Hollywood Left is pissed at the Prez

[Rex E.]

Originally Posted by Charles

Since this is my business, I'll make a few suggestions.

Air infiltration is your biggest problem. Replace your doors and windows with something that seals up. On your windows, a good double insulated glass is just as good as the high priced stuff, as long as it seals up good. Low E glass is good if you get a lot of sunlight, don't waste your money on Argon filled, unless you can come out on a tax credit, and I think they're gone.

Once you do that, blow the attic full of fiberglass insulation, to at least R40.

And a cheap retrofit, which you could possible do yourself, it to frame 2x4 walls inside of your existing exterior walls. Stuff them with R13, rock them and install crown so you don't have to tape and finish the ceilings. This does three things. For one, you've probably doubled your R factor, not to mention that you've slowed down the air infiltration, but you have also eliminated the heat sink effect of the studs transmitting heat/cold through the walls.

These things will pay for themselves quicker than upgrading your HVAC system. Let's get serious, why drop a ton of change on a better furnace until you close the damn door? First things first.

Chas

This is something I've been working on. This home was built in '76. It already has new windows and doors (part of the reason I considered it when looking). I have noticed that cold air blows in through all of the a/c outlets. something I've been working on sealing up. I know I need more insulation in the attic and I'm sure the walls could use it but we've only been here a year now so all things in time.

Maybe you should come to Vegas for a week and make a little money instead of losing it like most do

[David Newman]

I'll add that when you go about sealing the house up, make sure you have a system to provide combustible air to enter the house to avoid negative pressure situations.

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by David Newman

I'll add that when you go about sealing the house up, make sure you have a system to provide combustible air to enter the house to avoid negative pressure situations.

I run positive pressure in my bedroom just like an OR or clean room. I never really understood how leaky a house is until I did that. On a still evening, I can feel all the air blowing out from the room. Even a slight pressure difference between the respective source and sink is enough to lose heat or cold.

[merrylander]

This old house has 2 x 6 exterior walls with insulation to match. A good 10" of fiberglas in the attic. Low E skylight and patio doors and all windows double glazed.

Recently had the basement playroom (about 480 sq ft) done with the Owens Corning basement wall system - 2.5" semi rigid fiberglas and am currently laying a Bruce hardwood floating floor. Being all electric the only replacement air needed is for the clothes dryer.

The house that I had in Quebec was oil fired forced warm air. I installed two 4" ducts from the outdoors, one fed fresh air to the oil burner the other fed the cold air return with a damper to regulate it. Took 20% off my heating bill

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Rex E.

This is something I've been working on. This home was built in '76. It already has new windows and doors (part of the reason I considered it when looking). I have noticed that cold air blows in through all of the a/c outlets. something I've been working on sealing up. I know I need more insulation in the attic and I'm sure the walls could use it but we've only been here a year now so all things in time.

Maybe you should come to Vegas for a week and make a little money instead of losing it like most do

Whatever you do, don't buy any of that expanding foam. It will ooze everywhere and make a hell of a mess. I've seen people use it to seal around their window and door jambs, it will apply so much pressure to the jambs that their doors and windows won't open and shut right. And trying to dig it all back out is a career opportunity.

You can probably fix 90% of your problems with a few tubes of caulk. And one of those cheap infrared thermometers are pretty handy for finding your trouble spots. Just don't laze the cops, they might get nervous and shoot you.

Chas

[Rex E.]

Originally Posted by Charles

Whatever you do, don't buy any of that expanding foam. It will ooze everywhere and make a hell of a mess. I've seen people use it to seal around their window and door jambs, it will apply so much pressure to the jambs that their doors and windows won't open and shut right. And trying to dig it all back out is a career opportunity.

You can probably fix 90% of your problems with a few tubes of caulk. And one of those cheap infrared thermometers are pretty handy for finding your trouble spots. Just don't laze the cops, they might get nervous and shoot you.

Chas

Thanks for the input as I had a couple of cans of expanding foam left over from shipping an ATV engine and I was gonna use them up.