Inefficient insulation, or inefficient floor plan? HELP!

[thephotohound]

Sandor -

Thanks for the input. I will take all of those comments to heart and start right away on the sealing. There's not much insulating besides the attic that I can do any way. Decided on cellulose due to it's ability to fill in air voids better than fiberglass batts. I'll take the R-20 that's there now and pump it up to R-50 with an additional 10 inches (approx. R-3.2 per inch). Also, I've positioned my woodpiles in the southwestern section of my yard with no trees. My goal is <15% moisture content this year.

 

[cbrodsky]

On Colin situation lots of time builders hire painters that spray. They cut the paint with water. It looks ok for a while but in general poorer quality and coverage be any paint. Even if using B Moore, if cut for spray it weares like cheaper paint.

The funny thing is our builder liked to go on about how his painter never uses sprayers so the finish is better... that's nice, but once paying for the extra effort to apply properly, it annoyed me to find out that he was using junk grade B Moore paint.

 

[cbrodsky]

Do you really believe that any “homeowner” is going to hire anyone with your “attitude” ?

Lost is this post was Photo's claim on his personal Blog to save 25k by doing work himself. I may have overstates some of my points, but to point out in the end not that much money may be saved and to take on task within his skill level.

$25K in savings is an incredibly easy goal to achieve. Since owning this house, I have already far exceeded that and nearly all of these projects are things I learned as I went along. Painting ($3K), all base and crown trimwork in the house ($10K), stone patio ($10K), water softener ($1K), boiler fitting repair (fixing defects from "pro" who installed it) and resoldering of failed aquastat connection ($1.5K), annual boiler cleanings ($0.5K), stove install and tiled hearth ($5K), cabinet relocations ($2K), bath fan install ($0.5K), downdraft kitchen fan install ($0.5K) all landscaping around home ($10K), 1200 gallon stone fish pond ($2K)... that's already over $45K and I could keep going. Yes, prices are high in New York, as they are in MA - some of these numbers are probably still way too low. By the way, that is after-tax savings of $45K. I'd have to earn about $75K at work to have paid for all that hired out and I bet half of it would have been poorer quality.

Only thing I have outsourced was a chimney install, as I was not comfortable w/liability associated with a DIY job there, and two annual boiler cleanings to watch how it was done by two different professionals. Who by the way did things completely differently at very different quality levels. Second one worked for a company that came in for a $100 "light cleaning" and tried to push you into a $350 "heavy cleaning" which only adds brushing the heat exchangers and vacuuming the bottom - about 20% of the total job. A $5 heat boiler brush and 45 minutes later, I am $250 richer. Similarly, I was told the going rate for replacing a failed aquastat is $600. The part is $120. And my intermittent failure was easily traced with a $5 resistance meter to a bad solder joint. The "pros" don't even bother - too easy to hit you up for $600 when you need heat.

So to photohound, I would say absolutely go for it - know your limits and do things by the book and you will save far more than your targets. The internet is an incredible resource for these things.

-Colin

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Chimney specs: Out of the back of the stove, single elbow, straight up... interior pipe is single wall, approx. 7 ft to cathedral ceiling. Out of roof, add'l 10 ft or so metalbestos stainless.
.

Sounds like quite a bit of single-wall stove pipe, which could adversely affect draft.
You may want to consider upgrading to double-wall pipe and thus increase your drafting
capabilites. In my opinion, a stove is only as good as its chimney....

My 2 cents worth....

Rob

 

[begreen]

Good thread went badly sour. Doing some housecleaning to get it back on track.

 

[dtabor]

Good job, thank you BeGreen.

Didnt mean to get so nasty about it. This is a great forum and I hate to see it go this way. Ive quit other forums due to the infighting.

D

 

[begreen]

No problem, it's been bugging me too. Let's keep on topic and use the Ash Can for philosophical discussions.

 

[jjbaer]

No problem, it's been bugging me too. Let's keep on topic and use the Ash Can for philosophical discussions.

see...my Rodney King "why can't we just all get along" thing worked......the nasty posts got removed......LOL......

 

[elkimmeg]

Photo, sorry for the late PM reply!

I have read through the 4 pages of comments and everyone is right on.

1. The number one reason for heat loss is air infiltration, not lack of insulation. So, I would deal with air infiltration, then add insulation. Pull off the window trim and use expanding foam between the window and framing. Pull off the base trim that runs along the exterior and caulk between the floor and wall. Take off switch and electrical outlet plates that are on exterior walls and caulk between the electrical box and drywall. You may also seal were the wire enters the box. (Carefull!) Blown insulation in the attic will go a long way to seal up areas were air is entering the heating envelope from the attic. Also, do you have too much attic ventilation?

2. My Keystone can easily run up to 700. To echo Colin's comments, I usually run on the 1/2 (of 1) setting to maintain a 400 degree stove. Dry wood is a must! Someone posted a handy chart last year about the relationship between stove temp and BTU output, and the difference between BTU of a 400-500 degree stove temp was huge, not a linear relationship. In the humid Virginia climate I'm in, wood does not really dry in the summer. Drying seems to be fasted from fall to spring. (The cracks in the wood actually close up in the mid summer humidity) I am now cutting wood for the 08-09 burning season. Stay a year ahead, keep it covered and exposed to the southern sun, and you will be in good shape moving forward.

Keep us all updated and sorry for the late PM reply!

The poster that did the math was Hot Flame according to his calculations a stove at 600 degrees emits 100% more heat than at 450 surface temps

Unfortunately within some of the post deleted was a very improtant suggestion so I will repost it . Many utility Companies offer energy audits which include Inrfired scans.

These scan are very usefull at pointing out your home envelop's leaks /problem areas that need to be addressed. The audit can also provide where you can gain the most per $$ spent

Meaning your $$$ benifit decreases as the the amount of insulation added to your attic area One might see the best bang for the buck increassing up to R 38 and decreasing value beyond R 38 where mone might be better spent elsewhere.. Alsodeleted is caution to a;;ow natural ventilation of your attic and not blow in and cover up sophit vents. One may hace to use styrofoam bafflets to prevent this from happening. If you have recessed lights some require air space to diffipate heat. That airspace cannot be filled in. You may find you need to swap those recessed lights to ones that allow insulation contact.. Do not overlook you attic access door. This is a huge energy hole and needs to be weather stripped and insulated.. Also lost in deleted post was you are elgible for federat energy tax credits.