Attic insulation and dry wood - nice!

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Nofossil

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This fall, we finally blew in more insulation in our attic to make up for 22 years of settling. We also have really dry wood, even though half of it is poplar (the rest is mostly birch with some buckthorn, cherry, and ash).

Blowing in insulation is a pretty nasty job, and I remember thinking "this had *&%(*& well better be worth it".

So far this heating season, we've burned less than two cords. If we continue on that track, we'll burn less than four cords for the entire season. That would be the least ever for a full season.

Our previous house was less than half the square footage of this one. We heated it with a conventional wood furnace, and burned 7-8 cords of hardwood per year with no wood heat for DHW or a hot tub.

We're pretty happy with how this has all turned out.

There's still room for improvement. We have a few thermopane panels that have failed, including two patio doors. I still have more to learn about how to get the most efficient burns. I'm also looking forward to the day (if ever) when we're done cleaning up deadfalls and damaged trees and can have a year of nothing but clean hardwood to burn - maybe we can get to a three cord year.
 
Just blew cellulose around my storage tanks and put 16" in my shop attick. Got about 1/4 of shop walls insulated. what a differenc already! It actually holds some heat. Can't wait to get the
rest done. It took a ton of wood to heat my tanks then dump the water and re-fill, re-heat and heated the shop to 50 a few days with no insulation.
 
When I blew in cellulose in my attic (~16" which has settled to about 14") I used the whole-face respirator I use for my orchard spraying.

I will never work with insulation without one again. It's still a messy job but no dust in my face and eyes and lungs. Well worth the $80 I paid for it.
 
The larger commercial insulation blowers [truck mounted] use bigger hoses and the dust is cut way down, it's pretty amazing how much better the attic blowing environment is.
 
bigburner said:
The larger commercial insulation blowers [truck mounted] use bigger hoses and the dust is cut way down, it's pretty amazing how much better the attic blowing environment is.

There is a big difference in dust between brands also.
 
I used attic cat brand and had zero dust. Green fiber cellouse was $.022 a square and attic cat was $.027 a square and does not settle. No dust no settle and half the amount of bags for same r value I was sold. I would use attic cat again.

Rob
 
After my retrofitting this year, removing fiberglass and installing foam in the attic and walls we have cut our wood use by 75%. I just use up the last of a full cord for this heating season so far and the house is always a constant 70. The new boiler helped out also. I couldnt imagine the amount of wood the people used when they built this place.
 
How deep did you go? I've heard of people running 20+ inches. This is on my short list of things to do in the next year or two...
 
When we moved into our pre-civil war home, there wasn't a stitch of insulation anywhere... we lived in about 700 square feet of the house for about 2 years while I remodeled the other 3500 square feet... and still used almost 10 cord of wood in a season. Towels used to freeze to the floor in the laundry room. yikes.

Obviously we are much much tighter with the insulation these days, now that the whole house is basically remodeled... (though not completely finished off just yet).

Congrats on the new insulation... and the wicked low wood usage. Awesome! I can't tell yet how much wood I have used since I haven't been digging into the pile in a very methodical manner - so lots of wedge shaped piles left. When I started the season I had 4 cord of a pretty good mix of hard wood, (lots of locust) and 2 tons of biobricks. I have around a ton of bricks left, and quite a bit more than half the wood left... seems like we should be approaching the mid point of the heating season here in a week or so yes?

I've got lots of plans and ideas for repiping the system for next year... can't wait to get the rest of the house on the radiant floor.

cheers
 
You guys drive me nuts about no insulation. If everyone would insulate just their attic in this country I bet we would cut our home energy demand 10 %. I see attics almost void of insulation and every time I insulate a house I call and ask if they notice a difference. They always say the hose is quieter and has a different sound to it. They also say it's just more comfy somehow, less drafty and less cold spots. I have 21" cellulose in my attic. Everyone should have at least 16".
 
Insulation is the most important part to any heating system. I say spend the money beefing up the insulation, then if your still burning to much wood then upgrade your stove, or boiler system. Lots of times we just look to ways of making more heat, rather then trying to keep the heat we already have in.

I built a small cabin this year. 16x24 I went all out and spray foamed the roof. Total cost for my 384 sqft unit $3000. It was the most expensive part of the building project. That cabin has just burned over 1 cord this heating season and I live in the Yukon Canada. Wood of course is the primary heat source in this cabin. My rentor tells me it's often to hot in the cabin. This summer I'm going to spray the floor which already has 1.5inches of foam panels under 2x8's. My plan is to spray 1" on this to help seal the cracks and prevent any air leaking through the floor. That should button the cabin right up. I planned for spray foam and budgeted it in the project, as in the long run, and years from know, that small investment will pay me back time and time again.

Thats awesome, and nice to see the savings when one does a upgrade like you did congrads. It's a rewarding feeling isn't it.
 
I have about 16" of cellulose in the attic now (again). I have a ton of glass, so it's a 'diminishing returns' thing. Our walls are 2X6 with fiberglass in the wall and 1" polyiso boards on the inside under the sheetrock. My next improvement will be to replace some failed thermopane panels and look at some sort of blind system.
 
Our attic insulation has settled to 3 inches from over the years. The previous contractor didnt put enough in then. I want to add at least 12-14 inches. Even with a 2 story home with tall ceilings will we see a difference? We air sealed the attic and the walls are at least r19. The upstairs is much cooler and I figure some is due to little insulation.
 
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