How to better insulate a house?

[Entity]

We're renting a house in Seattle right now and the house is freezing most of the time. We have gas heat, but use it sparingly to keep the bills down - gas is pretty expensive right now. We have a fireplace which somewhat heats the living room, but leaves the entertainment room and other rooms cold. Anyway, without tearing apart the house - switching over to different windows, etc., how can we improve the heating of the house? I'm looking for inexpensive options since we are mainly trying to avoid paying $250-300 a month to heat the place, like a lot of our friends do.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. We may use the heat as a last resort, but want to see how efficient we can make this place first.

Rob

 

[Beau]

Hi Rob

Put some visquene plastic on the outside of the windows, about 1-3" from the glass. (essentially adding another pane to them)

 

[Scarpozzi]

A lot of houses have vents that can be closed in the basement. Cold air can get drafty that way. Another good tip is to close off parts of the house that you don't normally use.

 

[freakflag]

You say you're renting...how far do you want to go?
Blown in insulation is inexpensive(relatively), very efficient, and easy to do if you're even a little handy.
The only tools you need are a good drill, a 1 1/2 in. paddle bit, a ladder and 12 beers apiece.
My Brother-in-law and I did their whole house in 9 hours for just over $450.
Best money they ever spent.

 

[0roo0roo]

go to home depot and check out their weather striping section. lotsa cheaps tuff u can stick in window areas that leak and even cheap little foam inserts to seal your power outlets

 

[Evadman]

FRom an ex HD employee that knows everything:

Do firstInsulate attic: 40-60% of heat loss is through the attic. Blow in some more insulation or lay more fiber. Insulate spaces in the floor ( cieling of living space ) with spray in foam. Caulk the spaces around the exaust for the bathroom fan and the furnace. use fireproof caulk.

insulate windows 1: Remove the trim and pack the air space with insulation (gently pack)
insulate windows 2: Window heat shrink plastic. ( also called window insulator kits )
insulate windows 3: if very bad, dap makes a product called "seal and peel". a extreamly easy removable clear calk for windows.

Insulate outlets in outside walls: Buy expanding foam spray in insulation and fill gaps between wall and outlet box.

New weatherstipping for doors, all 4 pieces of it.

Install a dampner in the bathroom exaust pipe, and the dryer vent.

<edit>
by the way, my heater almost never turns on. i have 12" of insulation in the attic, low/e argon windows and patio doors, triple pane glass in the doors, and every stinking nook and cranny is filled. My gas bill goes up by MAYBE $10 in th winter.

Keep in mind I do have 13 computers tho

 

[Cyberian]

Fireplaces are notoriously inefficient.
If you already use the fireplace, look into improving the amount of heat that actually gets into the house.

Here is one of a bunch of sites that I looked at when we were looking to increase the actual heat we got from our fireplace.
Text

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Cyberian
Fireplaces are notoriously inefficient.
If you already use the fireplace, look into improving the amount of heat that actually gets into the house.

Here is one of a bunch of sites that I looked at when we were looking to increase the actual heat we got from our fireplace.
Text

You have to be careful b/c the fire sucks air in and basically creates a vacuum that draws cold air into the house. This can actually make your heat go into overtime if you have it on but the thermostat set low.

Just get more clothes and more computers

 

[Ferocious]

cellulose insulation works good.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Ferocious
cellulose insulation works good.

better than fiberglass actually. but i still prefer fiber to celulose.

 

[Ferocious]

better than fiberglass actually. but i still prefer fiber to celulose.

'

Why is that?

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Evadman


Keep in mind I do have 13 computers tho

heating bill up $10, cooling bill down $200

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Ferocious

better than fiberglass actually. but i still prefer fiber to celulose.

'

Why is that?

Cellulose is old newspaper for the most part. newsprint = flamable. They add a fire retardant to it, and I have actually watched a penny melt on top of it, but that does not mean the fire retardant does not break down over time ( which it has been shown to do over 3-40 years ) also, cellulose settles over time, loosing up to 1/2 of its insulating factor. You loose up to a 1/4 the first year.

 

[Entity]

All great suggestions. I'm headed to the Depot tomorrow to check out window insulation. Our fireplace doesn't have a damper, so I'm not sure how much good it is really doing right now. Before I invest in a cord of wood, I'm going to have to check the rest of this out.

Rob

 

[tcsenter]

Insulation = air trapped between two planes creating a dead space. That is the long and the short of it.

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Insulation = air trapped between two planes creating a dead space. That is the long and the short of it.

