Rocket Mass Heater for my home

[pa_friendly_guy]

That would be my suggestion too Matt. They can drill holes in the siding,[ Normally up high ] and then blow in the insulation, either treated paper or foam. The holes are then plugged, normally with a metal plate that is simply nailed in place and then painted. It works very well, it does not change the structural make up of the house and it should pay for itself in a very few years. That pay back would be dependent on that you consider a cord of wood to be worth and how you value your time of course, but with oil or electric heat I have heard there is about a 3 to 4 year pay back. It makes that much difference in the heat bill.

[matt walker]

Yeah, thanks guys, I'm pondering the options, for sure. I didn't intend to do the windows this summer, but some good fortune in finding a few salvage windows that fit combined with a lot of work opportunities have led to me doing more than I intended. The big one I hope to be able to afford before too long is to insulate the attic. Right now there is an inch or two of really old, flat something or the other sitting on the ceiling, and it is not doing much. Then the floor, under my bedroom is again bare wood then dirt, and it's freezing in the winter. After that, I'll tackle the walls. The good new is my neighbor finished his band saw mill and I have endless cedar around here, so I might just strip the house from the outside and reside. Who knows, that's a ways away at this point.

[mannytheseacow]

Wow, I bet you will notice a big difference once you get those new windows in. Any talk about energy conservation always begins with buckling up what you have before trying to get more efficient appliances. I'll bet if you get a good blanket of insulation in your attic, get those windows in and sealed, and get those walls insulated and you'll have so much less heating demand. It's probably not as big a deal in your climate but I couldn't get by where I live without these things. Guy is right, these investments pay for themselves very quickly.

It would be awesome if you could use local lumber. I don't have enough consistent lumber to build a building with, but I think I have enough that I can use a bit inside.

If you do end up doing your walls inside at some point I wonder if you could use your wool? I also recently saw this other thing that seems very smart:

If I could do it all over again I totally would have done this in all the walls I've replaced in my home.

[GrahamB]

Matt I looked at redoing our roof space last year and you can get the machine and the bales of treated paper from Lowes. It's not that expensive either. If I remember correctly, the price to do my roof, which is about 1900 sq ft, would cost me about $250. You could do the walls just as easily I would imagine.

[pa_friendly_guy]

That sounds very cheap Graham, I am surprised. Of course you are providing the labor which is a huge cost, but still, if you could insulate your whole house, roof and walls for say $750 to $1000, that investment would pay for itself in a year with the heat savings. That is a great pay back, its hard not to do that when you think of the savings year after year after year. I would check the insulation required for an electrically heated home, they normally have stricter requirements. If you insulate to those specs you should be good for any type of heat source you choose.

[matt walker]

Yeah, that's great advice Graham, thank you. I looked into the blow in from Home Depot and I'll surely go that route, but I need to clean my plate of all the stuff I piled on for this summer first! But yeah, that's really affordable.

[GrahamB]

I'm in the same boat Matt. I have so many projects to do first that it may be next year before I get up in the roof. I really wanted to have it done this year to see if I could save a little more on the electric bills. Our house has been added to over the years and I don't believe the insulation is all that it should be. We need to check some of the exterior walls at the back of the house. I'm sure a couple of them are just like you described.

[Lollykoko]

Matt, if you can get cedar planks to use for siding your home, that would be the way to go, IMO.

We are also talking about blown in insulation for the house. Of course, it might only be talk for another year, since my son stays pretty busy at the restaurant. Folks I've talked to suggest having a crew of three or more folks in order to drill, fill, cover the holes, with someone running back and forth to keep the hopper full of material. I have also talked with them at Lowes, and it seems the price is do-able. It will cost less than a year of gas bills, anyway.

[matt walker]

So, windows are all in. On to getting some cedar up to my neighbor's mill and working on the trim. I sorta bit off a big project, in hindsight. Dropping in the windows wasn't too bad, but it means I need to not only trim the outside, but every room needs interior window trim now. As you guys know, it's for sure going to lead to lots of little details like painting the entire exterior, and at least a couple rooms inside. Winter projects, I guess.

I really am posting to share something I learned about my insulation situation. As I was cutting the larger openings in my room I exposed some of the text on the sheathing they used. It says Insulating Sheathing R 1.3. No wonder they didn't add anything else. Man, people were pretty silly in the '70's.

[pa_friendly_guy]

I understand the program Matt, when I built my home in the late 70's I wanted triple insulated window that were fairly new at the time. My contractor said you did not need that and put in double pane windows with storm windows on the out side. No where near as good, and I do not know what the cost difference was, he just wouldn't put in the triple pane in because he probably never had before. I am a bit older now and would insist on what I wanted today, then I was young and dumb.