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My home was build back in 1970. I bought this house back in 2005. Never did any major work on it. I feel my home is not insulated properly at all. For example, it doesn't matter which room or which wall you touch. The wall's are freezing cold. I can feel the air coming in on the main door and kitchen. All the windows was replaced about two years ago, but I didn't go for the top of the model.
My heating bill was so high this year. Each month starting Nov 2013 to March 2014. I paid $650 on the oil delivery.
So my sprig project - I want to start with the kids room, break the wall. Insulate and put new sheetrock. After that move to attic and other rooms in the house and finish by summer. Hire someone to paint the house by end of summer. I can't paint the house, for some reason my asthma kicks in when I do anything with paint.
My question - is it worth for me to take all this expense. I am planning on living in this home for another 15 years. I am not sure how much this whole thing will cost. I am thinking it should be under $5K. Since I am doing the most of the work.
Did anyone did this before on their homes, please give me the pros and cons. Thank you for reading my thread and your advise.
Have you priced blown-in insulation? From attic, interior or even exterior walls? Ripping out and replacing wallboard, mud, tape, etc can be quite a project (even discounting the paint/trim issues).
My home was build back in 1970. I bought this house back in 2005. Never did any major work on it. I feel my home is not insulated properly at all. For example, it doesn't matter which room or which wall you touch. The wall's are freezing cold. I can feel the air coming in on the main door and kitchen. All the windows was replaced about two years ago, but I didn't go for the top of the model.
My heating bill was so high this year. Each month starting Nov 2013 to March 2014. I paid $650 on the oil delivery.
So my sprig project - I want to start with the kids room, break the wall. Insulate and put new sheetrock. After that move to attic and other rooms in the house and finish by summer. Hire someone to paint the house by end of summer. I can't paint the house, for some reason my asthma kicks in when I do anything with paint.
My question - is it worth for me to take all this expense. I am planning on living in this home for another 15 years. I am not sure how much this whole thing will cost. I am thinking it should be under $5K. Since I am doing the most of the work.
Did anyone did this before on their homes, please give me the pros and cons. Thank you for reading my thread and your advise.
I would start with the attic. Hell you can probably start work on that even now, with getting extra insulation up there. Once summer hits you are not going to want to go up there. If you do not have an attic fan, get that before you put the insulation in, as it really helps vent out the hot air in the summer.
From there work on the outer wall insulation. Don't forget to put up a vapor barrier.
When you go to paint, get a respirator from the hardware store, as it will prevent your asthma from acting up. If it doesn't work, you can still hire a pro, without having put out much out of pocket on the respirator.
If you or the pro paint the exterior of your house, be sure to use a primer and wait until the early fall to paint. Also make sure any flaking paint is scraped off, and the wood underneath checked for rot.
The insulation, attic fan will give you almost an immediate payback in lowered heating and cooling costs.
Not worth doing the walls just yet. Start with the biggest heat loss place first....The attic/roof. From there look into high efficiency heating equipment & a flu stack automatic damper. Have a company come do a blower door test or thermal imaging test before opening up all your walls.
My home was build back in 1970. I bought this house back in 2005. Never did any major work on it. I feel my home is not insulated properly at all. For example, it doesn't matter which room or which wall you touch. The wall's are freezing cold. I can feel the air coming in on the main door and kitchen. All the windows was replaced about two years ago, but I didn't go for the top of the model.
My heating bill was so high this year. Each month starting Nov 2013 to March 2014. I paid $650 on the oil delivery.
So my sprig project - I want to start with the kids room, break the wall. Insulate and put new sheetrock. After that move to attic and other rooms in the house and finish by summer. Hire someone to paint the house by end of summer. I can't paint the house, for some reason my asthma kicks in when I do anything with paint.
My question - is it worth for me to take all this expense. I am planning on living in this home for another 15 years. I am not sure how much this whole thing will cost. I am thinking it should be under $5K. Since I am doing the most of the work.
Did anyone did this before on their homes, please give me the pros and cons. Thank you for reading my thread and your advise.
years ago LIPA would do a free energy assessment on your home. We had it done, they show you where your home loses heat.
I'm not sure if PSEG does that now, but it's worth a try to call them.
Don't rip out the Sheetrock, as mentioned above they can blow insulation inside the walls. They've done this many times in This Old House, check out their website.
Have you priced blown-in insulation? From attic, interior or even exterior walls? Ripping out and replacing wallboard, mud, tape, etc can be quite a project (even discounting the paint/trim issues).
Agree with this. Cellulose insulation in the attic will help the top floor a lot. You'll have to see what they can do for exterior walls. Windows can only go so far even if you have the good ones. I still feel the cold near them.
I'm not so sure how much that will curb your oil bill though. Everyone is paying a ridiculous amount this year. If you're going to spend $5k+, you may as well convert to gas if available.
I disagree with most of these suggestions. A 1970s development home on LI is junk. I'd take this opportunity to gut each room one by one and provide proper insulation and rewire each room to todays standards. You probably have 3/8 sheetrock and aluminum wiring. The problem you have is drywall finishing is not a DYI project. It is even hard to find a pro capable of doing a good job. If your walls were plaster then blown in would be a good option although the wiring wouldnt be done but, with these houses that were slapped together a gutting is in order.
Agree more w/ long isle. Anyone who dormered an original Levitt can tell you upstairs with the new modern insulation is just much better and consistent (summer and winter) than downstairs with the old installation and drafts, etc. Pulling the sheetrock and putting in modern insulation (blown foam even better) makes a tremendous difference. Also, when the walls are off you can see big leak areas around window trims or other gaps and weatherstrip them accordingly. It's no easy job, but the ROI on it will be fast with oil prices what they are. Plus in the end you get spankin new walls and fresh paint. Add new moulding and it's a sweet and not so drastic renovation.
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