[Greenbuilding] upgrading a 1959 1800 sf building in Montreal

[Kat]

#1 thing I would do?  Blower door test and air sealing.  Everything else 
comes after.  Not much point in insulating if you're leaking.

#2: dense-pack cellulose in an unvented ceiling assembly is not a good 
idea without mechanical ventilation and might not be a good idea even 
then, particularly if you don't have vapor-impermeable insulation in the 
assembly next to the sheathing.

-Kat

Stewart Abbey wrote:
> I recently purchased a 30'x60' building built in 1959. A 20x20 garage 
> with a room above exposed on three sides.  Crawl space with 2 floors 
> and a flat roof.  Exterior is brick in good shape.  Tar and gravel 
> roof was redone in 2008.  Some windows have been changed, about 2/3rds 
> are the the 1960,s screw-on aluminum guillotine type that leak like a 
> sieve!!   Oil fired hot water heat (with original cast iron boiler 
> probably 60% efficient).  One heating zone for each floor. Main floor 
> has 3 apartments,  2nd floor has 2  41/2room apartments.  Heating 
> loops all pass though the crawl space.  Walls are 2x4 construction and 
> would have the standard of the day 3" of rockwool or fiberglass.
> Oil consumption was 5700 liters in 2010, and 5000 liters in 2011=$4500
>
>     Last fall I had the crawlspace walls and rim joists blown with 
> 21/2" of foam.  Installed plastic on the crawlspace floor.
>     The 2 second floor apartments will be empty next month.   I'm 
> thinking of blowing densepack cellulose into the 2x10 flat roof cavity 
> from the inside through 3" holes in the gyproc. The current ceiling 
> insulation is 3" rockwool or fiberglass.  COST $5000+ plastering.  The 
> cost seems a lot but I know it is a slow job to do right.  The 
> contractor says 1 1/2 days per unit. 
>     We are probably getting gas on the street this summer and I am 
> considering going to a 98% efficient
> gas condensing boiler. That alone should cut the heating bill by 50%. 
> Gas is 93 cents per cubic meter.
> At the same time we would add zones so each unit would have it's own 
> zone and thermostat.
> I am not planning on doing major renovations as the building is sound 
> and well built.
>
> Anyone have advice on where to get the most bang for the buck?
> Stewart Abbey
>
>
>
>  
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding mailing list
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
> Greenbuilding at bioenergylists.org
>
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Joe Lstiburek says, Don't dense-pack unvented cathedral ceilings BUT comments suggest how to do so properly.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 220972 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20110429/5fdc2109/attachment.pdf>