Serve:
Ramona, CA | Poway, CA | Escondido, CA | Julian, CA | San Marcos, CA, | San Diego, CA | Rancho Santa Fe, CA | Lakeside, CA | Rancho Bernardo, CA | Scripps Ranch | Carmel Mountain Ranch | 4 S Ranch
2 Comments
I have this kind of spray insulation in my home in Fallbrook. I had it sprayed in at construction on the floor of the attic. I love the full insulation for the comfort of my house – I am not loosing or gaining my cool air in the summer and I am not having an issue staying warm in the winter. I had the spray insulation put into the walls of the interior for sound muffling also. My exterior walls are straw bales and are 2 feet thick of natural insulation.
After 12+ years in the house there is need for maintenance and some upgrades. My contractor now is hating the spray insulation as it has encased the electrical wiring he is needing to access. He has said it will be awful if my plumbing leaks as it runs in the attic and is encased, too.
A better way would have been to foam the underside of the roof and then fill the floor of the attic with the insulating beads that can be simply pushed out of the area needing to be worked upon and then spread out again when finished.
Any future construction projects I do I will apply this “hindsight” information.
Yes, you are right. Applying the spray foam insulation to the underside of the roof sheathing keeps the spray foam from encapsulating the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC components and allows the entire attic space to stay cooler. It also allows you to eliminate the attic ventilation requirement which is good for keeping embers from wildfires from going into the attic.