Insulating my house from the cold

Cius

Cius

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This is kinda a long term project of mine. Having been to the states and having seen some proper house construction in terms of insulation (keeping heat in and out) I have been keen to make my own home more efficient heat wise. After some research I found that cutting off air holes is the first place you have to start. Our windows frames here in SA are terrible for this but after some work I managed to reduce the draft significantly near my closed windows and seal up some holes in the roof. This still left my upper story freezing cold in winter and boiling in summer and I think the roof space is now the main culprit. Hence I want to put some form in insulation in my roof and see if that helps. Can anyone recommend different products? Has anyone recently done something like that and noticed a big difference?

Curious about the cost benefit trade-off. Not keen to spend a lot of money if the payoff is a 1% difference. From what I hear most people either use Aerolite products of some kind or the one where they spray in the shredded stuff with the hose. Also what are the implications in terms of roof leaks? We had a lot of leaks in the roof when I arrived which the complex repaired but I am worried that after I install insulation I will not notice the leaks anymore and hence may miss them until they do real damage.
 
My boss recently had his roof re insulated. Apparently its these balls they pump into the ceiling. Not sure what they are made of but he says it has made a huge difference. When he is in I will find out exactly what it was they did.
 
A little off topic...how did you fix the issue with your windows? Same issue in my place...have wooden windows and they are so poorly insulated...the cold just slips through so easily. Need to get the doors sorted too, as the gap to the floor is too big.
 
Remeber if you use a lot of heaters, Aerolite will help keep the warm in.

IN winter:
If you don't really use heaters, this may work at keeping your house cold, as your house will cool down in the evenings, and not warm up if you don't have good sun coming in through windows, as the heat radiated onto your roof will not get into your house!
 
CrazyFig said:
A little off topic...how did you fix the issue with your windows? Same issue in my place...have wooden windows and they are so poorly insulated...the cold just slips through so easily. Need to get the doors sorted too, as the gap to the floor is too big.
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I have metal frame windows, but probably same solution for either.
I use insulating foam strips from builders warebouse, these are black foam with a sticky side, and are on a roll. The roll is a bout 30cm-40cm in diameter.
 
The trade-off with insulation is that there will be little to no air flow, which can be a problem during rainy seasons. If you don't fit extractors and/or leave windows open, you could get moisture build-up which will lead to mould.
 
For windows and such I usually take white silicone (as my frames are white), some wax paper and some pritt.
Glue the wax paper to one side of the frame with the pritt glue-stick, close the window, silicone the other frame down to the wax paper.
Let the silicone dry, open the window and remove the wax paper :)

Works well and is discreet.

If you want to paint it get a tube of acrylic sealer instead of silicone.
 
CrazyFig said:
Need to get the doors sorted too, as the gap to the floor is too big.
Click to expand...

get those sausge dog shaped things, saw them seling them on the road the other day, its 2 of them linked by a few elastic strips you slide them under the door so both in and out is sealed at the bottom and it moves with the door.

AstroTurf said:
For windows and such I usually take white silicone (as my frames are white), some wax paper and some pritt.
Glue the wax paper to one side of the frame with the pritt glue-stick, close the window, silicone the other frame down to the wax paper.
Let the silicone dry, open the window and remove the wax paper :)

Works well and is discreet.

If you want to paint it get a tube of acrylic sealer instead of silicone.
Click to expand...

think i will try that, sounds like a good idea
 
What about those Air Vents up at the top of the wall above the pelmets? What is the best way to fill those up?

I know the council no longer requires those as part of the building code, so we can close them up.
 
Garyvdh said:
What about those Air Vents up at the top of the wall above the pelmets? What is the best way to fill those up?

I know the council no longer requires those as part of the building code, so we can close them up.
Click to expand...

That expanding foam stuff would work but absolutely no ventilation in your house would not be such a good idea.
 
AstroTurf said:
That expanding foam stuff would work but absolutely no ventilation in your house would not be such a good idea.
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Yeah, I know... Black Mould is a serious problem. That's why it is always good to open a window during the daytime.

But people in the northern hemisphere have totally sealed houses and they manage to survive just fine.
 
To all those who are worried about ventilation. He just wants to seal the cracks not weld the windows shut. I am pretty sure he can open a window like the rest of us:D
 
Garyvdh said:
Yeah, I know... Black Mould is a serious problem. That's why it is always good to open a window during the daytime.

But people in the northern hemisphere have totally sealed houses and they manage to survive just fine.
Click to expand...

They also have long winters and short summers.
 
Cius said:
From what I hear most people either use Aerolite products of some kind or the one where they spray in the shredded stuff with the hose.
Click to expand...

Stay away from the shredded stuff, after a while that fine shredded stuff filters through the joins in your ceiling and you then have a major dust problem, any little gap this stuff seeps through.
 
For the windows I just tightened all the nuts and bolts and it made a big difference as the window latches where often very loose. If I was still feeling a breeze I would probably have used that foam sealer or the waxpaper/sillicone idea. As to the spray in stuff it does not sound like my style. Too messy looking. I prefer the idea of Aerolite and will go with that probably. Just need time to swing by builders.

On the ventilation issue. Not that big an issue for us. There are enough cracks that we have no mould issues. Also in summer when things are damper we tend to leave the windows open a lot. Its only winter that I am constantly trying to keep heat in. We are fortunate to have a nice north facing home so we get a lot of sunlight in which warms the house nicely even on cold days, its just that heat does not stay around much at night as it all escapes via my roof I suspect and the windows.
 
in Bloemfontein I recently paid R60/m2 (incl installation) for 100mm thick think pink. SO worth it.
 
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