So glad I added insulation in the attic, Tyvek & steel siding & new roof this year. Put in new doors & windows 2 years ago. Cut my heat loss dramatically. Boiler & ex-changers are oversize on purpose. Biggest issue I have is the shop doors open & close moving cars in & out, but even then the recovery time is 30 seconds after the door closes. Floors are warm & they make for quick recovery. It did get down to 69F in my office Monday at -17 outside. Office has no heat, just leave the door open with a fan running. Absolute best this place has ever been.
40X60 Stud wall barn on a slab. 40X40 shop & 40 X 20 Apt in the back. Been here since 1992. Small, paid for & plenty good for my needs.
We're having a bunch of stuff done to our house this late winter/ spring. New roof with proper ridge vents, new bay window, a couple more new windows, new siding and tyvek. I know the existing bow window is an energy hog. It's single pane and always frosting up. The roof doesn't have anywhere near enough ventilation, so I'm sure that is a big heat sucker. Then there's the new vinyl siding that will replace the aluminum siding with tyvek going underneath. I know this will help a ton, not just in winter, but also with air conditioning costs in summer. I'll need to go after a few leaky light switch plates too. The big bank of switches by the front door always left a lot of cold air in. I just haven't worked on that. Do you just use expandable foam?
I was a bit surprised the two outlets were letting in so much cold air, since we had the new siding put on last year with a full house wrap of Tyvek. If I were alone here, ALL of the exterior walls that I haven't already worked on would be taken down to the studs, sealed, then insulated much better than what I've seen so far. Biggest bang, is sealing and insulation.
The steel siding has come quite a ways from what it was. A friend did his house a few years ago and I was skeptical as well. If you like modern looks they make some nice corrugated panels that look good vertical or horizontal. I have also seen a few houses with a board a batton look, but it's steel.
I've done most of the little things so far, but always room for more. We've notice an huge improvement since replacing our double front doors and replacing our slider, what a big difference in that room. The attics really need to be air sealed, just last night I jumped up and checked the chandelier and cold air was just gushing out. All the light fixtures and recessed lighting need to be properly air sealed as I am just losing all that heat up and out the attic over the kitchen, dine room, and living room attic Another thing I noticed was the dramatic air flow coming down my steps. If you sat at the bottom of the steps and put your face on one of the steps you can just feel the gushing cold air coming from upstairs to the downstairs, it was incredible. Cold air coming down the bottom of the steps while the hot air from the stove flying up the steps. I have two attics (walk up over the entire upstairs and one over the dining room, living rm, & kitchen) and I always pondered which I'd tackle first. After feeling what I felt last night and upstairs always being so much colder I am leaning towards that walk up attic. However that will be more work as its bigger for one and prior owner laid all particle board flooring...........yes particle board flooring with a small section of tongue and groove flooring. So I have to rip that all up, air seal, and insulate.
another way to get a feel for your insulation level is to shut off one room. Close the door and cover the heat out let and cold air return if so equipped. Put a thermometer inside and give it a couple of days. The bigger the difference the worse your insulation levels and possibly air sealing are. I do this with a guest bedroom. The temp is about 3-5 degrees lower than the room next to it when shut off. I keep this room closed to help keep down heat usage along with a vestibule that we have behind the front door.
This is the truth. Very tough design to get insulated. Im sure there’s a way but it’s probably not easy or cheap.
In the process of reinsulatiing my late parents homestead. My neighbors were laid off Nov/Dec and helped out cheap. Ripped out all the ceilings, buttoned up some fiberglass, and put up foil faced/backed R7 insulboard. This literally stopped most all ice formation on roof and revealed a couple areas to focus on. Buttoned up some cellar windows and air leaks. I keep finding more every week. Dug out west end of foundation. Tiled,insulated and waterproofed this wall as it gets the brunt of prevailing winds. Back filled this wall higher than it was . Up to siding , leaving less exposed. Next we are ripping out a door, wall and ceiling in a 6x16 mudroom entryway. This area is probably the biggest heat loss I have. Taking a breather and a reassessment after this is done.
Use the low expanding around switches, outlets and doors/windows. The high expanding will get into the switch/outlet and it can make the wall bow right around the switch. Using the high stuff around windows doors can make them not open. High expansion works well for the boxes and big gaps. I've used it for filling holes where mice where getting in, and it expands so much u can use it to raise concrete sidewalks. I did two years to raise and tilt my walk witch had started to tip towards the house and was settling more than I expected.
