If you don't think insulation and windows are important.......

[Ken Fitzgerald]

21 months ago I had more fiberglass insulation blown into our attic. Last year I had new vinyl windows installed .

While it's not financially necessary, my wife elected to get our energy bill spread across 12 months so we pay the same amount each month.

As a result of better insulation and windows, the energy company sent us a rebate check for $300 and reduced our monthly payment by $25.

[Chris Damm]

I've always said that you only pay for insulation once but you pay for energy every month. When I built a new house in 1977 everyone thought I was nuts for over insulating. It now just makes minimum code.

[Paul F Franklin]

It would be interesting for you to compare actual usage (MCF for gas or KWH for electric) for a year before and after rather than just dollars, since price of energy has varied as well. And....you also have to consider degree-days since average temps over the last couple years have varied a lot in many area of the country. But aside from just cost savings, better insulation and windows usually make for more comfortable rooms, with fewer cold and hot spots and drafts. Enjoy your improved home!

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Please explain is window insulation thing. I'm confused.

335166

[Dave Anderson NH]

It's designed to keep the heat out Malcolm.:D

[roger wiegand]

When we bought our most recent house it had oil hot water heat and 1952 quality windows, insulation and air sealing. The first winter we hadn't moved in yet so set the thermostat to 42 degrees to keep the plumbing from freezing. We used $1200 worth of oil (~400 gallons at the time, 42 million btu's). We then increased the size of the house from 1500 to 2500 sf, (plus 1000 sf of new basement space) and did a semi-deep energy retrofit on the old part of the house (addition was done with spray foam plus 1" of rigid foam outside, the old part of the house we did spray foam in the attic and sill cavities, wrapped the exterior in 2" of rigid foam, dense pack cellulose in the interior walls, all new windows and doors, and air leak sealing everywhere like crazy). We built to moderately above the stretch code requirements, but not to PassivHaus standards. The last two winters we've turned the thermostat up to 68 deg and our gas bill has been about $600 each winter, about 48 million BTU. So we're now heating almost three times the volume of space (the basement is heated and the addition has 11 ft ceilings rather than the old New England 7-1/2 ft standard) to a temperature 27 degrees higher with roughly the same amount of energy for about half the price. What's not to like--aside from the upfront cost? (I don't know, and really don't want to know how much it cost the prior owners to heat the place to a more liveable temperature!)

In our neck of the woods it's not uncommon for houses to be in use for 200+ years, and ours is now built to have that kind of lifetime. Even over only 100 years the energy and operating cost savings will be huge.

[Jim Becker]

That's exactly why when we were building our addition in 2008, the whole structure was super-insulated with closed cell spray foam. And the areas of the house that had no or inadequate roof/ceiling insulation got taken care of during the re-roofing, too. We now have two HVAC systems and our monthly spend for energy is only about 35% more, rather than double. And it's a lot more comfortable, too. During the in-between seasons, that same insulation keeps things warm enough with ambient sources to reduce or eliminate heating from the gas and keeps things cool enough that the AC doesn't go on, either. Insulation is almost always a good investment.

[Al Launier]

My current home was built in 1997. It was insulated using the Blown In Blanket Sytem i.e. the "BIBs" process which is fiberglass wools mixed with a spray adhesive as it is blown into the walls, floors, attics, ceilings & around doors/windows & contained behind a mesh fabric that spans the wall studding & joists. It sticks to everything & seals well, preventing cold air entry that is typical around windows, outlets, etc. We keep our home at 68 °F during the days & 65 °F at night. We have a community plan with a local heating oil supplier that allows a price reduction & a budget plan for uniform payments spread over 10 months. We typically use 1,100 gallons of oil for, which varies each year, for heating & domestic hot water and costs $3,000-$3,500/year.

[Michael Weber]

we have an old house that still has quite a bit of the original "wavy glass" in the original windows. No way am I going to "upgrade" to new vinyl or anything else. I did build wooden "self storing" storm windows and have restored the sash and weather stripped and sealed weight pockets. Old house fans tout data showing new windows will never pay for themselves in energy savings when you consider expected life time vs cost vs energy savings. I don't personally know that to be true and would depend on the condition of the original Windows. On the other hand restoring old sash is likely expensive if you hire it out and a LOT of work if you DIY.

[Pat Barry]

21 months ago I had more fiberglass insulation blown into our attic. Last year I had new vinyl windows installed .

While it's not financially necessary, my wife elected to get our energy bill spread across 12 months so we pay the same amount each month.

As a result of better insulation and windows, the energy company sent us a rebate check for $300 and reduced our monthly payment by $25.
The rebate is nice Ken, but the $25 lower monthly payment might also be a sign that last winter wasn't quite so harsh. None the less, I am sure you are better off with the extar insulation and less drafty windows

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I will look at the bill and the energy usage over the same period. The annual degree days as I remember it were the same or 1º lower IIRC.

For the record, I used the wrong word when I said "rebate". This was actually a "refund" because we had been billed at the average monthly rate based on the previous year's energy usage.

[Steve Peterson]

When I was much younger, I spent a lot of time living in a cabin with poor insulation and single glazed windows. The wintertime temps probably got as low as 25F, so it wasn't as cold as most of the US gets. The only heat was a wood stove and it wouldn't keep the house warm all night. I would simply bundle up under a pile of blankets and wake up to a house that was between 35F and 40F.

Insulation became important to me and every house since then has been well insulated.

I suspect that people that lived in colonial times would insulate their bodies first with lots of layers of clothing.

