things you can do to increase efficiency in your home

[mountaineer]

i have a large void above my kitchen and beside my living room ceiling. the only way to get in it was to go through a small vent on my outside wall to see what was in there. i was assuming there was going to be a mess since nobody had been in there since the house was added onto 20 years ago. (i bought the house in dec) sure enough there was plenty of mouse droppings etc. and also a lack of insulation.  notice how shallow the joists are with insulation. they are 2x8 roughcut. (the good old days when you could build a house out of real wood) the ceiling on the right does not need to be insulated since the rest is but look at the wall on the lft. not looking to good either. there is a new product called atticat from owens corning that is expandable blow in insulation.it will expand 12 times its size and does not compress at all after it is  blown. that will fix the floor and i will have to replace the wall insulation with roll insulation. one question i have is how do you make sure that mice don't get back up here and terrorize the insulation? i also have an even larger area in the top of my a-frame. i have to cut a whole to see whats in there. (fun) what other things are you all doing to increase efficiency in your homes?- andy

[beenthere]

Mountaineer
Add the vents over the outside walls when (before) you blow in a lot of insulation. And make sure there is good venting at or near the ridge. You will reap the rewards of saving heat. Mice can be controlled with poison before they get into the house (at least that is what I do.. ).

(...thanks  )

[tcsmpsi]

You mean you would deprive your home of the warmth and companionship generated by the little mammals?? 

And the thoughtful little holes they might provide for fresh air circulation? 

Why, I'm just plumb flabbergasted, beenthere.    :D

[beenthere]

Yup....it happens... ;D ;D

[mountaineer]

the one void in the post has a vent. i just cut into the apex of the a -frame and there is no venting  in it. only one end could have a vent since the other ends in a wall over my room.




it's hard to see the far wall but there is no vent. should i put one in? any pros/cons of this? another thing is that these collar ties are only full size 2x6 's. so that means it's only r-19 insulation at best. the recommended r-value here is r-49. that would be three times what i have now. if i can double it i would be happy. anyone a insulation expert?

[beenthere]

mountaineer
Can ya modify the posts with some "carriage" returns ("enter" on the keyboard) so the pics and text are separated?
Thanks   

Put in the vents, under the eaves, and in the roof. Otherwise, you have too much moisture in your attic..bad for wood and bad for insulation.  There are formulas for the area of vents needed for volume of space to vent.

[Tom]

I separated them for you, beenthere.
admin

[Warbird]

beenthere, I'll catch up to ya later on this.  Got a buddy coming over to help me hang the rest of the sheetrock in the kitchen and start taping/mudding.  In short, we had similar problems (found ~400 sq ft of roof that had no insulation *or* vapor barrier).  And yes, we live in Alaska.  :(  That was 3 years ago.  I'll tell ya what we did and maybe it'll help you out.  It's a long story.

[Handy Andy]

  I like those #505 roof vents.  And get some cats, they will take care of your mouse problem.  And don't feed the cats too much, so they hunt.  As for sealing up the house, I found that walls that are insulated, but are not boxed, like those in your attic leak a lot of heat.  I'd get up in there and have someone cut some 1x8's to length and hand them in to you so you can close those walls up.

[Don_Papenburg]

Not only that but the blocking slows the air movement , thus slows the spread of fire.

[mountaineer]

i forgot the gable end wall has the chimney on the other side. i guess thats why no vents. what about cutting the foam 4x8 sheet insulation into wide strips and put them on the walls? i have some of that. 1x8 would cost a bit. 

[Warbird]

mountaineer, I thought beenthere made the original post, sorry.  I've been looking that the pictures and am wondering if you've considered blown in fiberglass right over the bats of insulation that are already there?  You'd still have to tack some insulation to that vertical space where there isn't anything at all.