<sigh>
My house is a 50+ year old multilevel in suburban Boston. When we moved in 23 years ago, we added cellulose insulation in all of the walls and I've added a second layer of fiberglass insulation on the attic floors. We have baseboard hot water heaters and central air.
Last night I left a nice fire going in the insert in the living room, 70 degrees, down to 62 at 4:30 this morning.
That heat is going somewhere.
We have recessed lights in the main living area and I know that I'm losing a lot of heat through those cute little chimneys. We also have original windows on the main floor, covered with storms.
The house isn't particularly drafty. Yet I can point to a half dozen places where I know air is escaping and others where insufficient insulation is allowing transfer, and I'm just a little overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem.
I'd love to start over and build a passivhaus, one that essentially needs no heat or cooling systems...but that isn't in the cards for quite some time, and not on my existing lot. Also, we like our neighborhood and the house is in good shape overall -- recent roof, good electrics, newish Buderus furnace, etc...
I guess I'm stuck and looking for some support. There's lots of busy work to do and I'm concerned that if I climb around the attic and address 50% of the leaks and drafts, it won't make much difference.
Anybody else been there, done that?
Comments, suggestions appreciated!
My house is a 50+ year old multilevel in suburban Boston. When we moved in 23 years ago, we added cellulose insulation in all of the walls and I've added a second layer of fiberglass insulation on the attic floors. We have baseboard hot water heaters and central air.
Last night I left a nice fire going in the insert in the living room, 70 degrees, down to 62 at 4:30 this morning.
That heat is going somewhere.
We have recessed lights in the main living area and I know that I'm losing a lot of heat through those cute little chimneys. We also have original windows on the main floor, covered with storms.
The house isn't particularly drafty. Yet I can point to a half dozen places where I know air is escaping and others where insufficient insulation is allowing transfer, and I'm just a little overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem.
I'd love to start over and build a passivhaus, one that essentially needs no heat or cooling systems...but that isn't in the cards for quite some time, and not on my existing lot. Also, we like our neighborhood and the house is in good shape overall -- recent roof, good electrics, newish Buderus furnace, etc...
I guess I'm stuck and looking for some support. There's lots of busy work to do and I'm concerned that if I climb around the attic and address 50% of the leaks and drafts, it won't make much difference.
Anybody else been there, done that?
Comments, suggestions appreciated!