Winter is coming...

Or rather, "was coming" and some time was required to prepare. My first concern was the foundation. As mentioned in earlier posts, the foundation is fully wrapped in insulation and includes an insulated "skirt" around the perimeter. Additionally, the foundation was built on top of a thick layer of compacted gravel. These features make the foundation somewhat resilient against frost heave, which in some cases can easily crack footings (thick as they are) and leave the house to settle unevenly after the thaw. However, given that our winters can get very cold and that the basement would not be heated, I was not ready to "bet the farm" on these features keeping the frost out of the ground underneath the foundation without some heat loss through the slab.

As it has turned out, this winter has been a big dud with daytime temperatures averaging just below freezing and thawing cycles almost every week... weird. Anyway, in the fall I had been assuming a normal, very cold and dry winter so I took all the Roxul batt insulation I had ordered and layed it out two bundles wide to either side of my footings and stacked the rest against the stick framed walls in the basement - the concrete walls already being insulated on the exterior with four inches of rigid foam. On the exterior of the walk-out portion of the basement (where the footings are only 18" below grade) I layed out left over rigid foam boards for extra perimeter insulation.

Insulation against the walls...

...and more insulation for the footings.

The next step was to cover the giant hole in the main floor framing above the basement where our future staircase will be installed. I spanned the hole with some 2x4 then covered it with plywood. I put some left over rigid foam boards over the plywood - more to keep people from walking on the not-so-strong plywood cover than to insulate.

A temporary cover for the big hole. On cold nights, it still gets very cold in the basement but it is amazing how much less cold it is than outside - you can feel it right away when you walk in.

One thing that I almost forgot to do - but thankfully remembered before it was to late - was to pump the water out of my drain pipes and septic line. Last summer I had filled all those pipes to leak check the connections but had just left it in there as it was going to be a pain-in-the-ass to get it out again. Well, guess what? It was an even bigger pain-in-the-ass to get it out when the temperature dropped below freezing. Surprise, surprise Durand. I ended up buying a small A/C utility pump that uses a garden hose to draw water up and then spit it out another length of garden hose. I got most of the water out this way but at one point the pump lost its prime and I just ended up wasting a couple of cups of vegetable oil trying to get it back.

I had to get the water out though because it was down at the far end of the septic line which terminates only about 18" below grade. If that water were to freeze it would split my ABS pipe and I didn't want that. I ended up digging a pit in partially frozen clay to find the termination - "good times" - then I pulled the cap off and let the pipe drain into the pit. I then used the pump to get the water out of the pit - more "good times". I'll have to take the pump apart first to be sure but I think I might have ruined the impeller doing this. Well, at least I can go to sleep now without worrying that I might have to re-trench in the spring to replace a split septic line.