Dirty Job of Removing Blown-In Insulation in Cottage

The dirty job of removing blown-in insulation in our cottage bathroom ceiling was a lesson we hope that you don’t also have to learn!

man standing in fixer upper with drywall around him

Recently, we had the attic insulated with blown-in insulation. Yet some of the light fixtures in the bathroom were not centered correctly. So if you would try to move them it would be difficult since there was all that blown-in insulation up there. It would just most likely end up making a huge mess. Especially if you DIY most things like we do.

REMOVING BLOWN-IN INSULATION

Nate had been thinking for a while that he should place batt insulation in the bathroom ceiling instead. That way we would have a flat surface of insulation up there. And if he needed to work in the ceiling and move things around, it would be much easier.

man looking at bathroom ceiling framing exposed

This was kind of a bummer and a waste though because we just paid someone to blow in all the insulation! But, it’s always best and easier to correct things sooner than later it seems as well. Crazy that Nate removed four huge trash bags full of the blown-in insulation from the bathroom ceiling! Live and learn! Don’t make the same mistake we did!

The dirty job of removing blown-in insulation in our cottage bathroom ceiling was another example of us working backwards to make our wrongs~ well, right!

LIVING SIMPLY IN A CONSTRUCTION ZONE

We were still living in a construction zone at the time, and kinda still are! Nate pops on camera to give a little tour and mention how this was actually lavish living for us. He shows how crazy the bathroom looks because of all the work he’s doing in there. And then quite casually points out how we also intend to “shower” in there although it was not yet a functioning real bathroom to do so.

Here is how we improvised! Basically, we just used a kiddie pool to shower in for several months! It’s not glamorous, but a reminder of how we needed to just live within our budget so we could reap the rewards later.

man pouring kettle water into construction bucket next to kiddie pool

You can pay now or you play now. But, if you pay now and don’t play now, you’ll play later! Those were some encouraging words straight out of my husband’s mouth. Or rather, very wise words to help keep us on the right track. That was certainly deep!

PURSUING FINANCIAL FREEDOM

I just love how Nate says that you PAY now and you PLAY later, or if you PLAY now you have to PAY later. We’ve done a bit of both because I feel like right now we’re paying so we can play later. Since we’re currently living in a construction zone, we are living at or below our means. And the best thing of all is being able to pay off our mortgage in about three years! So we are paying for all this now so we can play later and have freedom here very soon when our mortgage is paid off and all our renovations are completed.

But really, we have played earlier and so we’re paying now. Before we met each other, we had been traveling all over the world. We did missions work and we lived overseas in Korea together and Hawaii. So, we have done a lot of playing and now we’re paying! And this is all so that we can play here again soon! We are getting really excited to play again. That’s the goal~ to have financial freedom to play!

REPLACING BLOWN-IN INSULATION WITH BATT INSULATION

After Nate removed all the blown-in insulation, he moved the bathroom fan and centered it on the ceiling. He was also working on centering the vent up there as well. We really should have done this earlier! When you go backwards, you lose time and money. But later we will be glad because the bathroom is one of the most important rooms in the house and you want it to be just right and aesthetically pleasing.

man pointing to bathroom ceiling framing exposed

Here was another example of why we didn’t hire someone to do our drywall because Nate was removing the ceilings from our bathroom. He had regretted that we had blown-in insulation put up in the bathroom ceiling. That way if he wanted to tinker around with the vents or the lighting or our antique chandelier one day. It would be much easier this way to tinker around with the wiring than if there was blown-in insulation up there. Always taking two steps forward and two steps back around here. Afterwards, he was really glad that he did redo the insulation up there.

He worked on the wiring to install a chandelier one day and he wanted it to be real solid to hold a lot of weight.

He moved the bathroom ceiling fan and put it exactly where he wanted and added a vent pipe to it. Then he went to test it to see if it worked. The light worked, but not the fan. He did not anticipate that happening and went to check the breaker. Turns out that one of the wires came loose and he had to reconnect it.

man pointing to ceiling fan with batt insulation around it

Now that all the blown-in insulation was replaced with batt insulation, he added more wood to the framing to help make it more structural. Everything looked good and very well insulated. Then it would be time for him to redo the drywall next (again)!

batt insulation installed around bathroom vent

The dirty job of removing blown-in insulation in our cottage bathroom ceiling turned out to be well worth the effort. It would definitely benefit us in the long run as we continue to make changes and updates to our bathroom design.

Luke 14:28

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?

man standing in fixer upper with drywall around him AND man pointing to bathroom ceiling framing exposed

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS

Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic cottage mostly on our own. Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead!

You can also watch a video about this here.