[Greenbuilding] one more pleasure (or not) of heating with wood

Kathy Cochran kathys_old_house at goldrush.com
Mon Jan 3 16:25:15 CST 2011


Hello Corwyn,

Sorry I took so long in getting back to you.  Your perception  -  and your
"smell test" is working just fine.  There IS something wrong with this
picture, and here is what it is.  The center section of the house (about 8
feet long but probably more like 16 feet) does not have any insulation in
the ceiling at all.  That is because that is the new section of the house,
but mainly because the electrician that I hired to re-wire the (moved) house
was a charletan and didn't know what he was doing. If the bldg inspector had
gone up there to inspect he never would have finaled the house. My
ex-husband, a retired electrician, discovered a mess up there, with all
sorts of uncovered junction boxes, and way too many wires coming in and out
of them.  Many leading to nowhere.  My ex told me we need to get this fixed
before any insulation goes in there, and now he is out with back surgery, so
I have to find someone that I can count on to fix this.  Obviously this is a
big piece of the puzzle why I am using so much wood.  Of course I was hoping
to get this done before it got cold.  Oh well, nothing is perfect, is it?

The other piece of the puzzle is that most of the exterior walls are not
insulated.  Thick stucco, full-dimension 2x4 redwood stud walls, plaster on
the inside.  Where ever the house was cut (into 4 pieces to be moved) and
put back together, plus the whole kitchen wall, insulation was added, but
that is minor, compared to what needs to be done.   

I know I need to get someone to punch holes in the walls - either inside or
out  -  to blow in insulation, and wish I had done this early on.  I don't
want to punch holes in the stucco. My stucco artist just died this week, and
I don't want anyone else to have to "touch up" his work.  Another
complication of this is that many of the firebreaks are angled, not
horizontal.  I've been told that that makes it more complicated.

I have a raised foundation.  I should insulate under there as well.  But the
same electrical mess exists down below as well.  So far no one that I have
talked to wants to get down on the ground and clean that mess up.  It will
be done, one day.  Money would help as well.  I can't do it all at once
without a job.  

Your suggestion about getting an energy audit is quite well taken.  But I
think I know a lot of what is causing the problem.  Oh  -  I have replaced
MOST of the windows in the house  -  except the big one  -  the arched 8'
wide - 7-1/2 ft tall living room window, but I keep it covered up with
thermal curtains.  Back to the money issue.

I too have wondered about the ceiling fan issue, but when the fan is on in
the 9-1/2 foot living room (the only room in the house that is taller than
8') I can definitely tell a difference, compared to when it is off.

Thanks for your thoughts.  They are appreciated.

Kathy
  

-----Original Message-----
From: Corwyn [mailto:corwyn at midcoast.com] 
Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 2:04 PM
To: Environmentally-preferable design, construction, building elements
Cc: Kathy Cochran
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] one more pleasure (or not) of heating with wood

On 12/31/2010 12:17 PM, Kathy Cochran wrote:

> HOWEVER, even with ceiling fans, unless I wanted to go around dressed as
> an Eskimo in cold weather, it really didn’t do a great job of keeping
> much of the house warm, (because of the way the house is laid out) so
> last year I broke down and bought the Fujitsu mini-split systems to
> heat/cool different areas.  That is nice!  But when the power goes
> out

.there’s nothing that can beat a wood stove, is there?

I find this personally pretty scary.   I live in a place with more than 
twice the heating degree days, and heat just fine with a medium sized 
wood stove.  Today, for example it got down-right balmy outside (45°F) 
and so I haven't even started a fire yet.  It is 65°F inside at the 
moment.  (This does include the oven being on to bake bread, but it also 
includes flushing all the air after an 'incident' at the stove).

Might I recommend that you get a competent energy audit?  Most houses 
have a number of easy opportunities to save significant energy.

Ceiling fans are generally not much help, by the way.

Thank You Kindly,

Corwyn

-- 
Topher Belknap
Green Fret Consulting
Kermit didn't know the half of it...
http://www.greenfret.com/
topher at greenfret.com
(207) 882-7652





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