New Energy Star sspecs and guide lines
reinvent
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
Thought you would like to know. I am glade to see the changes but I Q how many builders will make the effort.
http://www.builderonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=27&articleID=497916
Replies
“We have hundreds of thermal images showing that these assemblies were not working,” Rashkin says. “R-19 attic knee-wall insulation, according to the infrared cameras, was performing like R-1.”
Worthy of a bump.
Yeah I would like to see some of those images.Was at a trade show recently and there was a co selling hand held thermal imaging equipment. Cool toys I wish I could justify/afford one. $2k-4khttp://www.goinfrared.com/cameras/camera/infracam-sd-thermalimager/
I don't know how many houses I've seen with insulation covering an attic floor with just a little piece of paneling that slides over the top of the entrance way via the ladder.
Guess they figure as long as it's not seen as an open hole it's all OK.
I wont install anything but these:http://www.conservationtechnology.com/downloads/AtticLadder.pdfBut these would be a decent retrofit:http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=attic+stairs&x=7&y=11
don't know how many houses I've seen with insulation covering an attic floor with just a little piece of paneling that slides over the top of the entrance way via the ladder.
My current project house used to have a pull down stair unit right in the middle of the house in the hallway (less than a foot away from the furnace). Without even a weather seal around the opening. Not only butt ugly, but I had to wonder what their utility bills were.
jt8
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." --Upton Sinclair
Edited 11/29/2007 11:20 am by JohnT8
Down in okieville all those little shotgun houses have gas furnaces in the floor where you would walk over them on a large floorgrate in the hallway and right above it in the ceiling is the large whole house fan with a thin metal louver setup that only opens when the fan is running.
Nothing to be concerned over there since the louvers close pretty good.
Couldn't believe how long it took to convince a buddy to finally breakdown and go buy a sheet of foamboard insulation to put up there for the winter.
Stealth expenses get most people (including me). Lack of that $10 piece of foamboard might have been costing him $200/yr, but it was hard to see it because it was divided into 12 months and buried in the heating/cooling expense which was in turn buried in the utility bill.
At some point in the future homes will track how much energy each item uses. This will make it easier to track down energyhog items and make it a WHOLE lot easier to spot ways to save $$.
jt8
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." --Upton Sinclair
I sent ya the Redskin cheerleaders...
that should show on yur energy consumption...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
It hasn't arrived yet. I just sent you a series on a WWI tank.
jt8
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." --Upton Sinclair
4MB... 1/2 hour send time....
but it is worth it...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Our energy star guys are enforcing the new specs. So in NC how many builders will make the effort is all the ones who care about getting an energy star sticker on their homes. we have 30% of our local homebuilders association signing up and more new ones every day.
M
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"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."