Steve

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I found our most recent monthly statement. The average daily temperatures dropped from last year's 47ºF to the current year's 46ºF for the same 29 day billing period. Our electrical usage dropped from for the same billing period from 701 KWH last year to 522 KWH for this year.

Our natural gas usage went up from 78 therms to 83 therms for the same 29 day period but there is an abnormal condition. Our gas meter measures use in my shop and our home. This year I have held the temperature in my shop to 70º F because I have been finishing trim for our new kitchen addition, window casing and trim. Normally my shop would be 12 º F cooler.

You also have to factor in that we are heating a slightly larger space with the kitchen addition. The addition is set over a crawl space while the rest of the house including the area of the original kitchen sits over a full basement.

You also have to factor in that as regular incandescent light bulbs are burning out, I am replacing them with equivalent LEDs. In the new kitchen, all lights are LEDs. In the dining area, as the 5 bulbs in the over-the-table chandelier burn out, they are being replaced with equivalent LEDS.

After further thought, we also are now cooking with a gas range instead of an electric range. However, the new range has both an electric oven, a gas oven and with the kitchen remodel we had an electric wall oven installed too. So we actually have one more electric oven than before but we are cooking with natural gas.

In short, at this rate, I will regain the money I spent on the additional insulation in 2 years. I will probably never totally regain the expense of the new windows but we are enjoying less road noise from the street in front of our house, more comfort and it will help resell the house as we approach the point in our lives where we may no longer be able to keep up the house and yard.

My wife and I are pleased!

[Brian Elfert]

I bought a 1980 built foreclosed house in early Sept 2014 and replaced all the windows, doors, and put spray foam in the attic before I moved in two and half months later. The house was converted from electric heat to natural gas heat. The previous owner was spending $3,600 a year on electricity and had no air conditioning. I now average $100 a month for gas and electric for a total of $1200 a year. That $1,200 includes central air that I use a lot for two to three months a year. This house has nearly 100% LED lighting so that helps too.

Mr previous house was much tighter and better insulated yet the gas and electric cost about the same per square foot of house as my current house. I would have expected my current house to cost more due to worse insulation and not as air tight.

[Dan Hintz]

Not an insulation story, but money-saving, nonetheless.

We first moved into our new house back in mid-December 2014. The house is about 4,700 square feet with a 2,100+ square foot basement. At the worst of it, our monthly bills were $600 for propane (usage was about 20 gallons/day) and $600 for electric... nearly $1,200/month to (mostly) heat the place. I was NOT a happy camper.

We had a pellet stove at the old house, which I loved, so decided to do the same here. Although this year was more mild compared to last year, our propane usage dropped drastically to about 2-4 gallons/day, and the electric bill ranged from high-$200's to mid-$300's. Pellet usage so far this year has been about 2.2 tons, which amounts to around $700. The pellet stove ($6,500 installed) will likely pay for itself by end of next year.

Dropping the electric bill came from noticing the emergency heat was always kicking on in the conservatory (we have three different zones in the house... conservatory, main floor, and upper level), so a smart thermometer was the answer there (main floor already had one, need to get one for upper floor, too). Leaving the pellet stove on its lowest setting throughout the night during the really cold days kept everything else from cooling down too much, so the main heating unit only kicked in once or twice a day for 5-10 minutes. Oh, and I also put Ikea 75W-equivalent LED bulbs in all fixtures that see more than a couple hours of use/month.

So, insulation can save a lot... but fitting and controlling proper heat sources can save a lot, too.

[Chris Padilla]

My wife and I are pleased!

Happy wife....

[glenn bradley]

So many things we can do that aren't all that futuristic or involved; I installed a low water system for the planters and hardscaping and cut my water bill in half.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I put in LED bulbs and got an on demand hot water heater (propane) Saved a TON.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

A year later, our statements from the utility company show we are using 17% less energy, electric and natural gas, than the previous year and there is only a 1º difference in average outside temperature. We are happy!

[Wayne Lomman]

We may pay more fore computers and so on but if I spent $1500 a year on energy I would be horrified. Wood fire, electric hot water, gas stove and all the lights are LED. We need the mix of energy sources in case one is out due to storms or whatever. Old timber house with single glazing and minimal insulation too. As time allows I am planning to build new double glazed windows. I have a concept in mind that I will trial before I open my trap and recommend it. Cheers

[Jim Becker]

Being energy efficient is a good practice, no matter where one lives and what kind of energy sources are available. It's actually easier to do that these days with more and more innovations in material and techniques. I hate to think what the energy costs would be for our home if we hadn't upgraded insulation and other things when we put on our addition back in 2008 and since...darling daughters are not always, um...paying attention to energy usage, so the changes we've made have really helped to balance that out.

[Steve Peterson]

Not an insulation story, but money-saving, nonetheless.

We first moved into our new house back in mid-December 2014. The house is about 4,700 square feet with a 2,100+ square foot basement. At the worst of it, our monthly bills were $600 for propane (usage was about 20 gallons/day) and $600 for electric... nearly $1,200/month to (mostly) heat the place. I was NOT a happy camper.

We had a pellet stove at the old house, which I loved, so decided to do the same here. Although this year was more mild compared to last year, our propane usage dropped drastically to about 2-4 gallons/day, and the electric bill ranged from high-$200's to mid-$300's. Pellet usage so far this year has been about 2.2 tons, which amounts to around $700. The pellet stove ($6,500 installed) will likely pay for itself by end of next year.

Our last house had propane heat and the first winter heating bills were running $600-800 per month for a 2700sf house. We added a pellet stove and the bills dropped to $750 for the entire year. We stopped using the propane heater. I really liked having a nice warm spot to stand when you first come into the house. I miss that pellet stove at our current place.

Steve