This is what I was thinking, but wasn't sure......good info., and I put baffles in every rafter space and made sure they're clear of any insulation or debris. The soffit vents have been in since fall of '07. All of the soffits are sealed up with foil backed insulation by whoever. Fixing that is part of the overall project, starting with the stove room. Yep, gable vents, but aluminum.
HD is selling some LED bulbs for 7 bucks. I put 5 of them outside and am very pleased with the light. I am even more pleased about how little power they use. Plus you can use them with dimmers and light sensors. I run all 5 bulbs for the same cost of running one traditional bulb. I am now replacing them inside in all the lights with dimmers. HD has the best bulbs so far. I have a few from lowes but found them unsat. They are suppose to last 15 to 20 years, so I don't consider them expensive.
Forget the brand, but they had an 11 watt (60 equivilent) LED bulb for 4.97. I only need a single bulb light fixture.
How can you go wrong with that? I have converted all my Christmas lighting to LED. Cfl's have also advanced. They now have instant on that don't have that warm up time. However, dimmers and light sensors and timers have to be matched up or the bulb will rapidly fail. I like the fact that cfl's and led units are not finger burning hot. I can really see a change in my light bills, however the price point is a while to realize a savings. For me, just to know I am using less power, have my utility bill less, and not having hot bulbs is worth the conversion.
I can remember when cfls were pricey. Found a 3 pack for $1.97 a couple days ago. LED lights will come down, which will allow a quicker ROI. I have a Cree LED that started flickering so I moved it to another fixture, and haven't had a problem since. I've been giving our CFLs to my brother as we add LEDs. So, anyway, I'm waiting for cooler weather to see if I notice any difference with the new sealing, insulation, and venting I've done.
You are on it brother, just like a dog with a bone. So many people keep looking for bigger or more stoves before they correct the major issue. Nobody can afford or effectively heat the outside. Insulation is number one when it comes to heating and cooling. Keep up with your mission and informing us of your progress please.
I've been thinking about this for a while, but it took BBar starting his, to really kick me in gear. The stove room tongue and groove cedar paneling has been mostly pulled down since this past Jan., Feb., but I was unsure how to proceed. My plan has changed a few times, but it's now in process and still evolving. Now, in order to put up the drywall, I have to pull the stovepipe, ceiling support box/Class A. Not looking forward to that and there are other things hindering that progress. I shall persevere.
I forgot. Wife mentioned that the house is warm enough, but I told her that's not the problem. I can keep the house warm enough most of the time, it's how quickly it cools once I stop loading the stove. She seems to only see what's right in front of her. I tend to look a little farther out........like having firewood that's 3 years dry.
Finished the last of the baffles and R-19 yesterday (Monday) and foamed a small area near one of the rafter tails that I couldn't put fiberglass into. Had to use a 25" wide batt I had in the shop for the last space, since it's about 16", instead of 15". Got the joints taped. There's no good way to get the R-30 up there, but I think the plan will be to take measurements, come back down into the house, cut the roll to length, take it the cuts up, then roll em out. I need a transporter. Scotty, beam me up!
Yesterday, I took measurements and put 2 strips of R-19 along the eaves, since the R-30 would be way too much to stuff in there and lose it's value if I did. I was planning to get back in there with all of the R-30, but my knees couldn't handle anymore. I'll try again today. I did something else instead. The front door is warped along the latch side, and there's a gap where it no longer hits the weatherstrip, so I pulled the old stop and made a new one. Nailed that up snug to the door when closed and now have virtually no cold air leak there. Also decided that since a new front door is out for the time being, that I would caulk and foam the gap where more cold air leaks in. Immediately felt an improvement, and noticed the house stayed warmer, longer. Not a ton, but noticeable. There are more air leaks in this room, and those will be addressed as I tear into the wall insulation. Only got down to 32 last night, but I awoke to an indoor temp of just under 69.....unheard of in the past. It's usually around 65-67 in the morning. Sometimes less. I think I'll reserve final judgement for the actual cold weather, but this is going well....slow, but well. Time to get back at it.
Well, a 3 hour tour later, and I'm all but done with that room (above the room in the attic). Still need to put some strips along the gable end. Used foam in a can to fill a small gap between a wall and a rafter bottom chord. The room now has R-49 and I'm hopeful this will start paying back in less wood use, more comfort, and all kinds of good stuff. I ended up just cutting the unfaced rolls into about 4' lengths, and hauling them up there, 6 batts at a time. More fun than I wanted to have, but whatcha gonna' do? Oh, also, the 10" flex duct up there (which I pulled out of the stove room) had some condensation in the boot, so even though I closed the registers in the kitchen and bath, they were obviously still allowing warm air to flow up through the duct. Heat loss......bad juju. I cut 6x10" insulation with vapor barrier to fit into the boots. Until I can come up with a more permanent solution, I hope that keeps that from happening.
