I got up to early to feed the boiler, with minus 21 degrees F outdoor and gusting winds, even my 30 year old house heat demand exceeds 500 gallons of hot storage. I was up so I figured a good time to take some shots with my Flir Thermal Camera as the bigger temperature difference between the outdoors and indoors lead to better resolution. The house was at 62 degrees on the T stat located on an interior wall.
The display is pretty simple,the upper left is the temperature of the target in the center of the screen. The bar on the right automatically adjusts to the highest and lowest temperature in the room and assigns colors. The coldest temp is the lower right the highest temp is the upper right. This bar will change for every shot.
First shot is outer wall that I had redone at one point. Its 2 x6 framing with closed cell foam sprayed in the cavity on the exterior wall and then the balance is insulated with slightly compressed 6" fiberglass with a 1/2" sheet of isoboard foil faced foam on the interior covered with 1/2" sheetrock. Interesting thing to note is the drywall nailheads are still conducting heat despite the foam but the studs are not visible. Also note the wall outlet, its the coldest spot despite my attempting to insulate it well when I redid the wall. The big lesson is I need to air seal the exterior plywood walls which were not sealed. The house is farily tight with stack effect from the boiler and the house in general so air is being pulled in through the cracks in the outside and finding their way in through the outlets.
Next one is a window in the same wall, its a fixed casement type window with a double cellular shade that has splined side tracks on the sides but not on the bottom. The shift in color from bottom to top is classic convective flow, the shade is 3 or 4 inches from the outside window, so heat rises from the bottom of the inside of the shade then rolls to the inside of the window glass where the air cools and drops down then loops back up again spilling some cold air to the room out the bottom. The blue spot to the upper right is my minisplit (see next one)
This one covers a lot of points. The minisplit is not running but the minisplit tubing is acting to conduct cold air into the room. I did the install and the hole through the wall is insulated around the tubing so my guess is its just being conducted in through the tubing. Note the corners, the house is conventionally framed 30 years ago, wood conducts heat far better than fiberglass or the cold so areas like the top of walls and corners of the house are going to be colder. The exterior wall to the right of the corner is the original house, fiberglass insulated 2x6, no foam. You will note the stud line is obvious. The impact of the minisplit tubing is also very apparent.
And now my "walk of shame", the front door had a rotted sill due to poor flashing at the factory and the door frame was rotted out. Its a custom size and I needed something, so I hacked in standard door and temporary filler. Work and Covid happened, and I did not get around to ordering a new front door. It does have a tight outside glass storm door for the door portion but the side light does not. Definitely on the "to do " list this spring since I am now retired and the supply chain is bit more functional. Note to the left of the door, is looks like a lot of framing cold spots. The window opening to the left is a large triple angle bay window with double hung windows. I have a double cellular blind with side tracks covering the entire opening. it really cuts down on drafts. I am considering doing the same retrofit, remove drywall, than flash and batt the cavities then cover with 1/2" isoboard foam before drywall.
Looks like its time for bathroom ceiling renovation. The exhaust fan was replaced with an "energy efficient" Panasonic unit several years ago but they reused to vent to the outdoors under the sealed soffit. There is backflap at the fan but cold air from outside runs inside the ceiling to the fan case. There is also a triple corner in the back over a bathtub. I wonder if there is also a potential for compromised insulation from moisture from the bathtub. I have considered removing the tub and replacing it with a large shower and that would allow access to the rear walls.
Of all my windows on the finished first floor, only one does not have cellular blinds and its over my kitchen sink. Its prone to splashing and these blinds are not readily cleanable. The other thing to note is there is a can light over the sink. The builder had built a false panel over the cupboards and continued it across between the cabinets but its obvious that cold air is either leaking into this area or there are insulation issues.
As I mentioned the house is modular built in factory in two lower finished sections and lifted in place with crane. Therefore the framing is pretty beefy along with "gluing" the drywall in the ceilings to the ceiling joists with closed cell foam. Modern super energy efficient homes are being framed up with far less wall framing especially on the gable ends. This requires more design than a typical framed home where a framing crew works off plan with wall opening dimensions and they use standard framing techniques. This goes quick but the end result is more heat loss through the wall.
The house despite its flaws is far tighter than most houses in the area despite being 30 years old. The towns in the area do not typically inspect residential homes and require the applicant to self-certify the design, the net result is contractors and homeowners ignore the state residential energy codes. I use 3.5 to 4 cords to heat it in a Zone 6 area with a Mini split for shoulder season. Since I cut and split my own wood of my own property, it would be hard to justify a full energy retrofit on an economic basis. I do need to deal with siding on two sides of the house that needs to be replaced so that means I could air seal those walls with lots of zip tape and then install continuous builders wrap prior to installing the new siding. If I wanted to go extreme, I would extend out the window jambs and then install a couple of inches of vapor permeable wood or similar insulation board on the exterior of the house. That would solve a lot of the corner and stud issues. I am borderline on air changes as it is so I would probably also install and ERV to bring in controlled fresh air and drop the pressure difference between the outside and inside.
Then again. I could build a new house and use all the things I have learned to build one far more efficient.
