My firewood enjoyment is waning more than it should except for firepit sessions. My house has a pool room at the west end that used to be the garage. My dad enclosed it and made it a rec room, put a pool table in there and a fireplace. It's not insulated and is frigid! I do not enjoy my fireplace nearly as much as I would like to because it's cold and takes awhile to heat up if you build a fire. Recently, I have been thinking of adding a fireplace or adding an entire room with a fireplace onto my den/kitchen where I sit most of the time in my easy chair. Just to my right is a big sliding glass triple door. That would be knocked out, there is a patio slab there big enough for a new room. But... that would cost a lot. So, what would it take to make the pool room with the fireplace warmer? Could it be done? The house is on a slab. The pool room's west wall (end of house) is brick and that's where the fireplace is. The other walls are wood; a pic is attached. The vertical strips where the boards meet, I dunno what those are called but they are 11.5 inches center to center. The floor is an indoor/outdoor type of carpet. The house was built 61 years ago and Dad closed in the room about ten years after building. Could this room be insulated and if so, how? Then again, that adds square footage to the house and perhaps my central heat unit could not keep up? Or could I just keep the door closed as I do now, and heat it with the fireplace? Idea being that insulation would keep it from getting as cold as it does now. The attic insulation is nothing special, just that pink mat stuff and is 61 years old, might need to blow something in. The outside of the house is brick. I need to burn more fires with all this firewood I scrounge! And my pool skills need sharpening! Some of you guys know quite a bit about building stuff. TIA!
If when he did the addition, he did not insulate the concrete floor of the garage and put in a decent Air sealing, it will be hard to over come! My stove room used to be a garage also. Before wood stoves did not use in winter
I can't envision anything helping quickly enough but I could be wrong. Say the room is 35-40 degrees in there. Start a fire, seems it's going to take awhile to heat up the room no matter what. I was just thinking to solve it, the room just can't get as cold from the getgo. It kind of kills the mood if you go into a real cold room and know it will take some time before it gets comfortable. Adding a room to the house at the sliding door... the patio slab that is there is 10x14. So, adding a 10x14 room will cost some coin. Insulating the pool room would, too, but it might be better to just utilize the pool room. Exploring options and I don't know much about building. Adding on a room where the patio slab is, 10x14, with a fireplace, how much do you guys think that cost? Online source says $88 to $200 per square foot! And that probably doesn't include a fireplace. It could just be a sitting room with t.v. and fireplace.
I don't know what an 'air sealing' is but I doubt it. This is (north Louisiana), not a cold climate like you guys have. I don't know what, if any, treatment the slab got. A contractor did the addition. Like me, my dad was not a builder, lol.
Air sealing is just as important for air conditioned air as for heated air. Any place where there is a porous envelope with a temperature differential on either side of that envelope That porosity needs to be addressed.
The floor in Louisiana isn't much of an issue: Floor Plenum. At least compared to more northern locales where the frost/freeze zone depth affects ground temps a little bit more.
Yawner If a contractor did it in assuming he was reputable. In your climate, He probably just framed in the garage door insulated and hung drywall hopefully mold and mildew resistant. Here’s a secret that most people don’t want you to know about fireplaces They let as much heat out as they actually make. If you take that fireplace and put it in a insert you’ll find out that room is just fine! 40 to 50 is a beautiful day
Ok, I am learning about inserts because of you guys, lol. It would def be better to fix it that way. Actually, could just start a fire first thing upon waking. By time coffee is ready and meds taken, room is ready? Maybe! Yes, the contractor who built the pool room was reputable.
I forgot to mention that the room gets unusable hot in summer. Like as high as 87 degrees on days over 100! I do have a really old window a/c that does a good job but you gotta turn it on 30 minutes to an hour before use. If anyone knows more about if this room could be insulated, advise, cuz it's a 2-season problem.
That indicates a lack of insulation and air sealing. All air sealing is preventing outside air or unconditioned air from entering a conditioned space
This! I'm sure whatever insulation it has would not meet today's standards...but cheap enough to upgrade if you diy...plus it makes the room more usable 24/7/365
Oh, and I would not spend the money to build a "real" fireplace for that new room...just build a nice stone or brick hearth and put a stove on it...much cheaper and looks just as nice!
Would you be able to take down that wood "paneling"? If not, have a couple quotes done on blown in cellulose for the walls. How much insulation is in the ceiling. An uninsulated slab is going to be cold, no matter what you do. About 75% of our place is on slab. Not sure what "code" is down there, but up here it's R-38 for the attic. Code is minimum, not what's best. Remember, insulation will help keep warm in during the winter, and warm out in the summer. Air sealing is a priority before doing any insulation. We had 2 different contractors quote almost exactly the same price to build a 16X18' screened porch on an existing slab......very basic stuff. $8,000 for one and $8,050 for the other.
Brad was thinking like me. Fireplace insert. Our house is cinder block with a slab floor. Our stove does just find. The living room they built a wood floor about an inch above the slab. I am guessing that it is plywood. Then threw carpet over it. No insulation in the walls. With a few limbs and a couple pieces of wood it is 77 in here and holding. We did have a fire last night so we had a few coals that I put the limbs on and added the other a bit later. Just went out of cat but I brought a few uglies in earlier that I will be throwing on. They are to the left of the stove. I have no trouble getting it to 80 in here. You can also get some sort of electric heater to use to start warming up the room till the stove takes over. Being your only young to use it in a limited fashion , it shouldn't be too expensive.
It sounds like the room was enclosed in the early 70’s. Chances it was insulated at all let alone well is probably your problem. You could try removing a piece of baseboard and drilling a hole to inspect if there is insulation. A blown in cellulose could be done and add a trim board at the top. Otherwise a full gut and properly insulate the room.
My shop is 24x20 porky insulated and crap windows. With a freestanding stove I can get the temp up pretty quick. Any chance you could vent a stove into the existing chimney? If you have enough wood just keep it going?
Insert or wood stove and don't forget to add ceiling fans. We're talking Louisiana here, right? Can't be that big of a warm up time. How large is the room?
