Older homes and insulation

[Kmarissa]

Gibson, thanks for the suggestions. I think it's definitely worth getting a humidity gauge or two. I have to admit, we tend to be pretty lax about humidity; we have humidifiers going in our two bedrooms at night this time of year because otherwise we get stuffy noses and sore throats the whole time the heat is on (I do sometimes miss the radiators at our last house; I never felt like the winter air was too dry there). It would be good to learn more about how the humidity levels change in our house over time.

To be honest, although I'd love the benefit of lower heating bills in the winter (although they're really not that bad in our area), the main reason we had been considering some kind of on-top insulation strategy was to try to deal with the summer heat in our finished attic. The attic space is probably around 400 square feet, but even using two window units at full blast (which are loud and ugly) plus the house's central AC (which cools the space with two vents), during the hottest months of summer, it's well into 80 degrees up there. I'm sure a good portion of that is due to heat rising through the house, but you can also feel the heat radiating down from the ceiling if you reach up. We've thought about saving up for some kind of mini-split AC for the space someday, but from an environmental perspective and long-term cost perspective it would be nice to find a way to lessen the overall heat gain in the space instead or in addition.

[Seabornman]

After reading your posts, I have to ask: is this third floor room a legal bedroom? Does the window qualify as a means of egress? You could have problems down the road if it isn't, at least here in US.

That being said, a good source for energy questions is Green Building Advisor (http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/qa) where you can ask questions such as yours and have an expert (and some non-experts) give you advice.

Good luck!

[JacquieJet]

After reading your posts, I have to ask: is this third floor room a legal bedroom? Does the window qualify as a means of egress? You could have problems down the road if it isn't, at least here in US.

That being said, a good source for energy questions is Green Building Advisor (http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/qa) where you can ask questions such as yours and have an expert (and some non-experts) give you advice.

Good luck!

Thanks! I'll check into those. I don't know the legalities of a third floor bedroom, but I don't see how it would be any different than the bedrooms on the second floor... both have windows, but it would be a bit of a painful jump to escape through any of them! Many houses around here convert the lofts into master bedrooms, I think because of the size... not saying that makes it a good idea or bad, but I know it is common.

[phil]

maybe its considered grandfathered if that space was made into living space early on? at one point these rules weren't so sticky. If it were a major reno and you pulled a permit they may have something to say. I think if you sell the house and state it has X number of bedrooms in the listing , then it could be an issue to the realtor as you can't really call it a bedroom without it meeting certain requirements, But I'm no lawyer. You might have to advertise it as a 2 bedroom when really it's 3 or something ?

with air conditioning. someone cut the bottom off my bedroom door, I guess to clear carpet. that inch or so under the door lets the cool air spill down the stairs. when AC is onm if I just put my hand on the top step I can feel the AC being lost to downstairs.

[JacquieJet]

Perhaps. Usually it seems that the houses that have the loft converted list as a "3+1" bedroom (or however many main bedrooms plus the loft), so I think you are correct, Phil.