I got stuffed. (with photos)

And you can get stuffed, too.  I'm going to tell you how.  In fact, I'm going to show you a movie....honestly.

There are a lot of ways we can try to reduce our use of fossil fuels.  Here in the Northeast (I'm near Boston), winter heating is a serious and expensive issue.  I have wanted to reduce my heating costs for a long time--mostly because I'm cheap.  But as I have become more and more aware of my impact on the planet, and have become increasingly concerned about the possibility of fuel shortages from any variety of causes, I have wanted to do something to reduce my heating needs.

At one point I replaced many of my windows.  And that helped a lot. They look better, cut the street noise significantly, and they reduced my drafts in a major way.  I could feel warmer in my house at the same temperature I used to in the winter.  And I could cut back a degree or two and still be comfortable.  

In the hot weather these windows are better as well.  I don't have to wrestle with the damn broken weights or painted-shut problems and can now use the double-hung windows they way you are supposed to: let the hot air out the top and improve the circulation.

Although I made some gains with the replacement windows, I didn't see dramatic drops in my heating bills.  

So the next step was clear: insulation.

I knew it had to be done.  But I have an old house.  And a complicated house.  And I thought insulation would be crazy-expensive and difficult.  

I was wrong.  There, I said it.  I don't use that phrase easily ;)

After my TV debut about energy saving with a power cost monitor, my electric company representative made me aware of the home energy audit program.  I had heard about these, but I figured I was reading and doing what I already could.  But they told me that we could discuss insulation with the conservation folks.  And I did have questions.  I didn't want anything toxic.  I didn't want to rip out every wall.  But I wanted it to work.

So we had the audit.  We went all over the house discussing things.  We got some free CFLs!  But the main part of the conversation was about the insulation.  

Is it toxic?  Nope. The insulation they could help us get was, in fact, old newspapers.  Cellulose insulation is a perfect fit for our house.  In fact, it reduces the chance of fire spreading in your house, so it might even be safer in some ways.

Here's some more information on this, but one of my favorite lines was this:

The Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association (CIMA) claims that insulating a 1500 ft² house with cellulose will recycle as much newspaper as an individual will consume in 40 years. If all new homes were insulated with cellulose this would remove 3.2 million tons of newsprint from the nation’s waste stream each year.

40 years of newspaper out of the waste stream!! Does it get much better than that?

Will I have to rip out every wall?  Nope. I should mention this--my house is half covered in brick, as shown on the left.  I had no idea how we were going to insulate the bottom half without huge trauma.

Well, it turns out, they have vays of making you stuffed.

To get a sense of what has to happen, though, check out this movie (skip the ad).  It is really appropriate for my area--the guy even has the right accent.  And the age and type of house is similar to those around me.  Except I have that brick thing, and we'll discuss that more after you watch the movie.

But that shows exactly the way it worked.  A couple of guys--contracted by the energy audit folks--came with a truck with that blower machine.  They used those same exact bales of shredded old Boston Globes and other papers--I picked up a handful and could see some of the words! (We even got local stuffing--the manufacturer is in MA.)  And we got stuffed.

Now--because of the brick, in half the house we did have to drill holes in the exterior walls from the inside.  This was a tad messier than you might like.  I did have to cover the furniture.  I did pull my art off the walls.  I rolled up the rugs.  I had to vacuum, which I dread in general, but had to do more than usual after this.  I had to patch and paint.  This was a nuisance--but really, for the long term gain here--I can spackle a little and break out those cans of paint for a weekend.  Here are shots of a room yet to be stuffed, and one after stuffing.

They told me I went a little further than most people--heh heh heh.  I took my radiators off the pipes and pulled them away from the walls to be sure there was insulation back there.  I pulled the pans out of the kitchen cabinets.  You don't have to do this, I'm told.  But if I was gonna get stuffed, I was going all the way.

I asked the contractors if our house was about average or tougher than average, and they said it was definitely tougher than average.  The brick, and the adjacent neighbors make it hard to work on the ladders.  But in two days they did my whole house.

Did it cost a fortune?  Nope. The housemate and I always knew we would need to do this, but never seriously pursued it thinking it would be big money.  And it may be too big for some people.  But this whole house, with special needs, cost only $2232.20.  Just $1100 per unit.  I was expecting much more than that.  The energy audit contract system incorporated a rebate right in the front so we don't have to wait until tax time--the $1100 per unit is all we will pay.  With the increasing prices of fuels I don't think the payback will take very long at all.

Let the heating bills roll in!  And let them roll in lower--and with a smaller footprint--than they ever did before.

Conclusions:
Yes, there was some dirty language involved in the whole thing, like most home improvement escapades.  But I have recovered, vacuumed up, and pretty much I'm back to pre-stuffing condition.  We can already tell that the inside temperature of the house is much more stable than it used to be.  And the difference in the sound is kind of funny.  The other day it was really windy--and I didn't realize it until I went to the front of the house and looked out the window.  

Thinking about getting stuffed?  I would have to say go for it!

http://blogactionday.org/ I was inspired to write this up today because of the blogactionday call to fingertips.  I hope it helps someone to decide to insulate.