Another good report after yesterday's festivities. I was getting a bit worried last night before bed, because I let the house get a little cooler than I should have trying to see how long the house would stay warm w/o a reload. House was down around 67-68 before the overnight load, so I put 8 Maple splits in, got it going, then adjusted the air and pipe damper.....house began warming, so bedtime. Outside temp was 31 this a.m., and the house was a bit warmer than yesterday morning. 69.1 on the thermo. near my desk. Nice bed of coals and the stove @ 300. Pulled the coals forward, put in a slightly gnarly split o' pine and one Maple about 8:10. They lit up quickly (dry wood), and are still burning 1.5 hours later. House temp is now 70. Side benefit....humidity is staying up as well. Again, I'll wait for colder temps to see if this trend holds. Temps are supposed to be a bit colder this weekend, so ....here we go. Low of 20 tonight, 10 Sat., and 15 Sunday nights.
Yep. Sunday through Tuesday for us will be low 30s to the mid teens. I really want the attic finished up by Saturday to give this a solid test run with the upcoming cold spell. I'm really hoping to see a big difference from the Encore when this is done. The heat build up should be a LOT different once the first section of the attic is finished and the staircase is blocked off... Well, I hope it will be a big difference.
Doing some more sealing today. These walls are like swiss cheese. Ok, maybe not that bad, but I just did one stud bay and found two holes over 1/4 in the pine board siding (aluminum on top of that), and I'm going to caulk every seam wherever two pieces of anything intersect. I probably shouldn't have decided to bake cookies with a full load in the Ashley......it's getting toasty in here. Taking another day off from attic work, since yesterday's adventure has me aching all over. Besides, there's cookies that need to be consumed
Yeah, the exterior walls that aren't stone I feel are probably lacking insulation over here. That project is a little more expensive that blowing in some insulation.
Dave as I read your endeavors - I was thinking you're doing it the hard way, but I look back on the exterior siding project I took on here and maybe you're taking it easy wish I had documented that process it was trying but rewarding seeing each wall stripped insulated sheathed and resided - one wall at a time
basod, I'd like to re-side at some point and maybe do a rigid foam board outside before putting up the new stuff. What I'd rather do is just tear down the house and build it the right way, but that ain't happenin'. Piecemeal is my best option.
So, the full load I did plus the cookie bake off resulted in the house getting up to about 73 and staying there for quite a while. Started that load at noon Friday, and finally put one split in the stove at about 9:00 p.m. when the house got down to 67.5 and outside was 27. The one split kept the house at that temp. Let that one split burn until 11:00, took out some ashes and did the overnight load. The stove is behaving a little differently tonight. It got up to about 600 or so, then dropped back to 500, and seems to be staying there. House is up to 68.5 at midnight. We'll see where things shake out when I get up. It's 25 out right now, and supposed to drop to 22. I'm trying to curb my enthusiasm, but I'm getting a little psyched about how the house warms more quickly and seems to hold temp longer. Insulation be da' bomb. Oh, and airsealing too. That's helped a lot. Gonna do a little wiring tomorrow, and more airsealing. I may even go back in the attic. Tomorrow night will be a better test, since it;s supposed to get down to 10. Brrrrrr.
Well, yet again, I let the house cool too much before bed, so despite the full load at bedtime, the house was 64 when I got up at 8. Outside temp...20, and 1/2 hour later the house is up one degree. I still think the house is warming quicker, and holding temp better, but in the colder temps I probably need the Oak. Brought some in already. I'll check again later, but the roof is holding the snow we got last night, instead of melting and leaving icicles at the eave. Only at the eave of the roof where I insulated though, so it's obvious I need more insulation in the rest of the attic.
several years ago i bought a small house that was heated with either a baseboard heater or a ben franklin stove. hmmm, which one i'm gonna use. upon inspecting the attic there was about 2" of blown in insulation. i proceeded to buy a roll of plastic and unfaced batts of R-30 insulation. raked all the loose stuff into piles. spread the plastic over the joists and into the cavities making sure to have adequate overlap between sheets which i then taped. stuffed one layer of batts in between the joists then laid another layer transverse to the joists. i'm here to tell you we never used the electric heat. even though totally inefficient the franklin stove kept the house toasty. only problem was it was the fire box was so small that on cold nights i'd have to get up about 2 am and reload the box. insulation works i tell ya. over insulating does reach a point of diminishing returns but i figured what the hey; can't hurt. it was a hot, sweaty, sticky, itchy summer i spent in the attic but was real glad when winter came along.
