Saturday, December 6, 2008

Not a moment too soon...

Well, the insulation work was done this past week, but I had to travel for work and was fighting through a tough cold the entire week. Not fun.

We got Pro Pink loose-fill insulation blown into the cavities between the first and second floor, which was my main concern, as we were getting serious drafts under the floor on the second floor that were actually cooling that level quite a bit more than was comfortable. We also had the kneewalls on the second floor insulated fully and covered with housewrap on the non-finished side of the wall. The access panels were given a foam insulation backing, and the hood vent ducts from the kitchen through the crawlspace and out through the roof were wrapped in foil insulation.

All in all, it took about a day for them to come in and do the work, and it was reasonably priced, in my humble opinion.

This all comes not a moment too soon, as our most recent gas bill arrived today and is near $400. That's ridiculous, since we spent less than $300 last year for the month of November. So I'm hoping to death that the insulating we did will put a serious dent in that number. I am concerned, though, about the fact that the roof did not get any insulation, because they couldn't access behind the drywalled ceilings to inspect for it. Personally, I don't think there's a lick of insulation up there, but I could be wrong. I'd like to know and find out if it could be insulated. I just wonder how much heat is escaping through the ceiling/roof of the second floor finished space. We shall see, I suppose.

Now, on to getting that basement family room finished already...Lord knows it's been sitting there for a while now...

4 comments:

Jayne said...

I just had Pro Pink blown into my attic, the day before Thanksgiving. The house seems to feel warmer, but that could be the placebo effect...As you say, the real test will be the dent in the heating bill. My bills are just a bit less than yours, so I'm hoping for a BIG dent, too!

jay said...

Holy cow, that seems like a high monthly bill! I'm sure the insulation will make a big difference, and you should be able to tell it on a bitterly cold, windy Chicago day like today. The roof is definitely the most important heat loss space - sometimes older homes with converted attics have a token bit of vermiculite or similar insulation in the roof. Maybe you can find a friend with a thermal-imaging camera to take a look at it. or if there is a ceiling mounted light, you could take it off and discretely peek around the box a little bit.

Anonymous said...

I'm looking to have the same work done on my bungalow, we are getting massive ice dams this year....can you pass along your contractors info?

Andy said...

Hi Anonymous,
Please send me your email address or some way of contacting you, and I'd be thrilled to pass along the info.

You can email me privately at southsideandy (at) yahoo if you'd rather do that...