redkow97 Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 Move in this past October. Our kitchen sink has frozen once, and (first-world problems) our walk-in closet (corner of the house) is FREEZING. I've been running small space heaters on outlet timers to keep my daughter's room comfortable, and to warm up my master bathroom and the walk-in closet. For reference, My house faces East. The closet is on the Northwest corner, and the bathroom is on the West side of the house, immediately next to the closet. Our bedroom is in front of the bathroom and closet. My biggest gripe right now is that the upper level of our house is quite cool, and the closet/bathroom are particularly cold. Both are above heated living space. Our bedroom is partially (mainly) above our garage, so I realize there's room to improve the insulation there, and it will never be perfect. My plan was to blow insulation into our walls. that plan changed when I opened up one of the walls in the closet and found faced insulation. I wasn't expecting that. I figured, at best, whatever was in there had settled dramatically. I opened up a 5"x6" square about 7' up the wall, and there is definitely faced insulation already installed, and not sagging down. So now what? Make sure i have enough in the attic is job #1 at this point. I'm going to have an energy audit to help me spot any air leaks. Then??? Can I add insulation to walls that are already insulated?? I'm at a loss here. Our electric bill went from $44, to $87 to $127 between November and January. Christmas lights may be a small part of that, but the space heaters are a BIG part of it. And FWIW, we use our gas fireplace to keep comfortable in our main living area. With the fan on high, it will heat the family room and kitchen easily. We always turn it off before bed though, so it's not heating the room below us over night... Any suggestions are appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohiomike Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 (edited) Concerning the sink, is it the pipes freezing? Used to be builders ran the pipes in the exterior wall coming up from the basement. Nowadays that's a no no, because of freezing issues. That can be remedied by re running the pipes straight up thru the floor. Is there a basement window under the sink area? If its an old steel framed window they leak a ton of heat. What about the sill plates, are they all insulated? They should be. How old are your windows? Older windows or less insulative windows can cause a house to feel cold and drafty. That effects the whole house. For the time being putting plastic over them can really help. Corners on outside walls quite commonly used to be framed leaving no real room to put any insulation in the corner, or the builders just didn't bother to make sure any small gaps were insulated. Door weatherstripping in bad condition also helps with the cold and drafty feeling within. Attic insulation should be a minimum of r-38 iirc. I like to exceed that by a foot or so. The house we recently bought has 2 x 8 exterior walls, first time I have lived in a place like that. Then they put 1" dow board and wrapped the house. That extra insulation does make a difference. Never knew how much until now. Hope this helps. Edited February 2, 2016 by ohiomike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkow97 Posted February 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 The cold water faucet on an exterior wall froze for a bit. We have heating cords wrapping them in the basement - they just weren't on yet. But yes, the pipes go up over the foundation wall, and then up through the floor. It's as if the exterior wall of the house is 6" outside the foundation. I have insulation shoved up in the void between the foundation wall and the first floor decking. where I think the pipe froze is in the un-insulated gap between the cupboard base, and the actual floor decking. That's a 3" void with no insulation. I'm trying to combat that by opening up some space for warm air from the basement to get up in there, and leavin ghte cupboard door open over night. The corner insulation (or lack thereof) may be my issue. I don't know how old the windows are, but they seem to seal okay. I'll have to see how much cold air is coming in with an IR camera. I believe that's part of the energy audit. I'm just slightly confused because I was expecting the wall insulation to be the simple solution, and while I appreciate avoiding that mess, i don't want to just crank up the heat. I'll have to see how well the attic is insulated. I know whoever did it was sloppy. The baffles in our overhangs are covered. And I would guess the attic door isn't insulated either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpoppa Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 We had pipes freeze in out laundry room once. Turned out the pipes were on the outside of the insulation. I positioned the insulation between the pipe and the exterior wall and it's never happened since. Fireplaces are horribly inefficient even with a blower ( we have one). They may heat the immediate area but they suck a ton of heat up the chimney. Your furnace is WAY more efficient than your fireplace. That's also true for most space heaters. We also had a cold closet & entry way. Builder forgot to put any insulation in the attic above that area. I put 10" of faced insulation in the attic and it made a huge difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Clay Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 What these guys already said is good information......just going to add, I helped a few people blow in insulation in the attics. In our region they say you need r49-60 so r60 is around 18-20 inches with little or no base......just helped someone 3 weeks ago with cold drafty house with 3000 dollar propane bill a year. I blew in 48 bags in a 1700sq ft home, you need 3 people..... 