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Home Heating Questions

Insulation is a great recommendation but don't do it until you get someone to air seal the house first. Having an air barrier that separates the house and the attic and the crawlspace is the biggest bang for the buck improvements you can make on an old house like that. It's something you can do yourself with the right gear.

A house with a vented crawlspace and vented attic acts like a chimney and draws cold air in from the crawlspace, as it's heated it rises and gets forced up through the attic. Shutting the motion down has a huge impact. Having the energy audit, that was already recommended, would be a great place to start. If they put a blower door on the house they can quantify how leaky it is.

I'm not familiar with working in your climate but you may want to look into sealing the crawlspace and putting some insulation on the inside of your stem walls. You can typically shut down the vents once this done which will help your pipes and the house.

The mini split heat pumps are great once you get the house tightened up and insulated. I would make sure someone does load calcs on the house to make sure they're sizing things correctly.

Build Back Better has a ton of money coming for energy efficient upgrades and I'm pretty sure specifically for converting to electric heat pumps from gas. Whoever is running the current programs in your area should be the ones administering the increased funds and would have an idea of when it will be kicking in. There should be some good money available next year for that type of project.
 
SO7mm said:
Insulation is a great recommendation but don't do it until you get someone to air seal the house first. Having an air barrier that separates the house and the attic and the crawlspace is the biggest bang for the buck improvements you can make on an old house like that. It's something you can do yourself with the right gear.

A house with a vented crawlspace and vented attic acts like a chimney and draws cold air in from the crawlspace, as it's heated it rises and gets forced up through the attic. Shutting the motion down has a huge impact. Having the energy audit, that was already recommended, would be a great place to start. If they put a blower door on the house they can quantify how leaky it is.

I'm not familiar with working in your climate but you may want to look into sealing the crawlspace and putting some insulation on the inside of your stem walls. You can typically shut down the vents once this done which will help your pipes and the house.

The mini split heat pumps are great once you get the house tightened up and insulated. I would make sure someone does load calcs on the house to make sure they're sizing things correctly.

Build Back Better has a ton of money coming for energy efficient upgrades and I'm pretty sure specifically for converting to electric heat pumps from gas. Whoever is running the current programs in your area should be the ones administering the increased funds and would have an idea of when it will be kicking in. There should be some good money available next year for that type of project.
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Winner winner chicken dinner.

All the insulation means nothing if the house has a draft left uncontrolled.

My ex wife and I bought a house built in 1903 in Fargo ND. You didn’t need a fan even on a hot day it was that drafty.

The local community action agency came in and did an air flow test on the house and helped us make all kinds of improvements. R48 attic insulation, window inserts (big waste of money), resided the house with 1/4” trifold, sealed rim joist. They have lots of home energy conservation programs. More tuned to the community members than the profit minded energy companies. They also got a 100 gal water heater for us under a program that blew away the gas company.

Weatherization : Programs : Energy and Rehab : Southeastern North Dakota Community Action Agency

www.sendcaa.org www.sendcaa.org

We did ALL that work and the one thing that mattered the most, sealing the rim joist. That one improvement was more than triple the impact all other changes combined. It was so dramatic, we had to stop sealing the house or else we’d have to install an air exchanger system. All they did was bring in two Froth pack spray foam kits from menards and sprayed the entire rim joist on the house.

Also talk to your utility company about a budget plan. Especially if you’ve been in it for over a year. It will balance the payment so it’s the same year round. We’d pay just enough to cover the connection in the summer and winter our bill was over $400 per month. Budgeted over 12 months, we were like $60-70 per month.
 
Last edited:
tmcdowell said:
We've heard from a professional HVAC tech that our place would be challenging to install ductwork for a furnace
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Get a second opinion.

Our old 1903 house had hot water baseboard. Crawl spaces can be challenging. But not insurmountable.

To go from an unconditioned to conditioned crawl space is a great first step.

