Archive of posts tagged r-value
How Do You Know You Have Enough Insulation In Your Attic
As time goes by, insulation in the attic can settle, resulting in the degradation of insulating property (measured in R-value). To find out if you have enough insulation in your attic, use a yardstick or tape measure to record the depth of the insulation. The Department of Energy recommends insulation for Northern climates to be […]
Attic Sealing and Insulation
The attic covers only part of the house. To insulate it, Tom’s crew placed 20 inches ( ) of loose fill cellulose. Blower door tests and infrared camera shots showed that the access to the attic was still leaky. They quickly placed two layers of foam board to close the access off and foam sealed […]
Updated Design
We spent quite a bit of time discussing how to redesign the first floor. The objective is to create more useful space, a bigger master bedroom and a generally more modern open look. Here is what we came up with. Move the staircase going to the basement to the NW corner of the house, below […]
Leaky Like A Lobster Trap
We were hoping to demonstrate how leaky the house is by showing some blower door test results. The specific measurements turns out to be harder to get than we thought. We are also changing some of our initial thinking after examining the house in greater detail. Here are some excerpts from Tom’s report on where […]
Selecting High Performance Windows
There are over 100 million homes and approximately 20 billion square feet of clear glass residential windows in the U.S. Most of these homes are more than 30 years old, and as a result, the market is growing for replacement windows with energy efficient insulating glass units (IGUs). High performance options are now readily available […]
The Terry Project: The Beginning
Cathy Terry has been living in her Pleasant Hill, California home for many years. She likes the area and expects to continue living there for many years to come. She knows she needs to update the house. One objective is to expand the family room and kitchen area so that she can look outside to […]
Comparison Of Insulation Materials
Homes should be well insulated in the attics, walls and underfloors to avoid heat loss in winter and to keep heat out in summer. The effectiveness of insulation material is measured in R value. The higher the R value, the more effective it is. Building codes in most mild climate jurisdictions require attic insulation to […]