More and more

I'm realizing (have been for a long time) that sealing and insulation is the ticket.
I know I've kinda beat this horse some, but it hits home when I'm able to get the house warm, keep the house warm with less wood, and it stays warmer far longer than before my efforts.
Just came in from roof raking (yes, again), and noticed (again) a few areas on the roof where snow melts even when it's below freezing.
These are warm air leaks into the attic space, and aren't always easy to track down....let alone fix.
The reason I put this in the "Modern stove" section is that I've been also thinking about my choice of stove....past and future. I'm realizing that once I get this place well insulated, the stove choice can possibly change to a smaller unit, and/or one that can run at a lower temp. (as Dennis so aptly pointed out to me a few years ago) long term. Lower wood use would be nice too.
I've known this for quite a while, but again, these recent improvements just drive the point home.
For some, this is old news, for others, maybe it's new.
I just keep thinking about how homes are made and that if they were sealed and insulated well from the get-go, how much energy/money would be saved. That energy isn't just how much gas, oil, propane, or electric gets used to heat/cool, but also how much energy we all have to expend generating income to pay for it, and how much energy is used to distribute it.
Anyone in the middle of, or contemplating sealing and insulation, all I can say is.....run, don't walk, to get it done if at all possible.
I'm starting to ramble, but .....food for thought.

 

I'm in the midst of my insulation project, renovating the upstairs of the old side of my house(cape cod I think is the term?). What I've noticed even though I'm not but half way done, is that with at least some insulation on the roof and air sealing is that the closed-off room stays warmer now than when it was opened up and being heated! I can't fit much insulation on the roof, I think around R21 if memory serves, but way better than it was! Use to have ice like crazy. Will be watching to see what happens this winter when we get some good snow on the roof.

The dilemma is the walls of the downstairs. The insulation in them is practically nill. Lots of air infiltration, especially in the gap between the old house and the new addition. But the walls are finished nicely I don't have any intentions of going through the fuss of tearing them all down and redoing it. I plan on moving sometime in the next few years, so I might not even see much of a payback. The upstairs though was really old plaster among other issues, and needed refinished anyhow.

 

I'm with you papa!

My cape cod's roof insulation is an area that I don't even know where to start.
I started with the foundation last year. I want to gut the second floor and attic spaces next. Capes are known for being less than efficient even when insulated correctly. I had my roof off last year and got to see just how bad the insulation is...It wasn't much to begin with and its torn up and falling down. Found one area that never had anything right above the stairs to the second floor. Sad that is how it was done...or not done.

In the 60's, gas, oil, and coal were cheap. But so was insulation when compared to doing it right today.
I would guess a couple hundred bucks would have been plenty of insulation back when it was built.
Now, thousands to gut and remodel. Not to mention the annual cost of wasted energy over the last 50 years.

 

What year, style is you house?

 

It's a ranch, and most is on slab. The kitchen, bath, and laundry rooms are all on a crawl that's about 3'.
That may have been the original house, with the rest being add-ons. Main part of house is about 50'x22'.
Stove room is off the living room.
Poorly done sketch...........

 

Ours is a ranch too Dave. The roof here also needs to be roof raked up at least 4' from the eaves or ice will form. Same problem... can't get to the space above the ceiling, between it and the roof to add insulation. I guess I'm stuck with it unless I have a double roof put on (airspace between the old and the new).

You mentioned thinking about future smaller stoves. And, that Dennis got you thinking about how nice it would be to not need quite so much wood. Our last house, and ironically my brother's house in Colo, both had these Regency stoves. Both were in cathedral ceiling rooms. I got used to it's smaller firebox eventually and I was really surprised at how much heat that could put out all night at a low setting. My bro loves his.

 

Looked at the Regency line-up a few years ago, before I got the 30.
I'm still thinkin' a cat stove with a t-stat would work real nice here. Dennis was a big proponent of the cat stove thing and told me to consider one several years ago.

