Radiant Barrier on One Story?

[Dinger]

House was built in 1978. Has a trane 13 sear ac system from 2007 to 2008. The attic doesn't have much imsulation, likely about 3 or so inches. Maybe I should just hose the attic to get it up to 14 plus inches of insulation for a cheap method

Not sure if someone else posted this but check out the Take a load off texas thing that Oncor is doing. (house must be all electric)

I just had my insulation done when they came out to do it they rated it at 4" of R22 and after they finished it was 30" of R30 (I dont know what the numbers mean but there is a shit ton of insulation up there now) They did this at no cost to me.. Oncor pays it.


The guy I used name was Kenny from 1st Green Solutions and his number is 1-817-609-0708

[snacksnack]

DIY. Super easy as long as your roof isn't to steep that you aren't always sliding.

[03mustangdude]

Always do Solar powered vents and get tax incentives.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/US-Sunlight-Professional-Series-30-Watt-Solar-Powered-Roof-Attic-Fan-9930TR/204340563?N=5yc1vZc662#customer_reviews

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/i...ive_Code=US37F

how hard is it to install something like that? diy or pro?

[32vfromhell]

Always do Solar powered vents and get tax incentives.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/US-Sunlight-Professional-Series-30-Watt-Solar-Powered-Roof-Attic-Fan-9930TR/204340563?N=5yc1vZc662#customer_reviews

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/i...ive_Code=US37F

holy crap. one vent is more expensive than all 7 of the low profile vents going in!

[32vfromhell]

Shit. 3 inches of insulation? There's the damn problem. Fill that attic up! You might not need to even do anything else outrageous after that.

Just reread the home inspectors report. He reported the average depth at 6 inches, so im not too far off. Looks like i should try to go for an average depth of 18+

[gripenfelter]

Going from 3 low profile attic vents to 7 low-profile vents should help.

Always do Solar powered vents and get tax incentives.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/US-Sunlight-Professional-Series-30-Watt-Solar-Powered-Roof-Attic-Fan-9930TR/204340563?N=5yc1vZc662#customer_reviews

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US37F

[Strychnine]

replacing any of the old incandescent bulbs with LEDs or CFL lights, etc, and the insulation.

Come get these. I still haven't removed all of them from the new place. We fucking hate them.

Seriously. We are in Spring now, but they are yours if you want them.

[fordracing19]

Read Date Consumption
04-16-2014 1178 kWh
03-17-2014 1475 kWh
02-17-2014 2284 kWh
01-17-2014 2259 kWh
12-17-2013 1967 kWh
11-15-2013 910 kWh
10-18-2013 1354 kWh
09-19-2013 2198 kWh
08-19-2013 2403 kWh
07-19-2013 1849 kWh

3000sqft all electric feeding my shop,water well and septic system.

[32vfromhell]

Going from 3 low profile attic vents to 7 low-profile vents should help.

[fordracing19]

I used air tight cans in my house and used mastic paste on the area between the can and drywall. I also used mastic on all electric boxes in the ceiling. With cfl or led you can pile the insulation over the can and not worry about thermal overload.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[8mpg]

I have 22" of insulation....Do you have a suggestion on how to seal the vents/recessed lights if you can not reach them or can find them?

Move the insulation.... You could try mastic tape under the trim ring of the recessed light into the housing. There is an energy efficiency guy on garden web that always suggest mastic tape on air ducts and can lights in the ceilings. Also using mastic on all a/c ducting connections in the attic.

[BlackGT]

Don't have any electric bills yet, but we are closing on our house on Thursday. It's a 2,000 sqft 1 story with radiant barrier and is supposed to be very energy efficient. I will post up once we Alger a full months bill.

[mustang1200]

My usage over 12 months in a 2700sq ft 2 story home with gas heat and gas water heaters. We added a pool in October so the numbers are skewed a bit. The pool also ran on high a lot due to the cold winter. I've since made adjustments to the pool pump to reduce engine usage. That was done in mid/late January.

Our house has radiant barrier.

kWh/month
635/April
778/May
1191/June
1363/July
1583/Aug
1367/Sep
1372/Oct
1475/Nov
1838/Dec
1254/Jan
986/Feb
940/Mar
653/April

Shit. 3 inches of insulation? There's the damn problem. Fill that attic up! You might not need to even do anything else outrageous after that.

[gripenfelter]

doing radiant barrier will help...make sure you do foil not paint. You can buy it online if you want to do it yourself. Insulation will help but air sealing is your best bet. Anything you can do from the attic air getting inside or inside air getting into the attic (or outside). Caulk windows and doors. Build styrafoam enclosures for recessed lights. Seal around electrical outlets. A big one is sealing your a/c ducting to minimize loss.

I have 22" of insulation....Do you have a suggestion on how to seal the vents/recessed lights if you can not reach them or can find them?