This is my first entry here. This blog will cover some of the improvements projects that I will under go to our place. It's a 2 story home located in Greenfield Park, Quebec. It was contructed in 1999 and was pretty well built. BUT! There is always room for improvement. Here is one.
Project: Joist Rim
Duration: 5-6 Hours
Actual Time: 2 Weeks on and off (ya I have kids)
Costs: Around 175.00$
Went it comes to insulating you home, the rim joist is the biggest weekness. What's that? Good question. This is the area of your home that is located between the ceiling and the floor above. This area is very difficult to insulate because of the odd shape it has. (found this on google image search)
Our problem is located between the basement ceiling and the first floor. The best way to insulate this is with 2 lb spray foam. This will make a prefect seal and depending on thickness, R values can range from 7 to 20. Using spray foam is the ideal solution, Our basement is 28x 24. This would cost over 800$ to 1,200$ if I bought the spray foam and did it my self. 2500$-3000$ if you called in a pro. We have R-12 Batt insulation with a vapour barrier stapled to the wood.
This area is suppose to be tuck taped to the wood so that the cold air can not get around the vapour barrier. Yes you can simply tuck tape it! However for around 150-200$ I bought 4 sheets of 2 inch high density foam that will give an R-10 value and 10 cans of spray foam "Great Stuff". I cut the foam sheets to fit exactly between the joists, foundation concret and the sub floor above. All I removed was the vapour barrier plastic. I fixed the batt insulation and covered it with foam board. So there is R-12 + R-10. Because the foam sheets are 24x96, First cut them down the middle 12x96, and then I cut 13.5 inches from the 12x96. The foam board will not fit exactly in the cavity. That's what the foam spray is for. First install all the foam sheets before you start spraying. The reason for that is, once you start spraying the can will dry, reducing it's preformance later on. Do all the foam cutting installation, and then do all the spraying. It's better. Make sure you get all the spaces between the foam and the wood! Take your time and read the directions on the can. The idea is to fill up the space at 50%, starting at the back and letting the foam work it's way to the front. By the time the spray foam expands it will cover the entire area. It will take about 1 hour for spray foam to fully expand. If you have to cut the foam to get it around tubing or eletrical make sure you use tuck tape to reseal the cut.
We have now reduced the cold air infiltration. Our place has forced air heating. With the circulating fan on 24/7. There are 3 supplies and 1 cold air return. Cold air from the basement does get upstairs. The basement has always been 2 degrees colder then the above floors and is now the same tempature. We will see what the cold winter months bring in terms of energy savings.
