Insulating an old house on a budget

[JDE]

I am trying to decide the next step for insulating an old weatherboard house. I cant get into the walls and it has a skillion roof. So cant really insulate walls or roof. The house is on peers  the front right floor is ground level but has been dug in and sits on 600mm peers the back left is approximately 1100mm off the ground. At this stage we have put in 2.5r bats under the back half of the house and under the main bedroom, double glazed the main window in the main bedroom and put insulating blinds on all windows.  The front lounge room is 6.5m wide with 600mm window panes above 4glass doors and 2 windows. The floor is carpet over floor boards. I cant afford to double glaze the top glass area 600 x 6500. Has anyone done secondary glazing (diy double glaze) and was it effective or a waste of time and money? Im considering using polycarbonate. Or would I be better off either a) building in the fourth wall under the house, 3 are already bricked in but back edge is open but protected by a 3m deck or b) insulating the rest of the floor which is in the front closed in and shallow part of the house. We live in the New England area - regular frosts in winter and high 30s in summer.  Thanks James 

[MitchellMc]

Hi JDE. Many thanks for your question, I'd be happy to kick-off the discussion.

It certainly sounds like you have gone above and beyond with trying to get the insulation sorted. I get the feeling from your description that the walls are significantly affecting the overall ability to control temperatures within your home. Have you considered any of the options for insulating the walls without removing the weatherboards or internal linings? You might already be aware but there are many contractors which can inject mediums into the walls from ports created in them. Obviously there will need to be repairs done afterwards and the process can be expensive, but it opens up the possibility of having loose-fill or injected foam installed.

I too suffer from an un-insulated weatherboard house and am dreading the coming winter once again. I'd be interested to hear what our helpful member's thoughts are on insulating weatherboards homes.

Mitchell

[JDE]

Mitchell its my mother inlaws house and she has a very limited budget. Im really interested in the idea of secondary glazing where you fit a second pane of glass or polycarbonate into existing windows. I can do the labour but dont want to waste her money if its not effective. Google searches are very contradictory about it. Most having a $ interest either way. Would love to here from someone with real life experience. Heres hoping.

JDE

[Kermit]

I will be following this topic with interest. 

I'm not sure whether you should insulate as much as you possibly can, or that if you only insulate some parts of a house/room/whatever, then the heat will escape out of the weakest point and you won't get any benefit. Looking forward to responses from someone smarter than me...

[JDE]

Kermit  I hear you. The areas that we have done the floor on so far are key areas that get used the most and can be closed off with the exception of the kitchen. Which unfortunately shares an opening with the main lounge.

JDE