Creature Comforts Part Deux
May 20, 2008 – 5:50 pmToday the temp outside reached 93 deg. Normally the garage would be a couple of degrees higher due to being closed up all day. When I got home from work today, I was pleasantly surprised to find the temp of the garage to be only 77 deg. This is without the newly installed air conditioner on at all. So now the garage/shop/man cave has officially become the most comfortable room in the house.
This is good and this is bad…
This is good for obvious reasons. This is bad because it means that the rest of the house is inadequately insulated. This makes perfect sense seeing how my electric bill is typically $350 to $400 dollars a month during the hot summer months. The central air conditioner seems to never stop.
So… I guess I will be diverting some of my shop upgrade budget to adding more insulation to the house. Otherwise I will just be pissing away money every month. Money I could be using to purchase tools and, oh yea, WOOD!
3 Responses to “Creature Comforts Part Deux”
Hi Eric,
I followed you over from The WoodWhisperer. I work in the energy efficiency field. Before adding insulation to your house, consider the envelope first. Your house is like a jacket. A lightweight jacket will out perform a thicker jacket if the former is zipped up and the latter is not. Buy a case of caulk and and several cans of expanding foam. Seal around all your windows where the frame of the window intersects with your trim and where the trim intersects with the house. For the inside use a caulk that goes on white and dries to clear. DAP makes a great caulk for that. Don’t forget weather stripping on the door and the door sweep. If you’re feeling ambitious, go into the attic and crawl space. Anywhere there is a penetration into the house for either plumbing or electrical, caulk or foam it.
After all that, then look at the insulation values you already have if you add more use a blow in cellulose. Mind you, going from an R30 in the attic to an R49 will take quite a while to payoff. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
Vic
By Vic on May 20, 2008
Hey Vic!
Your comment makes a lot of sense. I am going to have to look over the house and see what I can do to seal it up. It is an older house (mid ’70s) so I am sure that it could use some TLC in that area. I guess I was too hasty to assume that adding more insulation to the existing stuff would give me the same effects as the garage did.
Eric
By MorningWood on May 21, 2008
Like I said, feel free to email me if you want any suggestions on lowering your energy bill and what the payback is at your current rate of energy.
Check with your local utility to see if they offer free inspections. Some are very thorough and some not, but it’s a good place to start. Don’t let anyone talk you into replacing a perfectly good furnace for a heatpump. At our rates (.0736/kWh)it would take over 10 years.
Have them do a duct blast test to see how leaky your ductwork is. Sealing your ducts is a good DIY project. Are they inside or outside the conditioned space? Not so necessary if they are inside the living space.
By Vic on May 21, 2008