BTW, this is higher resolution camera than a typical one but even lower resolution units like the ones that plug in cell phones, give useful info. Home Depot rents them by the hour or the day and I expect if someone is looking for the biggest bang for the buck, this is good method once they have taken care of the obvious air leaks which are best located using a blower door during an energy audit.
The display is pretty simple,the upper left is the temperature of the target in the center of the screen. The bar on the right automatically adjusts to the highest and lowest temperature in the room and assigns colors. The coldest temp is the lower right the highest temp is the upper right. This bar will change for every shot.
First shot is outer wall that I had redone at one point. Its 2 x6 framing with closed cell foam sprayed in the cavity on the exterior wall and then the balance is insulated with slightly compressed 6" fiberglass with a 1/2" sheet of isoboard foil faced foam on the interior covered with 1/2" sheetrock. Interesting thing to note is the drywall nailheads are still conducting heat despite the foam but the studs are not visible. Also note the wall outlet, its the coldest spot despite my attempting to insulate it well when I redid the wall. The big lesson is I need to air seal the exterior plywood walls which were not sealed. The house is farily tight with stack effect from the boiler and the house in general so air is being pulled in through the cracks in the outside and finding their way in through the outlets.
Next one is a window in the same wall, its a fixed casement type window with a double cellular shade that has splined side tracks on the sides but not on the bottom. The shift in color from bottom to top is classic convective flow, the shade is 3 or 4 inches from the outside window, so heat rises from the bottom of the inside of the shade then rolls to the inside of the window glass where the air cools and drops down then loops back up again spilling some cold air to the room out the bottom. The blue spot to the upper right is my minisplit (see next one)
This one covers a lot of points. The minisplit is not running but the minisplit tubing is acting to conduct cold air into the room. I did the install and the hole through the wall is insulated around the tubing so my guess is its just being conducted in through the tubing. Note the corners, the house is conventionally framed 30 years ago, wood conducts heat far better than fiberglass or the cold so areas like the top of walls and corners of the house are going to be colder. The exterior wall to the right of the corner is the original house, fiberglass insulated 2x6, no foam. You will note the stud line is obvious. The impact of the minisplit tubing is also very apparent.
And now my "walk of shame", the front door had a rotted sill due to poor flashing at the factory and the door frame was rotted out. Its a custom size and I needed something, so I hacked in standard door and temporary filler. Work and Covid happened, and I did not get around to ordering a new front door. It does have a tight outside glass storm door for the door portion but the side light does not. Definitely on the "to do " list this spring since I am now retired and the supply chain is bit more functional. Note to the left of the door, is looks like a lot of framing cold spots. The window opening to the left is a large triple angle bay window with double hung windows. I have a double cellular blind with side tracks covering the entire opening. it really cuts down on drafts. I am considering doing the same retrofit, remove drywall, than flash and batt the cavities then cover with 1/2" isoboard foam before drywall.
Looks like its time for bathroom ceiling renovation. The exhaust fan was replaced with an "energy efficient" Panasonic unit several years ago but they reused to vent to the outdoors under the sealed soffit. There is backflap at the fan but cold air from outside runs inside the ceiling to the fan case. There is also a triple corner in the back over a bathtub. I wonder if there is also a potential for compromised insulation from moisture from the bathtub. I have considered removing the tub and replacing it with a large shower and that would allow access to the rear walls.
Of all my windows on the finished first floor, only one does not have cellular blinds and its over my kitchen sink. Its prone to splashing and these blinds are not readily cleanable. The other thing to note is there is a can light over the sink. The builder had built a false panel over the cupboards and continued it across between the cabinets but its obvious that cold air is either leaking into this area or there are insulation issues.
As I mentioned the house is modular built in factory in two lower finished sections and lifted in place with crane. Therefore the framing is pretty beefy along with "gluing" the drywall in the ceilings to the ceiling joists with closed cell foam. Modern super energy efficient homes are being framed up with far less wall framing especially on the gable ends. This requires more design than a typical framed home where a framing crew works off plan with wall opening dimensions and they use standard framing techniques. This goes quick but the end result is more heat loss through the wall.
The house despite its flaws is far tighter than most houses in the area despite being 30 years old. The towns in the area do not typically inspect residential homes and require the applicant to self-certify the design, the net result is contractors and homeowners ignore the state residential energy codes. I use 3.5 to 4 cords to heat it in a Zone 6 area with a Mini split for shoulder season. Since I cut and split my own wood of my own property, it would be hard to justify a full energy retrofit on an economic basis. I do need to deal with siding on two sides of the house that needs to be replaced so that means I could air seal those walls with lots of zip tape and then install continuous builders wrap prior to installing the new siding. If I wanted to go extreme, I would extend out the window jambs and then install a couple of inches of vapor permeable wood or similar insulation board on the exterior of the house. That would solve a lot of the corner and stud issues. I am borderline on air changes as it is so I would probably also install and ERV to bring in controlled fresh air and drop the pressure difference between the outside and inside.
Then again. I could build a new house and use all the things I have learned to build one far more efficient.
BTW, this is higher resolution camera than a typical one but even lower resolution units like the ones that plug in cell phones, give useful info. Home Depot rents them by the hour or the day and I expect if someone is looking for the biggest bang for the buck, this is good method once they have taken care of the obvious air leaks which are best located using a blower door during an energy audit.
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