Where Is Your Coal Heat Going?

I know where mine is going!

Have a look at this! What a F'ing waste of money!!

Looks like some insulation will be on the To Do list this summer.
Boy do I hate dealing with insulation. I have some to do this spring before it gets too hot outside and I might try some of that new stuff that is not made from fiberglass and is not itchy.

I've been putting it off for years

My problem is that I'd rather be working on a motorcycle, ATV, truck or a piece of power equipment than spending 30 seconds on a remodeling project!

A few hundred dollars and a few hours renting an insulation blower from Lowes and that problem goes away

WOW, that's a big problem...hope you have good ice shield under your shingles, that stuff can back up and cause a lot of problems inside the walls and house!!

I have a roof rake, they call it, long pole with a scaper, I pull the first 2-3' off the roof to keep it from backing up if the snow gets really bad. Ours is insulated really well, but some ice forms on the south side do to the sun heating it up.

I have to put soffit vents in to keep the under side of the roof cool and get better circulation in the summer, I have the ridge vents with the new roof, but no under eve air circulation.....this summer when we work on the painting the house.

do your research on the soffit vents. you need x amount vent opening per sq ft of attic. usally little over is good. their doing my soffits now and was suprized how many you need. 1,400 sq ft needs 12 - 8" x 16" evenly spaced. I put in 24 - 4" x 16" evenly spaced. I put couple close together in one corner where icecicles would form alot. I have a standing seam metal roof so I had to go with the vents on the roof that turn. I have R-30 in attic and going to step it up to R60 this fall. man , I miss doing stuff.

Air circulation in my attic space (it's not a real attic -- just dead space) is a whole other can of worms. That issue causes water leaks with a new roof -- water from condensation, not roof leaks.

We couldn't put a ridge vent in due to a huge beam there, that we couldn't see the beginning or end of width-wise. Figured on the safe side not to cut that! I have a few ideas I may try this spring or fall to get some needed air through there.

av8r wrote:A few hundred dollars and a few hours renting an insulation blower from Lowes and that problem goes away

Ahh, if life were that easy I'd be living in a brand new mansion! First, I need something for all that blown-in insulation to sit on, so it won't fall back into the house every time it gets windy -- which during this time of year is every other day. There's no drywall on the ceiling or walls in one section -- just luan paneling nailed directly to rafters with insulation stuffed in between. The older section has a bunch of gaps (that's why so much heat goes up thru the roof) and no drywall on the ceiling.

In all honesty, it would be cheaper & easier in the long run to just get a bulldozer & start over from scratch. Foundation is a mess too. It's the price we pay for affordable housing in Massachusetts

I've had similar problems with my place, Smitty.
The snow on the roof does tend to melt faster then other houses around here that are newer with better insulation.
With Post & Beam construction there are no firestops in the walls, the way modern platform construction is done. Therefore air can circulate freely from the attic down the walls. The only place it will stop is wherever there is a horizontal beam. I've stuffed insulation in many of the openings in the attic, some places I cannot get to.
This house is actually 2 sections build at different times, where the first sections ends and the newer section starts is a little more then 1/2 the width of the house as it stands now. The snow on the roofs melts first at that exact spot, in a line down the roof, so I know where some of my heat is going. Insulating the underside of the roof is on the list of things to do.

if you were to do a thermal image of my place you would probably see a big red blob in newtown

Those air turbines seem to work to draw the air up and out and keep the moisture down too! I have 2 of those near the peaks too on the back side, so you can't see them from the street. They do come in black too.

lincolnmania wrote:if you were to do a thermal image of my place you would probably see a big red blob in newtown

The thermal imaging idea always interested me. Maybe I can get one of my firemen buddies to bring one over. Or maybe I don't want to know!

i put in 2. 1 - 1/4 from the end of the house. there was a chimney there , I took it out. the other one is in the cover to get access to the roof. it's a flat area about 10' x 10' . like a place for a widow watch tower. I wanted to put that in someday. but its 1/4 from the front.

If static ventilation is a problem, powered ventilation may be the answer. They even have solar powered models so you don't have to run wiring. You need to consult an experienced insulation/roofing contractor. The money spent up front for professional work is worth it and can be far less expensive than do-it yourself gone bad!

When I first moved in my house , that first fall , I put an R-30 attic blanket across the rafters which only had a couple inches of loose fill in then. Only cost $150 on closeoout! Well about 2 years later, I was in buying oil at the same place where the original owner always bought it. He looked up the records by address and asked me if I was buying oil somewhere else. I said no. Looking at the records we figured out that I was only using about 2/3 of the oil as before! Now none!

I started the stove around 6 PM. For about 3 hours now it's been running with the draft vent on the ash door 3 turns open, the stack temp is 300 and the baro's open quite far. It's pouring out heat, 2 dogs and 1 of the 2 cats are around the stove. I think the house is finally warming up!