Ceiling Fans and Insulation

We have a sunroom/office off our back bedroom.  The first big problem is that the floor was uninsulated, so the room was always an uncomfortable temperature.  Also, you could stand in the sunroom, look between the planks in the floor, and see the patio below.

See the bright spot?  That's our mini-window to the back patio.

Up close: Hey there patio.

The first step was to pull down the old, rotting planks that make up the ceiling of the patio under the sunroom.  Apparently this was a really hard and nasty job.  Luckily Ethan and my Father In Law took care of it.

He looks so professional.

Once the planks came down, insulation went up.  Again, this was apparently a hard and nasty job that I supervised.

Once the insulation was all up, Ethan and Henry installed pressure treated two by fours to keep the insulation safe from moisture.  After that, we installed PVC bead board to cover the pressure treated wood.  The PVC was more expensive than wood but will require no maintenance, and looks just like wood!

This is also where we revisited the  Major 100+ Year Old House Lesson that we learned while repainted the bedroom.  Nothing. Is. Straight.  Nothing.  This meant every piece of PVC had to be carefully and individually measured and placed.  This meant the project took about five nights longer than expected.

As an added bonus, while taking the planks down, Ethan and Henry assessed the electrical situation and figured out that we could pretty easily add a ceiling fan to our back porch.  The person who lived here before us had a dining room ceiling fan rather than a chandelier, so we figured this would be perfect to repurpose.

Ta-da: The finished product!

Just for perspective, here was the ceiling before:

We have this shed-like area off our basement that needed a door.  Ever resourceful, Ethan carefully selected the nicest and least rotten planks.  He sanded them down, treated them, and hung a door to cover the crap in the shed.

Up next: fixing the rusted siding above the patio: