It also turns out that some home improvement projects can have the same effect on architects.  In January, I started the seemingly simple project of painting the living room.

The first step was to do a little prep and repair work on the existing plaster: scrape down the high spots, patch a few cracks and replace a few small areas that had been poorly repaired in the past.

“Sweetie, while you are at it, what would it take to remove those ugly, old, non-functioning baseboard radiators?”  I figured a few hours to rip them out, a few hours to patch the plaster and a few hours to install new baseboard.  All in all, not too much extra work for a much better result.

Let’s just say that the baseboard radiators pulled off more of the plaster than expected.

In the midst of working I realized that the inside face of the windows was warmer than the inside face of the walls and that the Living room was rather uncomfortable.

“What if I insulated  the exterior walls?”

For about $400 I could add two layers of 3/4″ R-5 rigid insulation and a layer of 1/2″ gypsum board, and the energy savings woudl pay for this in about three years.

I finished installing the vapor barrier today and started hanging the gypsum board.  The steps that led up to this:

• Remove baseboard radiators,
• Remove window casing, sills and stools,
• Remove wooden fireplace mantle,
• Insulate double hung window counterweight pockets,
• Repair double hung window counterweights,
• Cut back carpeting,
• Install insulation and furring strips, and
• Install blocking for hanging pictures and window treatments,

More detailed descriptions of these steps shall follow in future posts.

Dan Bossenbroek.

The downside to storm windows is that they make your double hung windows much less effective in the summer time.  By raising the lower sashes on the cooler side of the house and lowering the upper sashes on the warm side of the house, the warm air in the house will exit through the open upper sashes and draw cooler air in through the open lower sashes.

You can remove the counterweights for the upper sashes and insulate the concealed spaces in the walls.

First, secure the upper sash in place by driving a screw diagonally up through the bottom of the sash and into the jamb.  You may not need to do this since many old sashes have already been painted in place.

Next, carefully remove the casing around the window.  Run a utility knife around the perimeter between the casing and the wall in order to cut any paint or caulk that might be connecting the casing to the wall.  Insert putty knives in between the casing and the wall and between the casing and the window jamb in order to begin to remove the casing.  Continue this process with a pry bar, being careful not to damage the wall.  This will expose the counterweight pockets next to the window.

After removing the casing, cut the cords for the counterweights for the upper sash and remove the counterweights.  A great way to remove the nails from the casing without causing any damage is to clamp on to the nail on the back side of the casing with a vice grips.  Pry the nail out a little.  Straighten the nail and re-clamp the vice grips tight to the wood.  Repeat this until the nail comes all of the way out of the back.  This process will not mar the finish on the good side of the casing.

There are a couple of ways to insulate the counterweight spaces.

1. Measure the width and height of the pocket.  Cut rigid polyisocyanurate insulation to fit snugly into the pocket.  Polyiso has one of the highest R-values available.  Install two layers of ¾” insulation and push tight to the outside of the pocket.
2. Get some PVC that has an inside diameter at least ½” larger than the diameter of the counter weight.  Cut it to length – 1” less than the distance from the bottom of the pocket to the pulley.  Insert the counterweight into the pipe.  Secure the pipe to the window jamb.  Stuff batt insulation into the remaining space in the pocket.

Replace the casing.  Drill pilot holes for the finish nails to help prevent splitting the wood.  Set the nails and fill the divots with wood putty.  Lightly sand smooth, and finish to match the rest of the trim.

Tools:  Drill, drill bits, screwdriver bit, putty knives, pry-bar, hammer, scissors, vice grips, utility knife, tape measure, finish nails, sandpaper and nail set.

Materials:  2” screws, wood putty, and rigid insulation or batt insulation & PVC pipe.

Dan Bossenbroek

  Shop light conversion: $36

This results in a grand total investment of $1,262. 

Our utility bills have been paid through the end of 2009 and our total annual savings has climbed to $912.18

Progress: as of end of  2009 vs 2007

• Electricity – 67.7%
• Natural Gas – 80.5%
• Water – 83.0%
• Utility Costs – 75.3%
• Savings 2008 – $  200.15
• Savings 2009 – $  912.18
• Total Savings – $1112.33

What this means is that we are about half way to cutting our utility costs by 50% and we have already recovered 88% of what we have invested so far.  Furthermore, we have only invested about 15% of what we will save over five years once we cut our utility costs by 50%.   Our plan for 2010 is to invest another $900 or so, and increase our savings to $1,150 or more for the year.

So far some of the projects that we are considering are:

• Insulate the Crawlspace – $100   Actual Cost
• Insulate the Living Room – $450  Estimate
• Install a Dual Flush Conversion Kit – $55  Estimate
• Complete Weatherizing Walls and Windows – $45  Estimate
• Two DIY Rain Barrels with Soaker Hoses – $80  Estimate

Stay tuned, more updates coming soon!

Dan Bossenbroek

The first thing that you need to do is to remedy any moisture problems that the walls might have.  Moisture and insulation are not a good combination.  Make sure that all of your downspouts drain away from the house.  The ground should slope away from the house too.  If you have paved surfaces that adjoin the wall you should caulk the joint between the pavement and the wall.

Second, figure out if your crawl space is vented to the outside or deemed heated by the building code.  Vents are typically 8” tall by 16” wide and are placed equally around the perimeter.

If your crawlspace is vented, you need to seal the vents.  First close the vents if it’s possible, then cut a piece of rigid insulation, treated plywood, or aluminum flashing to fit snugly into the opening.  Next seal the crack around this with caulk or foam insulation in order to make an air tight seal.

The main enemy of crawlspaces is moisture, so every step must be taken to keep moisture out.  Cut strips of 6 mil plastic sheeting one foot wider than the crawlspaces walls are tall.  Staple the edge of the plastic sheeting to the sill plate around the entire perimeter of the crawlspace.  Overlap the sheets by 6” and tape all of the joints.  Now you have a dry surface for the insulation to rest against.

The next step is to install the insulation on the walls of your crawlspace.  Kraft faced fiberglass batt insulation works great in this application.  If you purchase the batts to fit between the floor joists, it will be easier to install in vertical strips, but then you will be left with 1 ½” gaps between the pieces below the floor structure.  Or you can add wood framing or cut strips of insulation to fit, but that’s a lot of work.  If you install the insulation horizontally, you will need to cut slits in the insulation so that it will fit around the floor joists.  Staple the insulation to the wood joists to hold it in place.

Most crawl spaces will need two horizontal rows of 22 ½” wide batts.  Use duct tape to secure the lower row to the upper row.

Once the insulation is in place, you will want to seal all of the seams between the insulation.  Duct tape will fit the bill here.  Installing the insulation in long horizontal strips will help reduce the amount of seams that you will need to seal.

You will also want to seal the joint between the batt insulation and the floor joists and sub-floor.  If your house is fairly new and everything down there is fairly clean you could use more duct tape.  However, if your house is fairly new the crawl space is probably already insulated.  So, if things are a bit dirty in your crawl space a good product to use to seal these cracks is foam insulation.  Spray a small bead between the paper and the joists and floor above.  Wait for an hour or two and then return to seal any remaining gaps.

Next you should cover the entire floor with a plastic sheeting vapor barrier.  If you won’t need to go into your crawl space very often then 4 mil plastic sheeting will work, but 6 mil is recommended.  Now that your crawl space is heated, you want to keep any unwanted moisture out.  Overlap the joints of the plastic 6” and tape all the joints.  Tape the joints between the plastic and the insulation as well.

Your crawlspace will now be heated, but there is no need to dump a bunch of extra air down there.  So it’s a great idea to seal all of the joints in the ducts in the crawlspace.  One might think that this would be the perfect use for duct tape, but I have found that aluminum tape works much better.  It sticks much better and lasts much longer than duct tape.  It is a bit more expensive, but you might want to use it everywhere in this project instead of duct tape.  The one drawback if aluminum tape is that it will tear and puncture easier than duct tape, so a little more care must be used when installing it.

Since your crawlspace is now heated, the floor above it should be considerably warmer as well, and thus will be much more comfortable to walk around on in the winter.

Dan Bossenbroek

When I went up into the attic I brought a thermometer.  I thought that it would be a good opportunity to check the effectiveness of the radiant barrier insulation since is was about 35° and cloudy outside.  I thought that it would warm, but I was a little surprised that it was 58° up there.

This means that the attic insulation only has to overcome a 10° temperature difference in stead of a 30° temperature difference.  This translates (and has for the past two years) into big savings on our heating and cooling bills.

Just a little evidence as to how well radiant barriers work.

Dan Bossenbroek

The first thing that you need to determine is how much insulation you already have.  Measure the depth and determine the type.  Then multiply the depth by the appropriate value: Cellulose – 3.1, Fiberglass Batt or Blown – 3.7, Closed-Cell Foam – 6.2, Open-Cell Foam – 3.6.

Before you move any further to insulate your attic, you should make sure that you have any knob and tube wiring in your attic that would be covered by insulation replaced.  The wires in this type of system need to be in the open air in order to dissipate heat.  If they are surrounded by insulation this will trap the heat and cause a fire hazard.

Once you have calculated the R-value of your insulation, you need to determine how much more you should add.  Energy Starr has developed recommended levels of attic insulation for every Zone throughout the US.  See map and chart below.  However, what it boils down to is most houses don’t have enough insulation.  R-30 is the bare minimum and unless you live in south Florida, the recommended amount is twice that.

Recommended insulation levels for retrofitting existing wood-framed buildings

Source: Energy Star

Your next step is to evaluate the various types of insulation to see which suits your situation the best:

Cellulose:  is the blow-in insulation of choice for most do-it-yourselfers.  It’s usually the most cost effective solution; it easily fills in around pipes, wires, framing and ducts.  Cellulose insulation is basically recycled ground up newsprint that has been mixed with chemicals that deters mold, fire and vermin.  It has the lowest R-value per inch, so it should only be used where space is not an issue since you will need 19 inches of it to get R-60.

Fiberglass Fill:  performs very much like cellulose, it also has a high recycled content but it will only take 16 inches to achieve R-60.  It’s a little more expensive than cellulose, and it is very itchy.

Fiberglass Batt:  can be used to insulate the rafters, as long as adequate venting is maintained.  In other words, keep a continuous air space between the insulation from the eave all the way to the ridge.  You might consider insulating the rafters and the floor of the attic, in this way you can have 8 inches at each location and create a storage space in your attic that won’t get too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter.

Open-Cell Foam:  can be used in the rafters too.  However, it can be sprayed directly on the underside of the roof sheathing, effectively sealing your attic from any air leaks to the outside.  This eliminates any venting of the attic, but since heat does not build up in the attic it isn’t a problem.  Open cell foam is significantly more expensive than fiberglass and needs to be covered by gypsum board or other thermal barrier, and since it’s R-value is effectively the same as fiberglass you may not want to use it unless you have 2×12 rafters or you are going to insulate the attic floor and build a platform on top of it. 

Closed-Cell Foam:  is similar to open-cell foam in that it can be sprayed on the roof sheathing and it must be covered by a thermal barrier.  However, it provides almost twice the R-value per inch and is not that much more expensive than open-cell foam.  Other benefits of foam insulation are that they provide one of the best air barriers possible and they completely fill in around all obstructions and fill in all voids providing a higher effective R-value.  Foam insulation is now available in do-it-yourself kits, but this should only be attempted by experienced D-I-Yers.

Radiant Barriers:  work differently than thermal insulation.  They reflect the heat away from the thermal insulation, instead of slowing the heat transfer through it.  This effectively increases the performance of your thermal insulation in your attic by 50% to 70%.  Radiant barriers work best if they are installed between the attic insulation and the roof sheathing, and when they are sloped so that dust will not accumulate on it as quickly.  Furthermore, radiant barriers are fairly inexpensive and easy to install.

 Your last step is to determine if you are going to add thermal insulation, a radiant barrier, or both.  If your house already has what is the code minimum in many locations of R-30, adding a radiant barrier should boost its effectiveness to 45 or even 50.  Or if you have an old house with 5 ½” of fiberglass or cellulose (R-17 to R-20) and you add another R-19 and a radiant barrier, you effective insulation value should be between 54 and 65.

Dan Bossenbroek

Good preparation is the first step to success with most projects and it is true here too. The first thing that you want to do is to measure your windows so that you know what type of window film packages to buy. If you have typically sized windows, 3’ wide by 5’ tall, you will want to buy packages with individually sized sheets. However, if you have a number of smaller windows or at least one large picture window you will want to buy packages with single large sheets. Large sheets can be cut to size to fit a variety of window sizes big and small so that you can minimize the waste.

Before you install the window film, you may want to weatherize your windows by fixing the glazing putty and by adding weatherstripping, or even adding storm windows if you don’t already have them.

Next, you will want to clean your windows inside and out including the sill and the trim. This will allow as much sunshine to come in and create a clean surface for the window film tape to stick to.

Now it’s time to start installing the window film. The first step is to determine where to install the tape. Installing the tape on the outside face of the window trim results in a more secure installation, but many times window treatments interfere with this. The second best location is on the face of the trim, and the least secure location is on a surface perpendicular to the face of the glass, like the sill. When you install the tape, make sure to overlap the tape at the corners by about an inch. Before you remove the paper off of the double sided tape you should take a smooth, hard surface and run it over the tape to fully secure it to the trim.

If your window has a sill, install the window film to the there first. Wrapping the end of the sheet around a yardstick will help to install the film at the sill evenly.

Before securing the film to the top and the sides of the window, add a strip of clear packing tape to the back side of the film and the sill. This will help to keep the film from pulling away from the sill.

Next secure the film to the center of the top of the window and then work your way up both sides of the window pulling the film tight.

If the window doesn’t have a sill and has “picture frame” trim, then secure the film at the middle of the top and bottom of the window first, then to the middle of the sides. Next, work your way toward the corners bit by bit, first on one side then another, pulling the film tight as you go.

Once the window film is secure, trim the excess film from around the edges.

Finally, use a blow dryer to smooth out the film. For windows that won’t be covered up by shades or curtains for the winter, you will want to make as smooth as possible. Don’t over do it with the blow dryer though, you can pull the tape right off of the trim if you are not careful.

Now that you are done, you can sit back and enjoy a draft free home and some extra money in your pocket every month.

Dan Bossenbroek

Windows:  We have several types of windows in our house.  The original house still has wooden single pane, double hung windows with storm windows.  All of these windows have received need some much needed attention this fall: the cracked and missing glazing putty has been replaced, and the sashes that rattle as they open and close have had weatherstripping added to help seal the gaps and smoothen out their operation.  Next the cracked, peeling and alligatored paint will need to be scraped off and the windows repainted. Finally, when the wind blows the sashes in the storm windows bend a little and let it right in.  The 1970’s addition was built with wooden double hung windows with insulated glass, one of which has cracked glass and the others readily leak air.  Some of the windows in the addition and one in the original house were replaced with vinyl double hung and slider windows with insulated glass.  The vinyl windows are the best in the house, but last year we covered them with insulating window film too and it made a big difference.  The windows in the basement are the worst of all: single pane glass, some cracked and others loose in their frames.

Doors:  There are only two doors into the house.  The front door is a six panel solid wood door with a storm door.  We installed new weatherstripping and a new sweep to the wood door two years ago.  The back door is a steel door with glass on the upper half and a storm door.  Both back door and storm door have new weatherstripping and the glass in the storm door has been sealed with weatherstripping and rope caulk.  We made these improvements at the same time as the ones we made to the front doors. 

Change in Materials:  The joint between the brick of the existing house and the aluminum siding of the addition needs to be re-caulked.  Likewise, the joint between the concrete foundation and concrete driveway may be the source of small water leaks into the basement and should be sealed too.  The joints between the eave trim and the brick is tight and in great shape and so is the joint between the aluminum siding and the block foundation. 

Switches and Outlets:  There are very few switches or outlets on the exterior walls, the outlets and switches in the exterior walls of the original house are surface mounted to the wall and do not need to be sealed.  Those in the addition need to be sealed.

Pipes, Vents, Fixtures and Wires:  There are a number of penetrations through the exterior wall: range hood vent, phone line, electrical, cable TV, condensing unit line set, dryer vent, furnace flue, and three hose bibs.  Most of these penetrations seem to be sealed properly, however there are a few, like the outlet and light fixture by the back door that need some attention.

Attic Ceilings:  Every room on the second floor has a ceiling mounted light fixture with a junction box that penetrates the ceiling.  One bathroom has an exhaust fan that pokes up into the attic too.  The original house has an attic access panel in one of the closets the is in dire need of being sealed and insulated properly.  The access panel in the addition has two inches of rigid insulation secured to it’s back and is weatherstripped adequately on all four sides.  It could also benefit from an attic stair cover some day.

Fireplaces:  The fireplace is decorative, so there is no flue to seal.

After completing this survey it’s apparent that there are a number of weatherizing projects that I need to complete: fixing the glazing putty in the original windows, and adding weatherstripping to the original windows this fall was a good start.  Next on the list are to seal the joint between the foundation and the driveway, seal the joints between the brick and the aluminum siding, install switch and outlet sealers, seal the penetrations through the second floor ceiling, seal and insulate the original attic access panel, add insulation to the newer attic access panel, and seal around some of the penetrations through the building envelope.

Dan Bossenbroek