Keeping Green Part 1

Well during the snow storm, while walking pass the window in the dining room, I felt a draft coming in under the sill. As I felt my hand across the entire sill, the draft was steady if not worse. So with some reason to address the issue, friday evening I ripped off the paneling around the door and edge of the window.

The marble sill fell out, there was a 1/8 gap over the door, and the 1 inch thick insulation was installed properly. I suspect the insulation R rating is R-3 as the thickness/color would suggest. Most of it was put in correct but gaps at the top and bottom allowed air to pass through the walls. I suspect that the whole house has only R-3 insulation as it was the same I found in the bathroom last year.

I had a coupon for the soft touch insulation, as well as 3 dollars off 3 rolls of fiberglass. I got these at the home show, and the savings covered thecost of my entry fee for both me and DW. DW had the same coupons so I went ahead and made all the purchases.

So I shut down the power, removed the paneling, removed the old insulation carefully installed the new R-13 insulation, and I like the soft touch stuff. Though it was easy to work with, unlike standard fiberglass insulation it didn't have the tabs to pull out and staple. Instead you have to pull tight againist the side of the sud to staple it. Now, if I didn't have a 50% coupon I wouldn't have bought it in the first place. I also won't ever purchase it again in the future because of cost and not having the edges. My person view is its a rip off and a lot more work. Its easy to wear goggles, gloves and mask.

I ordered a replacement window that measures 73 3/4 x 54 5/8 it is a double paned with argon filled inside. The cost of the window was $509.74 which was a little out of my budget. So I am pulling the extra cost for a better window from my SS fund. The $130.00 that I am putting will be returned by not using as much firewood to heat the house. This part of the house is the wind driven side, hence the importance of this getting done before the rooms in front of the home.

I am having a sparky come in Wednesday to run new electrical wires to all the old 12 volt lighted switches, this cost is 380.00 and was figured into the budget as extra cost. He will install new 120 volt switches as per code and updating the house.

This total project will still be less than 1,000.00 dollars, and we should start getting a return from our cost right away.