INSULATION MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

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Seasoned Oak

Seasoned Oak

Minister of Fire
Oct 17, 2008
7,215
Eastern Central PA
After running my Harman TL-300 in an uninsulated home(1 Side of a duplex) under renovation until last week. It did a great job considering there was 0 insulation. But i dont run the stove 24/7 and in the morning after the stove burned through its load of wood the night before would see temps in the low 40s. Last week i insulated with cellulose top to bottom and now when i run the stove at the lowest setting its still keeps the house in the 80s and the next morning with no fire at all the house will maintain around 60 gradually dropping into the second day with no heat im down around low 50s.
With outside temps 15 at night and 25-30 during the day its amazing to me it takes 3 days to cool down with no heat.
Granted i get some heat through the wall from the other side of the duplex, but not much. Hpuse is about 1200 Sq Ft
IM sure i will have to open some windows to keep the house from overheating if the outside temp goes over 30.
Insulation makes all the difference.
 
Its amazing what insulation will do, but also air sealing is just as important on homes. I need to put more insulation in our attic because its settled. We replaced our old furnace this year with a new one. Couldn't keep the house at 68 when it was 25 or below at night. I went through the house and the attic and sealed all the air leaks I could find. Temps got down to -5 the other night and the house was 70. Woke up in the morning 68. Not a drop of fuel used from the central furnace. We also don't feel the drafts even with 30 mph winds beating the house anymore. We still have 2 more rooms that are open with lathe and plaster that are areas of great heat loss. Looking forward to getting them buttoned up. Its amazing what things make a huge difference. If we wouldn't have upgraded the woodfurnace, I would have never looked for those leaks. The old furnace was a bandaid for our leaky home.
 
Insulation is on my to do list this year. 100 year old house with plaster and lathe, baloon framing. Basement wood stove does a good job but the furnace still kicks in to supplement when temps dip below 35f. Have to rewire the house then insulate.
 
Look for open cavities in the attic and also in the basement in a balloon framed home. Seal those before you insulate.
 
glenng said:
Insulation is on my to do list this year. 100 year old house with plaster and lathe, baloon framing. Basement wood stove does a good job but the furnace still kicks in to supplement when temps dip below 35f. Have to rewire the house then insulate.
Click to expand...

Just did my moms house during the fall. Exactly the same situation - make sure you block off the bottom in the basement or everything you dump down those cavities will end up just coming out the bottom.

Devon
 
Our Castine never really helped heat the bedrooms much until we sealed leaks and blew in an extra 8 inches of cellulose in the attic last summer. Now it heats the whole 1600 sq ft no problem.
 
This makes me feel good about my decision to add more insulation in my attic over the summer. Eventually I'll have to figure out how much insulation is in the walls/if it has settled and I need to add more. There is cellulose blown into at least two of the walls (had to replace a couple outlets last year and found this out). We live in a 1200sq ft home made around 1920.
 
laynes69 said:
Look for open cavities in the attic and also in the basement in a balloon framed home. Seal those before you insulate.
Click to expand...

Also, just a note, if you go thru all the trouble to open up the wall for insulation ect, and the house is balloned framed, might be a good idea to add firestop in every bay before u close it up. just a thought
 
Hey

I am currently finishing my basement (location of my wood stove). Insulation makes all the difference in the world. Here's a myth I would like to quash: Some people think you don't need to insulate to the floor of a basement since it's "below ground". BS. Concrete is a thermal conductor. Not as bad as a metal but bad enough. The new building code in Ontario requires that every new home who's main heating is electricity must insulate their basement walls, FULL wall, to a value of R-19. It's to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the equivalent of 50 000 cars on a road per year. Simply by reducing the amount of electicity required to heat which is turn lets them turn downt he nuclear/coal burning plants.

I insulated my basement with Polyurethane directly on the concrete. 1.5 inches = R10.5 I am now framing my walls and plan on installing R12 fiberglass between the studs. The polyurethane seals the header very nicely: I won't need a vapour barier. No air leaks.

Andrew
 
My home is 2120 sq ft. I’m on the South shore of a very windy lake.

After the brutal cold of last Winter I made the decision to tighten up the house and make my future bill less of a burden.

I just spent the last 5-6 months performing improvements. :cheese:
Did just about everything myself…saved big $$ and will get the full $1500 tax credit back.



The home is much much more efficient now. Wood consumption has been brought down considerably, the house is quiet and a consistent comfortable temp.

insulation in 8” thick exterior walls in the main room R 30, ceiling blown in to R-50 ,new double Paine Low-E Windows and insulated front door, interior walls insulated with R-13, R-15 and R21. New drywall .625” thick. Ran CAT 6 wire through the house for a home media network, new lighting in the main rooms.

here is a link to the project.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/39209/P15/

I now burn about 1/3 to 1/2 a face cord per week........before I would burn a full face cord or more :)

Its money well spent IMHO.
Cheers,Hiram
 
Swedishchef said:
Hey

I am currently finishing my basement (location of my wood stove). Insulation makes all the difference in the world. Here's a myth I would like to quash: Some people think you don't need to insulate to the floor of a basement since it's "below ground". BS. Concrete is a thermal conductor. Not as bad as a metal but bad enough. The new building code in Ontario requires that every new home who's main heating is electricity must insulate their basement walls, FULL wall, to a value of R-19. It's to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the equivalent of 50 000 cars on a road per year. Simply by reducing the amount of electicity required to heat which is turn lets them turn downt he nuclear/coal burning plants.

I insulated my basement with Polyurethane directly on the concrete. 1.5 inches = R10.5 I am now framing my walls and plan on installing R12 fiberglass between the studs. The polyurethane seals the header very nicely: I won't need a vapour barier. No air leaks.

Andrew
Click to expand...

===============
Dont overlook another important step,YOUR CONCRETE BSMT FLOOR, THe floor is also a conductor of heat as up to 20% of a homes heat can be lost through the floor.
There is special insulating board you can buy to pt down before you pour the Bsmt floot to insulate it.
 
I agree with insulating the floor..that's the one place I went wrong. I did not insulate underneath. Why? Because the contractor was charging too much.
I plan on using R-5 hi density foam on my floor or perhaps drycore. It isn't gonna be perfect but it'll be better than most houses I have seen. I learned from my dad's mistakes :)

Hiram Maxim: great job!!! I too have double pane low-E argon windows. They are pretty good! Mine also open on a crank, not a guillotine type: if the window can slide, air can pass. The crank ones are TIGHT when you pull them in and lock.

Andrew
 
Swedishchef said:
I agree with insulating the floor..that's the one place I went wrong. I did not insulate underneath. Why? Because the contractor was charging too much.
I plan on using R-5 hi density foam on my floor or perhaps drycore. It isn't gonna be perfect but it'll be better than most houses I have seen. I learned from my dad's mistakes :)

Hiram Maxim: great job!!! I too have double pane low-E argon windows. They are pretty good! Mine also open on a crank, not a guillotine type: if the window can slide, air can pass. The crank ones are TIGHT when you pull them in and lock.

Andrew
Click to expand...

Andrew,

Thank you, when I get the time I will post more pics on the link.
Cheers,Hiram
 
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