None of this is as hard as it looks. Figuring out the pay back on insulation and super insulation can probably be summed up as :
Scenario 1; current insulation 1/2 of recomended then you should insulate, how much insulation do you need: you need to at least triple your current insulation and you should at least provide 50% more than current standards, how much will insulating save you - well, it'll pay back in one to two years. this vaires alot with what other work is required to do your insulation. the less the better. Do it yourself: can you install insulation yourself, yes, best home improvement project you can do yourself.
Scenario 2: you have recommended insulation levels,, how much insulation do you need, none, except in your attic, even if you have the current recomended insulation, I'd say move to super insulation, insulating attics is cheap, savings best.
Scenario 3: you are already well above recommended insulation levels, how much more insulation do you need, none. Your money would be best spent installing a frost proof shallow foundation, capturing solar energy, or installing a heat recovery ventilator.
Restoration
or
Renovation
- That is
the question
Preservation is possible, as I've shown. Sustainability is enhanced by NOT THROWING OUT any more than you have to. I've been able to preserve nearly the entire historic, and much better built fabric of the building. I end up with a studier, quieter, massier house (mass is always good for energy efficency - mediates temperature swings) AND the local landfill got less trash.
I'm restoring a working house, it housed some of the origional estates' workers, then morphed into a 20 person rooming house as lords and lairds became passe. I consider workers housing as noble a manor house and I consider my work a restoration, physically, carefully keeping nearly all the existing historic fabric, and intellectually, reconfiguring it not as a modern manor house, a Mc Mansion, for a few, but again, for congerate living suited to our modern age.
Frost Proof
Shallow Foundation
-
Experiences w/
Old House Rehab
It is saving me the $40,000 or so it would cost to underpin the house, install a foundation and insulate it. Nor would this have addressed the rim joist, a major source of heat loss.
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