2 to feed and 1 on top, about 20 bags an hour we put down....for a total cost of around 380.00 and she said already can feel huge difference in closets and back bedrooms with the cold drafty feel and furnace isn't running as much! you can use a temp guns to measure the walls when its cold out to pin point uninsulated area in the walls.....hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaCinci Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 I see a lot of ads for that foam insulation. When I see them, I wonder, what if I decide to run wires through there at some point or add an outlet or something? Seems like that foam would be a major obstacle and maybe a big mess as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connie14 Posted February 3, 2016 Report Share Posted February 3, 2016 (edited) Don't forget the doors and windows. They can leak a tremendous amount of heat, especially if they are older. Often, builders doing insulate the small two between the windows and the studs. Edited February 3, 2016 by Connie14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted February 3, 2016 Report Share Posted February 3, 2016 The temp gun is a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohiomike Posted February 3, 2016 Report Share Posted February 3, 2016 Where the house extends out beyond the foundation, is there anyway you can tell if it is insulated? If not stuffing it with fiberglass might help. On an old house we had years back I cut strips of 2" dow board (pink or blue) and stuck it up on the outside of the house where I could underneath where the house stuck out from the foundation. Every little bit helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkow97 Posted February 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Guess that means I will be crawling under my deck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zx3vfr Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 We are on a slab, upstairs has a layer of concrete above our ceiling to the upstairs neighbors floor. It's always on the HoA Facebook page to crack the cold water if the temp drops into low teens. Luckily water is built into our fees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaCinci Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 On 2/3/2016 at 8:55 PM, Tonik said: The temp gun is a good idea. They now make FLIR cameras that attach to iPhones. There is a new version and an old version. The old version has lesser resolution etc but I've seen it go on sale here and there though I can't remember exactly how much. I've been thinking about getting one. My dogs go in the back yard late at night and I can never see where they are...it would be fun to yank that out and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohiomike Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Night vision would be totally cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkow97 Posted February 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 2 hours ago, ScubaCinci said: They now make FLIR cameras that attach to iPhones. There is a new version and an old version. The old version has lesser resolution etc but I've seen it go on sale here and there though I can't remember exactly how much. I've been thinking about getting one. My dogs go in the back yard late at night and I can never see where they are...it would be fun to yank that out and see. That does sound cool, but we have decent backyard lighting, including "flood" lights connected to a motion detector. They go into "hibernation" after 2 minutes of inactivity, which i think just means that the wattage is reduced by 75%, because they don't turn off completely until there's no motion for 5 mins. How much do the IR cameras run though? Like anything else, it's only getting cheaper... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaCinci Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) The original one is $180 (I think I've seen it for $150) and the new one is $250. They also attach to Android phones too. Sounds expensive until you look at the cost of a dedicated cameras http://www.flir.com/flirone/ Edited February 5, 2016 by ScubaCinci Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonik Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Glow in the dark collars are far less than that. Although not as cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaCinci Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Yeah, we have those (battery operated) but their fur obscures most of it much of the time and they don't seem to last long...the switches keep flaking out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustinsn3485 Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Haven't read the thread thoroughly, but have a check of all your ductwork to be sure it's sealed well at every connection. I had all my ductwork redone when I first bought my house because I was losing so much air through the joints. Some of the soft flex insulation was in bad shape too. Having the right size ducts helps to distribute the proper amount of air to each vent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohiomike Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 On 2/5/2016 at 4:08 PM, dustinsn3485 said: Haven't read the thread thoroughly, but have a check of all your ductwork to be sure it's sealed well at every connection. I had all my ductwork redone when I first bought my house because I was losing so much air through the joints. Some of the soft flex insulation was in bad shape too. Having the right size ducts helps to distribute the proper amount of air to each vent. Yep and while at it make sure the dampers are all open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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