Dear Rebecca, Jan, Ken & Margaret, Thank you all for excellent tips, many of which I hadn't considered. Look forward to tossing some tough questions to contractors on the varieties of insulation and means for testing/analyzing where my house will need it most. Please keep those tips coming folks. Tony
On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 11:31 AM, Kenneth Schlather <[email protected]>wrote: > Tony and others, > Now seems like a good time to let you know that Cooperative Extension of > Tompkins County has developed a website on energy efficiency practices that > not only tells you how much you can save by implementing different energy > saving practices in your home from A to Z but also shows you HOW, with > video clips for most of the things that may not be as clear as us > weatherizing greenhorns may like (how thin IS a thin bead of caulk > anyway?!). The site is designed to help those with little time (with a > table of some 34 tips that take 10 minutes or less to do), little money (23 > tips that cost nothing, plus many more that cost 20 bucks or less), as well > as for those who live in apartments or mobile homes. Each of the tips links > you to the page on the site where you can read or view HOW to do those > things. > > There is also a nifty house that you can click on any part of it to see > what you could do to save energy in that part of the house. (And Tony, > there is a great section on ventilation and another on insulation with some > excellent videos, that would be worthwhile looking at whether you hire a > contractor or do the work yourself.) > > You can find the site at this > link, http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/tompkins/energysavings/ or if you > would prefer to have a free CD of the website drop me a line off line and > let me know how you'll share the information about this site with someone > else and we'll get you the CD. If you want more than one CD so that you > can share it with other people we can arrange that as well. And if you do > visit the site and have suggestions for improvements we'd love to have them > as we intend to continue to improve the site. ken > > At 10:17 AM 12/11/2008, Jan Quarles wrote: > >Tony, > > > >Our farmhouse was built in 1870. We hired Performance Systems in 2005, and > >Jon Harrod was the lead person on the job. I would highly recommend him > and > >you can now contact him at his own company, "Snug Planet" in Ithaca. Jon > did > >a whole-house assessment, with a before-and-after blower test and a camera > >that can see through your walls to determine which ones need insulating. > We > >were surprised and relieved to find that most of our lathe and plaster > >walls, which are very thick, had plenty of insulation. Jon's expert advice > >saved us lots of money. He recommended keeping our old windows that > include > >old wood frame storms. The attic insulation of R50 value helped > >tremendously, along with doorsweeps and some weatherstripping. I think the > >insulation was rodent-proof cellulose, but you could ask Jon. Over the > past > >3 winters, the work they did helped us reduce heating fuel needs by 33%, > >just as Jon had predicted via the blower test results. It paid for itself, > >and we helped lower CO2 as well as our utility costs. > > > >- Jan Quarles > >Sheldrake, NY > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Tony Del Plato" <[email protected]> > >To: "postingsustainabletompkins" <[email protected] > > > >Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 9:24 AM > >Subject: [SustainableTompkins] Insulation > > > > > > > Hello TC Sustainers: > > > I just bought a home built in 1850 and want to insulate portions that > need > > > it. Any thoughts or experiences with Airkrete, Cellulose, Icynene or > > > Polyurethane as well as contractors would be appreciated. > > > Tony Del Plato > > > > > > -- > > > An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged > > > lancet, who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living. > > > - Nicholas Chamfort > > > _______________________________________________ > > > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > > > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > > > > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > > > [email protected] > > > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > > > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > > > > > > > > > -- > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > > > Checked by AVG. > > > Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.9.16/1843 - Release Date: > > > 12/11/2008 8:36 AM > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > >please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > > >RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > >[email protected] > >http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > >free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > -- An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet, who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living. - Nicholas Chamfort _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
