Insulation

**ironmaiden** · 10-08-2005, 08:53 AM

I haven't heard anyone mention insulation.

Even though we've been here for 11 years, we've taken this topic for granted. This weekend though, we'll be taking an insulation inventory of the house. Going into the basement and figuring out what R-value is on the ceiling. Going into the attic and doing the same. We will be adding insulation over the next couple of weeks to these areas.

Also, we've always put a quilt in the doorway from the mudroom to the rest of the house. Well, that raises the rest of the house by 5 degrees and lowers the mudroom by 10 whole degrees. Well, DH discovered that there is no insulation under the mudroom. And he opened the metal vent in the eave above it and there is "rock wool" insulation in there, but it has shifted over the years.

Also, our house is 1920's, and thus we believe alot of the cellulose insulation and rock wool insulation has settled over the years. We haven't decided exactly how to experiment with that. One idea is to open up an outlet and see how much we can pull out to determine how much is there. And we haven't decided what to do about it either.

Another idea - which we did years ago and is very cheap...
Take off your outlet covers on all outside walls (lightswitch as well as plugs) and stuff foam insulation in there - they sell these thin foam pre-cut ones at the hardware store real cheap.

**Julia Kimber** · 10-09-2005, 05:36 AM

My dh installed fibreglass insulation in the roof a couple of years ago. Even though it has been pretty cold this winter (For us anyway) we have found a big improvement with the insulation.

Julia

**Darlene** · 10-09-2005, 08:41 AM

Yep, your right Ironmaiden every little bit you can do to insulate adds up to savings. We've insulated the attic and under the porch since we've been here and it really helped.
Thanks for the reminder, going to walk around our house soon with an eye to seeing what we can do to improve our situation.

**PrairieRose** · 10-09-2005, 01:21 PM

We're about to insulate Gripey's office. We probably need to add insulation in our house as well and have been discussing this too. You're on the right track for saving those energy dollars for sure.

**homesteadmamma** · 10-10-2005, 11:11 AM

Ironmaiden, you might be surprised what you find when you insulate. We did our whole house (it's over 100 years old) and there was NO, one whatsoever, insulation - zippo. There was none to settle because there wasn't any.

Most of the older homes in our area have NO insulation. It was a lot of work, however we did it all ourselves. We also changed our walls from 4 inches to 6 inches by adding 2x2's onto the 4 inch studs. It made a huge difference!!!

**Dedlered** · 10-10-2005, 11:22 AM

We are getting ready to insulate the garage. Our bedroom is right above it and for some reason, they didn't insulate the garage door or the left side of the garage. I am hoping that by completing the isulatation, the room will stay warmer this winter