Forgot I still had some window film, so I redid one window in the kitchen that's missing a storm pane (I have absolutely NO idea where it went). That window has a decent air leak into the room and the window condenses....not anymore.
Woke about 8:30 and outside temp was 32. 8 splits in the stove before bed last night about 11:30. House was 68.5 in the living room and similar in the kitchen. I've been going slightly longer between loads and the house is more comfy, but a good test is coming Fri. and Saturday. Before then, I need to get some R-15 for the walls I pulled apart.
Posted in the wiring thread that I went to the orange box and got some stuff, including the R-15 I need for the wall I have down to studs. I also got the 2X material to frame for a new entry door that I'll put in whenever...... So, the plan for this weekend is to get those stud bays filled. Should take a minute or two. I'm still sore from the last excursion into the attic. Thinking about pulling one of the gable vents so I can throw the excess crap up in the attic out. There's a few half logs up there (WTH?), and some other boards. No way am I going to maneuver those back to the hatch and down the stairs.
Well, I'm seeing some real good results after the insulation and sealing. Got down to 14 last night, and was back up to about 17 when I got up (meaning, when the dogs woke me up). Raked the coals forward, and put 3 medium splits in E/W just after 8. It's now 10, the splits are glowing remnants, stove is still at about 500, and the house all the way into the kitchen is 70. That one kitchen window was obviously causing some fairly serious heat loss/cold infiltration. We're right about our high for the day @18-19, with a low of 9, uh, now 8 for tonight. 6 Monday night. Testing, testing.
House was 66 this a.m. with an outside temp of 8. Normally, that temp would mean the house would be down closer to 60 after 8-9 hours. By jove (sp), I think it's working. Spent some time yesterday moving firewood, so the insulation got started today. Stapling up the 1st batt after I cut to fit, and the stapler crapped out. Doesn't owe any service, since I've had it at least 20 years, but what bad timing. Guess I'm buying a new one.....oh darn.
Don't you just hate it when that happens? I had a really good microwave that died. Aren't microwave ovens suppose to last more than 18 years? My second one only lasted two years and the inside finish started coming off. Had to get another one and now we don't use it anymore.
Have the same problem lately, tools I've had for years wearing out & needing replaced. New stuff don't look like it will last near as long as the old ones.
The Odyssey continues. I've decided to get back in the stove room attic and just remove the R-19, then move all the R-30 to the eave. I can then backfill with more R-30. No problem (aside from the fact that I have to crawl back up there). The next portion of the attic is in the path to get to the stove room, so I'm not sure I will put blown in up there. That would be the easiest, but not long term. Got down to about 20 last night and the house was at 68.5 when I got up at 8.....right where it was when I started the overnight load at 11:00 p.m.
I haven't ventured up into our attics for a couple years. I know there is a heck of a lot of stuff up there. The bottom step of the pull down ladder stairs broke a few years back, so I have to use another ladder against it. Too much effort just for curiosity. There are paintings, old clothes, decorations etc. good clean out effort needed before I end up leaving it for someone else to have to do. Stopped using it once I had the two story garage built. Now that too is full of stuff. Pack rats! We stopped going to yard sales and salvage stores. Hard to find a place to put any of those special finds. I get rid of stuff and seldom ever miss it.
Still in the insulation vein.....anyone have experience with this product?....http://www.styro.net/FoundationInsulationPanel.htm The perimeter of the house floors is cold. I've mentioned how there's a strip of snow melt all around the outside, so if this would help, I'd be willing to give it a go on the north wall in the stove room.
Man, this is great. Got the house up to about 69-70 before the overnight load that got put in about 11:30 or so. Looked like it was going to go ballistic on me, but didn't. Anyway, it got cold last night...4 deg., which is coldest so far, and I got up to the house at 67. Stove was still 350 with plenty of coals at 7:30. I'm more accustomed to the house being around 63-64 at that outside temp. when I get up. Coals forward, with 2 Oak splits e/w at wakey time, and it's back up to 69 in here. Again, proof that insulation works. Put a full load of Maple in just now @ 10:00, and that should cover the day until dinnertime or so.
Been noticing quite a bit of cool air coming from the back bedroom, so I went to investigate. The seam between the 2 sashes ( double hung) of each window is leaking a little bit of cold air into the room. There are 7 windows in about 40' of outside wall. Sooooo, I got out the caulk gun and did that seam. I know there are products for that, but that room stays cool and if I close the door, it gets down close to 50. Maybe it's the butt dyno at work again, but I noticed the cool air from the room seems to be less. If the room is warmer later when I go to bed, I'll know it worked and I'll be happy.
So, I don't know what happened, other than it got even colder last night than the night before. However, after my good result, this morning the house was only 61°. Outside temp was -1° when I went to bed, and 4 when I got up. Guess my house doesn't like the cold. I've set my alarm for 4:30 to check the stove and house temp. GRRRR, thought I was done doing that. I'm trying real hard to not turn on the heater in the laundry room until Christmas when we'll be gone for a day and a half (my nephew will be over to take care of the dogs and do fire).
No experience but emailed the company a couple of weeks ago. I was more interested in their coatings to use over regular panels rather than the panels that they sell. They said that I could order their coatings through my local Lowes. Thinking about insulating the outside of my foundation in the next couple of years.. Big undertaking. Plan to do it myself due to cost.. I'm planning to insulate three out of the four walls instead of just one. fourth wall has the attached garage over it. Here's a good video about foundation insulation.
A few posts back, I mentioned the roof is holding snow, except a couple spots on the west side near the eave. I originally thought it might be due to the R-19 there, or that I didn't butt things together well enough. I've since been looking in the stove room, and it looks like some room air is getting past the ends of the insulation at the walls. So, I stapled the paper to the top plate to seal it a bit better and will check later to see if it helped. Pretty sure that's what's happening, because I stuck my hand up above the top plate and my fingers got a little wet. That means room air leaking and condensing on the insulation. Fingers crossed.
Not sure that helped yet (last post), but I've noticed with all the snow we've gotten that we have very little ice damming or icicles on the eaves. Normally, with this much snow, we'd have foot long icicles hanging if I didn't get out and use the roof rake. I did that a few days ago, and there's now about 4" of snow on the roof and only a few icicles here and there. This can be attributed to the insulation, I'm sure.
That is better. I was looking at the eves of the homes in this area. Most all homes here are t post 1975. None have icicles on the eaves. They all have about as much snow on the roofs as the unheated outbuilding have. Oil is still primary in most homes and the heat cost way too much to let out. More and more conversions to wood and pellets. Oil and propane are just too much for most of us retired folks.
Took another trip to the big city today for more supplies. Needed a couple pieces of trim, and grabbed a couple bags of loose insulation (Green Fiber) to try in one area in the attic. I may get up there tomorrow to do some other stuff too. Got a bit more done in the stove room, but ran into another goofy deal with the way the romex was run for an outlet. The holes were drilled through studs only about 1/4" in from the face. Need to be re-drilled, but my wife has the Jeep downstate and the drill is......yep, you guessed it...in the Jeep. Didn't know I'd be working on that wall until I started tearing into it. Anyway, sealed a bunch more in that wall, and couldn't believe how much cool air was coming in. I'll be remounting the outlet box with a new one and moving it. Forgot to mention that I grabbed a new staple gun (same as the old one) last week, but still haven't used it yet. I'll be using it as soon as the wiring is done...as soon as my wife gets back with the drill. Maybe I'll move to the other side of the room and work on that wall. The plowing and roof raking has been dragging me down recently, along with the holiday travel, but I'll be getting back on this like white on rice. Very soon.
