My House Made Me Bald

(Pictures later)

Well, technically it's not the house's fault that I'm incompetent, but I like the way it rolls off the tongue. From time to time, I get a wild hair and shave my head. The hotter it gets outside, the more often I do it. This winter I actually grew my hair out and left it for quite awhile. My general rule is that my hair can be any length as long as it doesn't cover my bald spot when I comb it. When it starts to look like a comb-over, there's an issue of self-respect involved.

So I've built a nice little header and columns to span the dining room where the former owners removed a load-bearing wall (I think--I can't be sure WHAT they did) and left the floor above supported by joists that only rested on a wall at one end (!!!). More on that later. With that done, I'm getting ready to install moulded tiles and drywall to finish the ceiling, and along the way, I'm sealing the last couple of openings into the cold, windy attic space above. To do that, I've pushed fiberglass insulation batts into the spaces between the joists, and now I'm sealing around the insulation using expanding foam insulation.

Have you used this stuff? It's awesome, especially in an ancient house like mine where there are more gaps than wall and you can't reach a lot of them very well. The original brand, I think, was "Great Stuff." Shake it up, point the tube where your gap is, and goopy, sticky foam flows out to fill it. As it cures, the stuff releases gas, which makes bubbles. That makes it expand to fill all available space (this sealing gaps and crevices you can't even see are there) and ends as a hard foam with excellent insulation properties. By volume, my house is about two-thirds wood and one-third foam. But let me tell you, it's only so sticky and it simply will not always adhere to a vertical surface, especially if there's too much air movement in the space before it cures.

Also, it is impossible to get it out of your hair once it falls on your head. The cans suggest rubbing alcohol and acetone before the stuff sets up, but I'm not sure the manufacturer contemplated someone dumb enough to squirt it overhead without even wearing a ball cap. I can tell you that solvents and combs do nothing. In the end, the clippers were the only honorable path left to me.

I'm just glad it didn't fall in Melissa's hair. I have to think it would be less funny if that happened.