Home Improvement
- Thread starter Picasso3
- Start date
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Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Borzak
Bronze Baron of the Realm
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My parents live in an area where the only code is for a commercial/retail business. There is no code of a home and their house has 2x6 walls which is very odd there in the south, and full of insulation. It's 3,400 sq.ft. and they are there all the time and average about $125/month electric bill.
I can't see having zero insulation post 1950. The last house I lived in was built around 1900 and they had insulated it around 1950 judging from the material they used to insulate it.
Excluding the builders, if a guy in 1970 would have taken the weekend and rolled out 500 in insulation in the attic it would have probably saved 100 a month for the next 45 years.
It is simply dumb.
Woefully Inept
Karazhan Raider
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This house was built in 1950 and I swear everything in this house was original to that build date when we moved in. We had quite a bit of remodeling to do on the first floor before we moved in. So much goddamn paneling everywhere!! And the paint colors and wall paper? Atrocious. Definitely from the 50's. The insulation is the last BIG thing needed to be taken care of. We had to replace the oil burner and oil tank because they were both 50+ years old and original to the house also. Thank god for Mass Save and 0% loans through them. We could get a 0% loan for the insulation too and that will most likely be what we do.
The $4700 may be high but right now even $2k would be too much straight out of pocket. We may as well just be burning money to heat our house in the winter. Upstairs is unlivable in the winter and summer. The heat can not keep up with how cold it gets up there. And during even just warm, not HOT, days in the summer it's easily 10+ degrees hotter upstairs in the house than it is outside. It's just insane.
The $4700 may be high but right now even $2k would be too much straight out of pocket. We may as well just be burning money to heat our house in the winter. Upstairs is unlivable in the winter and summer. The heat can not keep up with how cold it gets up there. And during even just warm, not HOT, days in the summer it's easily 10+ degrees hotter upstairs in the house than it is outside. It's just insane.
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People just didnt think this way back then. Electric and heat prices were way cheaper for one. Almost no one had central air back then, pre 1970 it was all about those window units which were only introduced in the 50s. Then in the 70s central air came along but it was expensive as fuck until the 80s when it became cheaper and part of homes built. And even then, those without forced air were fucked as air conditioning was concerned.
It was only in the mid 80s and on people started to think about insulation because prices were rising on both electric and gas/oil, so it made sense. Back pre 70s it just didnt make that much sense. It was considered a luxury to have insulation.
Think of it like the american cars of those eras. no one gave a fuck about the 5000lb boats at the time with 460s because gas was 50c a gallon. Same shit with heat and air, bro.
Erronius
<WoW Guild Officer>
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I think it was more that there was a huge housing boom in the '50s and the onus was on "more houses, faster and cheaper" than concerns about insulation and/or efficiency. You had many decent homes that were built but I think most of us have seen the crappy ass homes that look like they were made of cardboard. Plus they were moving away from older, more labor intensive practices like plaster and lath at the time for processes that were quicker and cheaper like drywall.
Does seem a little strange for the location, but I'm not surprised.
Does seem a little strange for the location, but I'm not surprised.
Palum
what Suineg set it to
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Original single pane windows too? Those things radiate frostbite, at least your walls have siding, ply, studs, insulating... air, drywall and some paint.
But if there's genuinely no insulation (just open walls) then yes it sounds like you have to do something.
But if there's genuinely no insulation (just open walls) then yes it sounds like you have to do something.
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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Eomer
Trakanon Raider
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Water lines in unconditioned spaces? Genius idea in places that can get cold!
But seriously, even in Edmonton with a pretty serious winter, houses built in the 50's and 60's often had little or no insulation in the attic, and basically nothing more than newspaper in the walls. Homes were built stupid cheap back then, and natural gas and heating oil were pretty cheap as well. It wasn't until the energy crises a few decades later that codes got better and people realized maybe it wasn't a good idea to need a 150,000 btu furnace for a 900 square foot house.
But seriously, even in Edmonton with a pretty serious winter, houses built in the 50's and 60's often had little or no insulation in the attic, and basically nothing more than newspaper in the walls. Homes were built stupid cheap back then, and natural gas and heating oil were pretty cheap as well. It wasn't until the energy crises a few decades later that codes got better and people realized maybe it wasn't a good idea to need a 150,000 btu furnace for a 900 square foot house.
Woefully Inept
Karazhan Raider
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The previous owners updated all of the windows with really nice ones a few years before selling. Same with the roof. They replaced that 3 years before selling due to some water damage. So we've at least got brand spanking new windows and roof.
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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bought this:
Amazon.com : Nelson 1865 Raintrain Traveling Sprinkler : Oscillator Lawn And Garden Sprinklers : Patio, Lawn Garden
dumbest purchase or best purchase?
Amazon.com : Nelson 1865 Raintrain Traveling Sprinkler : Oscillator Lawn And Garden Sprinklers : Patio, Lawn Garden
dumbest purchase or best purchase?
Lejina
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
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Well, it's been a couple weeks now and the odd wet leaves smell that used to be in the bedroom, especially with the door closed, is completely gone and the floor is warmer as well.
All in all it was about $300 to insulate the crawlspace and run a vapor barrier on the entire dirt ground. Worth it for the cleaner air alone. Amazing that in the 50 years this house has been up, I'm the only one who thought this had to be fixed..
It's not pretty, but it works.
All in all it was about $300 to insulate the crawlspace and run a vapor barrier on the entire dirt ground. Worth it for the cleaner air alone. Amazing that in the 50 years this house has been up, I'm the only one who thought this had to be fixed..
It's not pretty, but it works.
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I have a one of those, it works amazingly well to cover very large areas. Really it's dumb if you DON'T buy one.
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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Ive got one too, my back yard is 130' deep but only 60' wide, this was the only thing I could get that didn't have me going out to move a sprinkler 10 damn times to get the whole yard covered.
But yeah, use the LIGHTEST hose you can find. I couldn't use my expensive Neverkink hose, because it was too heavy, the tractor couldn't pull one that was more than 25' long. Get the cheapest, lightest, flimsiest green hose you can find. Also, you can't really link 2 hoses together because the tractor guide wheel won't make it over the coupling link between the two hoses. Has to be 1 solid hose.
I'm actually on my second one, first lasted about 4 years but then the plastic gears eventually stripped and it wouldn't work anymore. I wish the whole thing was metal.
Still worth it though, I'd buy a new one ever year if I had to just so I don't have to go outside and move a sprinkler all day long.
But yeah, use the LIGHTEST hose you can find. I couldn't use my expensive Neverkink hose, because it was too heavy, the tractor couldn't pull one that was more than 25' long. Get the cheapest, lightest, flimsiest green hose you can find. Also, you can't really link 2 hoses together because the tractor guide wheel won't make it over the coupling link between the two hoses. Has to be 1 solid hose.
I'm actually on my second one, first lasted about 4 years but then the plastic gears eventually stripped and it wouldn't work anymore. I wish the whole thing was metal.
Still worth it though, I'd buy a new one ever year if I had to just so I don't have to go outside and move a sprinkler all day long.