Yup, I understand that much. I'm looking for practical solutions, since our landlord doesn't want to sink a lot of money into the place yet (we'll probably convince her to add insulation in the next year or so). I checked the upstairs today (where our housemate lives) and it's fscking freezing. I'm going to see what we can do about insulating that.

Rob

 

[Ferocious]

Cellulose is old newspaper for the most part. newsprint = flamable. They add a fire retardant to it, and I have actually watched a penny melt on top of it, but that does not mean the fire retardant does not break down over time ( which it has been shown to do over 3-40 years ) also, cellulose settles over time, loosing up to 1/2 of its insulating factor. You loose up to a 1/4 the first year.

Are you serious about the melting penny? hahaha.

Anyways, I think that the coverage chart listed on the cellulose bag takes settling into account.

I am using fiberglass in my house. .....but I went with cellulose for the walls of one interior room...for sound-proofing.

 

[tcsenter]

Yup, I understand that much. I'm looking for practical solutions, since our landlord doesn't want to sink a lot of money into the place yet (we'll probably convince her to add insulation in the next year or so). I checked the upstairs today (where our housemate lives) and it's fscking freezing. I'm going to see what we can do about insulating that.

There is a cool infrared camera available that you can use to tell where your structure is really losing the most heat. I've heard that you can rent this buggar, don't know where or how much. I know, I'm a lot of help.

 

[Evadman]

Are you serious about the melting penny? hahaha.

yep. I didn't believe it till I saw it with my own eyes.

Anyways, I think that the coverage chart listed on the cellulose bag takes settling into account.

Nope. Not on any bag I have ever seen.

I am using fiberglass in my house. .....but I went with cellulose for the walls of one interior room...for sound-proofing.

That is way way way better than a hollow wall, but fiberglass is 2x-3x times more efficent at blocking sound because of the compaction I mentioned earlier. with a 8' column of the stuff, it compacts in the bottom ( and transmits sound ) and leaves the top open (transmits sound )

the best is a 2x6 wall with 2x4 studs and woven fiberlass. They make sound deadening board that you can use too in addition to the drywall.

 

[sharkeeper]

If you want to use wood as supplemental heat, install an insert in the fireplace. This is basically a woodstove retrofit. Fireplaces send over 75% of the heat up the chimney, burn the wood far too fast and the primary oxygen source must be replaced with air leaking in from outdoors. Often, this makes other parts of the house colder and the only benefit is the radiant heat given off. (meaning you have to be within 10 feet of the flames!) An insert (Kodiak/Englander/Fisher, etc.) with a blower can put out 100k+ BTU/hr! A good stoking will burn all night and then some.

When I lived in the sticks, I used to burn about 7 to 10 cords per season (3200 sq ft house) and the heat hardly ran even during the cold winters of '82-'83!

We felled our own trees so the only cost was labor! (sawing, hauling, and splitting--by HAND at first, then we bought a 20 ton splitter)

Cheers!

 

[Zedtom]

Putting clear plastic on all of your windows is a cheap way that produces results in both comfort and lower gas bills. You need to pick up 48" width plastic rolls at Home Depot and clear plastic tape. Depending on your budget, try to get a thicker yet clearer type of plastic. If you buy cheap, you won't be able to look out your windows without a lot of distortion.

You install it on the INSIDE of the window. This protects it from the weather and keeps the heat in.

I've done this at several places I've lived...it works.

 

[Entity]

Thanks for all the great suggestions, guys. I'm looking into insulation, and have insulated the top two windows in the upstairs with plastic wrap. We're going to HD in a bit to check out the plastic rolls to see if they have anything larger/cheaper for our larger windows.

Rob

 

[0roo0roo]

how about saran wrap and masking tape on the inside. 3 way protection woot!

 

[arcas]

I've also been fighting the insulation beast this season. Bought the house back in June so this is the first cold weather since I've lived in it. The attic could definitely use some more insulation. In places, it's as much as 12" below what the Dept of Energy recommends. I'm torn between cellulose or just buying rolls of fiberglass. Can you buy rolls of cellulose insulation?

One of the big problems I foresee is that not all parts of the ceiling are accessible from the attic. Another problem is the big vaulted ceiling above the family room...judging from the skylights, it's only about a foot thick plus/minus a few inches. Assuming they've used fiberglass for this, there's no way that this is the recommended R-38 for a ceiling.

I'd like to rent one of those thermatography cameras for a week.

 

[0roo0roo]

then we bought a 20 ton splitter)

just curious, hwats a 20 ton splitter? 20 tons a season capacity?