 

Amen Brother! We upgraded insulation many years ago adding to the attic and foam sealed rim joists in basement. Made a huge difference for heating and cooling. Yet, there is still room for improvement. We have lots of windows which are great for letting in light ... but they are drafty and I need to seal them each winter using 3M kits; much cheaper than new windows. I need to work on improving door seals and other leaky spots.

Hard to imagine that all the heat coming from our stoves is simply leaking out of our homes; just plugging a small percentage of the leaks should make for a noticeable difference. Off to work on my front and garage doors to see what I can do to tighten them up. Thanks for the motivation papadave !

 

I know about drafty houses; we lived in one once that had no insulation in the walls; built before such things were thought necessary when heating oil was cheap. Strong winds would blow though the clapboards. Mum and I actually wrapped the outside of the house with plastic to prevent the wind from blowing through the walls. We were poor and all we could afford.

My current home has blown-in insulation in the attic; problem is that the stuff has settled and it is the air spaces that provide the insulation. The R value in my roof has probably decreased by half but there is not much I can do about the issue at this time; just no money for that sort of project and the attic is not accessible.

 

you have trouble getting heat past the kitchen?

 

Couple years ago, I went around and sealed up all the outlets on exterior walls. Little jets of cold air coming from every single last one of 'em.
Ran a bead of caulk around the perimeter of a couple rooms at the floor/wall junction, as there doesn't seem to be any kind of weather seal there.
The exterior walls are all 1x12 pine planks with 1/16" gaps between, with some kind of foil sheet covering that has no seal/tape at the joints.
I got up in the attic and sealed up a bunch of penetrations with caulk and foam.
Made an attic stair hatch with 1/2" foam board......that helped a lot.
Attic insulation is sub-par....by a lot, except where I redid it. I'd like to start at one end and work my way to the other just pulling out all the old, sealing, then putting in new.
I doubt my knees would like me much.
Kimberly, our last house was a bungalow, and the upstairs was always cold in the winter, and hot in the summer.
Never did get around to doing anything about that.

 

Ah, I see you've discovered my biggest heat distribution problem.
The wall between the kitchen and bedroom has a window right in the middle, just about 8-10" above the countertop. That's one of the original exterior walls, and the window never got removed. If we open it, and then open the door from the laundry into that bedroom, we get some heat flow, but that room is always colder.
There's no other heat back there.
I've considered doing insulated flex duct in the attic with an inline blower to get some warm air from the stove room in there, but that's another project for another day/year.

 

If you had the money, best bet would be to remove it and use foam. Foam is the way to go now and it is not the old foam that caused people to get sick. Foam is both an insulation and vapour barrier and it seals completely so no drafts.

 

access is only a keyhole saw away
$3.95 on ebay

 

Active air is always the best. I posted a diagram of house before, getting the heat into the kitchen is going to require some sort of active air movement; I may look at a small blower I have.

 

The problem is in the way the house is built. This is a manufactured home and does not have standard stick built type trusses; which is one of the reasons I could not easily go through the ceiling. Things may be different with the newer manufactured homes.

 

Did you take out the outlet and foam seal or just use the outlet covers? Was thinking about trying the outlet covers but was not sure how much they help.

Regarding my doors: I just applied a temporary fix in 5 minutes. Over the years, the adjustable strike plates have self adjusted at times and the screw holes have pretty much been stripped. Was planning to do something to rebuild these this spring. Talked to an older gent at the hardware store who gave me a temporary fix that I had heard about but had forgotten. Used stick matches to fill in the stripped screw holes; remounted the plates and now the screws are tight enough to hold the plate so the door fully compresses the weather stripping.

Now I just need to find a good way to seal the gap between the threshold and bottom of the door leading to my garage.

 

I've been looking into foam. I believe its the way to go also!
Haven't found any local contractors that do it.
Dollar for dollar you probably get more R-value with fiberglass, but way better air sealing in gaps and cracks with spray foam. I've also heard there is a hybrid that uses both.

 

I took the outlet out, and used caulk. I'm sure the air is still coming in somewhere else though.

 

They got the insulation in there somehow. Open up the gable end through the siding?