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My house is a bit older, but not super old. Late 80s. And I have been thinking a lot about insulation and heat / ac bills lately. Because we are home all the ti

My house is a bit older, but not super old. Late 80s. And I have been thinking a lot about insulation and heat / ac bills lately. Because we are home all the time. No more timers that let it not run during the hottest parts of the day and such. Trying to figure out how much effort to put in. We got new windows recently and they are not as cold to the touch as the old ones, but probably are leaking more air too. So not sure it was a huge positive. Before that I blew more insulation into the attic, but don't think I did enough. Trying to figure out what next. Keep thinking about trying to find someone to blow in foam into the exterior walls, but know thats not going to be cheap. And take a very long time to pay itself off.

ed25519FUUU 6y ago
Buy a flir IR video dongle and take a look around your house on a hot (or cold) day. That will give you an idea of just where your inefficiencies might be.
- DoingIsLearning 6y ago
  I doubly recomend this. I actually borrowed a FLIR camera from work but I was amazed at how much insight it gave me. Specially in older houses you can easily spot areas where insulation has degraded or even actual air gaps from previous bad jobs. As bonus you will also discover that the IR emitted by you bounces off transparent glass as if it was a mirror! Scared the crap out of me when looking into the display, for a split second I genuinely thought there was someone behind the glass!
- Bedon292 6y ago
  We have had on in our 'Saved for Later' in Amazon for probably over a year now, just never pulled the trigger. Best price I have seen is $200. But I suppose it might have paid for itself by now if we had done it initially.
hourislate 6y ago
Your situation is not unique. There are many folks that have basically done what you did and still find it insufficient and experience cold rooms and drafts. This may not be a popular opinion but new Windows do very little to increase the comfort of your home unless the old ones were absolute trash. Sealing the attic and adding insulation can definitely help since it stops the chimney effect of warm air rising in from the bottom and fleeing through the top of the house. Here are a couple of things you can do. Seal the area between the first floor and the basement along the perimeter of the structure, if you have a basement. This is the area above the perimeter wall top plate and the first floor joists. Typically the area between first floor joists lets in a lot of air and sometimes has no insulation. This area should be sealed and insulated. The one other thing you can do that will make the biggest difference without tearing down all the inside drywall in your house to insulate (forget pour in foam, it's not worth it), is insulate from the outside of your home by applying Stucco. It's not cheap but is less intrusive for an existing house that is occupied. A contractor will basically apply a 1 - 2 inch thick foam board adhered to the outside walls (Brick?)and then apply stucco to that. It will prevent your outside walls from getting cold in the first place and seal your home to a pretty good level. It can be around $10 + SQ/FT. That is the advice I usually give folks who are in your situation and don't want to do a major interior RENO.

ed25519FUUU 6y ago

Buy a flir IR video dongle and take a look around your house on a hot (or cold) day. That will give you an idea of just where your inefficiencies might be.

DoingIsLearning 6y ago
I doubly recomend this. I actually borrowed a FLIR camera from work but I was amazed at how much insight it gave me. Specially in older houses you can easily spot areas where insulation has degraded or even actual air gaps from previous bad jobs. As bonus you will also discover that the IR emitted by you bounces off transparent glass as if it was a mirror! Scared the crap out of me when looking into the display, for a split second I genuinely thought there was someone behind the glass!
Bedon292 6y ago
We have had on in our 'Saved for Later' in Amazon for probably over a year now, just never pulled the trigger. Best price I have seen is $200. But I suppose it might have paid for itself by now if we had done it initially.

hourislate 6y ago

Your situation is not unique. There are many folks that have basically done what you did and still find it insufficient and experience cold rooms and drafts. This may not be a popular opinion but new Windows do very little to increase the comfort of your home unless the old ones were absolute trash. Sealing the attic and adding insulation can definitely help since it stops the chimney effect of warm air rising in from the bottom and fleeing through the top of the house. Here are a couple of things you can do. Seal the area between the first floor and the basement along the perimeter of the structure, if you have a basement. This is the area above the perimeter wall top plate and the first floor joists. Typically the area between first floor joists lets in a lot of air and sometimes has no insulation. This area should be sealed and insulated. The one other thing you can do that will make the biggest difference without tearing down all the inside drywall in your house to insulate (forget pour in foam, it's not worth it), is insulate from the outside of your home by applying Stucco. It's not cheap but is less intrusive for an existing house that is occupied. A contractor will basically apply a 1 - 2 inch thick foam board adhered to the outside walls (Brick?)and then apply stucco to that. It will prevent your outside walls from getting cold in the first place and seal your home to a pretty good level. It can be around $10 + SQ/FT. That is the advice I usually give folks who are in your situation and don't want to do a major interior RENO.