If you are handy, there’s no reason you need a bunch of contractors spending your money on their time.

Go to menards, Home Depot etc and go talk to their commercial guys. Most of them get their supplies from those same box stores you or I would anyway.

Also go check out the book sections in these places. GREAT references for doing all this work DIY.
 
SO7mm said:
Insulation is a great recommendation but don't do it until you get someone to air seal the house first. Having an air barrier that separates the house and the attic and the crawlspace is the biggest bang for the buck improvements you can make on an old house like that. It's something you can do yourself with the right gear.

A house with a vented crawlspace and vented attic acts like a chimney and draws cold air in from the crawlspace, as it's heated it rises and gets forced up through the attic. Shutting the motion down has a huge impact. Having the energy audit, that was already recommended, would be a great place to start. If they put a blower door on the house they can quantify how leaky it is.

I'm not familiar with working in your climate but you may want to look into sealing the crawlspace and putting some insulation on the inside of your stem walls. You can typically shut down the vents once this done which will help your pipes and the house.

The mini split heat pumps are great once you get the house tightened up and insulated. I would make sure someone does load calcs on the house to make sure they're sizing things correctly.

Build Back Better has a ton of money coming for energy efficient upgrades and I'm pretty sure specifically for converting to electric heat pumps from gas. Whoever is running the current programs in your area should be the ones administering the increased funds and would have an idea of when it will be kicking in. There should be some good money available next year for that type of project.
Click to expand...
As someone who has done over 300+ energy audits, well done on the recommendations!
 
Money spent on insulation and weather sealing will generally be a much better investment than replacing HVAC equipment.
Tight sealing windows and doors should be addressed first. If you have an accessible attic, adding insulation is pretty cheap and easy.

When money was tight, we used to put clear visqueen held in place with screen mold and small brad nails over all of our windows for the winter. That alone made an incredible difference.
 
O.p.
Here is a thermal of my interior wall around a window. Keep in mind this is a rifle scope so its zoomed in a bit too far but having someone look at your place with a thermal would really tell you where to spend your money.
Notice the window is coldest followed by the wall top plate and then the studs.

 
Freakmagnet said:
O.p.
Here is a thermal of my interior wall around a window. Keep in mind this is a rifle scope so its zoomed in a bit too far but having someone look at your place with a thermal would really tell you where to spend your money.
Notice the window is coldest followed by the wall top plate and then the studs.

Click to expand...
I’d focused on those black lines are as those are your air flows and drafts

Stellar representation of thermal bridging though. About the only solution for that is to reside the house and put something like Zip-R on it. Or else just put on 1-2” pink foam.

 
Freakmagnet said:
O.p.
Here is a thermal of my interior wall around a window. Keep in mind this is a rifle scope so its zoomed in a bit too far but having someone look at your place with a thermal would really tell you where to spend your money.
Notice the window is coldest followed by the wall top plate and then the studs.

Click to expand...
And here's another reason for everyone to buy thermal rifle scopes and write them off as "business expenses"
 
Freakmagnet said:
Can you be more specific?
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With IR imaging, the greater the temp difference the greater the color separation.

Black is in essence LACK of heat. There’s so much air flow, the heat is totally NOT being seen.

In other words, pure draft.

The ceiling rim joist and the floor rim joist are those top and bottom horizontal black lines.


Do a home air flow test and use a smoke indicator, you’d see that happening wonderfully. You can do the same thing with a candle and put it around the rim joists too. Ours was bad enough, it would actually blow the candle out.
 
Farmerj said:
With IR imaging, the greater the temp difference the greater the color separation.

Black is in essence LACK of heat. There’s so much air flow, the heat is totally NOT being seen.

In other words, pure draft.

The ceiling rim joist and the floor rim joist are those top and bottom horizontal black lines.


