Installing More Insulation

So the one thing about this house that we discovered, is that it seems to be a lot colder than it needs to be. The downstairs kitchen, the one we are renovating, is the worst of them all. Just standing on the floor, even with wool socks on, your feet still feel like they are freezing. We moved in this house in November 2012. Now that summer is almost over, I can tell you that the floor in the kitchen has not gotten any warmer from the weather. It is always stone cold.

At night, I shiver with cold and have to keep my winter blankets with me all summer long. After all, this is high in the mountain. But then again, that's no excuse to feel like you are freezing all the time when the weather outside is relatively warm.

Shortly after moving into the house, my brother discovered a number of interesting flaws in insulation.

1. In the attic, he noticed large pockets where insulation was missing (this was first pointed out by our house inspector).
2. There is \no insulation between the upstairs and downstairs. This means that the downstairs area has cold coming from the floor (carpet and linoleum was laid directly on the cement) and from the ceiling as well. NO WONDER it never warms up in here!
3. When they opened up the walls in the kitchen, we noticed very obvious gaps of space where insulation was missing. I don't know if the insulation just deteriorated, or if the builders didn't think filling it all with insulation was required. 

Well today, was the first day that my brother is taking over the renovation now that our contractor, Solomon, is done for the time being. And the first order of business was to get the rest of the insulation done on the other outside wall.

The part he is working on is:

What we did find in that cavity was a bunch of old spider webs, which makes me wonder how in the world spiders got into our walls.

After my brother had to put up with my weakling help at moving heavy pieces of wood, and whining in the car about doubting whether or not I could handle it going up our steep driveway, my brother decided to get to work on the remaining outer walls. 

So the parts where you see dark insulation is where there were huge gaps of empty space. There was no insulation at all below or above the window. 

So my brother, going the extra step for added insulation, put plastic over the insulation to keep from any moisture seeping through in the future. And the 

As you can see, there is also special insulation he used to cover up the cold cement foundation since there was a gap there allow for this. Then he sealed it up with tuck tape to close up any openings where moisture or cold air could seep through.

After it was done, my brother stood in the kitchen and said he could already feel that it was distinctly warmer. Woohoo!