Do a home air flow test and use a smoke indicator, you’d see that happening wonderfully. You can do the same thing with a candle and put it around the rim joists too. Ours was bad enough, it would actually blow the candle out.
Click to expand...
I agree with your assessment on those being the most dramatic heat loss but it's not due to drafts in my case it's a form of bridging. Its perplexing because we built with 2x6 and a raised heal trusses and insulated the space like this. But the double up top and sil plates bridge quite well.

raised-heel-truss-american-plywood-association.jpg

When we built the place I personally sealed them with a can of foam. It's local code along with all outlets and lighting. Our house is tight enough we need an air exchanger installed soon. We cannot get the wood stove to draft without the window vents open. You can see the vents in the vid above the window doing as you described.
We actually can't run the clothes dryer without cracking a window or it pulls air down the wood stove chimney.

It's 37° outside and the bridging showes that well with just a 33 temp difference.
 
You should go watch a bunch of those Matt rissinger videos.

Wife and I are looking at building our retirement home now and it’s absolutely incredible the build processes that are changing.


That black is your soffits/ ceiling rim ( or whatever they call it) Your vents are doing what they should then.
 
Freakmagnet said:
I agree with your assessment on those being the most dramatic heat loss but it's not due to drafts in my case it's a form of bridging. Its perplexing because we built with 2x6 and a raised heal trusses and insulated the space like this. But the double up top and sil plates bridge quite well.

View attachment 258409

When we built the place I personally sealed them with a can of foam. It's local code along with all outlets and lighting. Our house is tight enough we need an air exchanger installed soon. We cannot get the wood stove to draft without the window vents open. You can see the vents in the vid above the window doing as you described.
We actually can't run the clothes dryer without cracking a window or it pulls air down the wood stove chimney.

It's 37° outside and the bridging showes that well with just a 33 temp difference.
Click to expand...
Curious what your blower door score was? I know to receive Passive House certification you needs to be under 0.60ACH (which I’ve heard is tight enough if someone farts inside your ears will pop), ha! Our current building codes require you be under 5.0ACH.

The last house we built was 1.67ACH. We worked hard to air seal properly. Silicone at base plates, ZIP siding & roofing, foam attic insulation. Without going to a crazy window/door package (we used a better than standard Andersen) I don’t think we could have gotten any lower. Wood stove drafts without issue.
 
Kaitum said:
When I lived in Alaska the state had a home energy rebate program. As part of the program they conduct an energy audit, gave you some options on where to improve energy efficiency, and then conducted a post-improvement audit after you made your upgrades / fixes. Your rebate depended on how much you improved your home's energy rating. It really was a great program. Anywho, of all the upgrades I had done (new higher efficiency furnace, new insulated garage doors, etc), adding insulation to my attic had the biggest impact (and was the cheapest item as well). Others have mentioned it, but don't overlook the simple things.
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My daughter's mother lived up in HEALEY AK. for 8+ years, her answer to the biting cold? she now lives in VERO BEACH Florida
Snakes and Gators less worrysome than BEAR & Moose !!!
 
Was born and raised in the country in Quebec,eastern canada.....outside pump ,outhouse,no electricity....homemade double windows....hot summers and mosquitos, below freezing for months in winterDSCF0026.JPG....wood stove,then coaliol stove for cooking.
dug out a ''cellar '' and had a big COLEMAN oil stove for heating...grandad ''made '' duct works.
today,living in canada's winter hot spot, I'm always in a different level of ''cool,very cool,damn cold !!! and yes, snowshoes/skiis to go the 4 miles to school, IF we got there !!!
 
Farmerj said:
I’d focused on those black lines are as those are your air flows and drafts

Stellar representation of thermal bridging though. About the only solution for that is to reside the house and put something like Zip-R on it. Or else just put on 1-2” pink foam.

Click to expand...
Up here were it can get -40 every winter, 10 inch walls are fairly common.
First conventional wall with 2X6, then staggered 2X4 wall
so there is no continuous stud from the outside to the inside.
 
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