Wanting to build a new house, been living in an old drafty house. Wondering what your opinions are on the exterior wall thickness over the standard. I am wanting to built the most effecient house possible.
building a house
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Laird
Nemo me impune lacessit
I consider 2x6 studs standard nowadays, you talking about more than that?
Yes, wondering if it would be worth going thicker than the 6"
Laird
Nemo me impune lacessit
Probably not for where you live or even most places. You go thicker that that and it gets more expensive for alot of different reasons.
Curlycherry1
Addicted to ArboristSite
Check out Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs). Foam sandwiched between two pieces of OSB. No studs but a more solid than 2x4 2x6 construction. 2x6" wall is equal to a 2x8+ stick framed wall. Several SIPs houses held up to Katrina and were the only ones left standing. I used them for my addition 3 years ago. The builder that put my addition on put up a local house that was so tight that it was wasting less than ~$20 in energy per year.
If you do go with 2x stick framing then by all means use spray in place foam insulation. No way no how can fiberglass get a house as tight as that foam can.
mtngun
Addicted to ArboristSite
Arkansas is not exactly the North Pole.
You nailed it with the word "drafty." Air infiltration is what makes a house feel cold. Wrap the walls with tyvak and use modern windows and doors. If you do that, even 2x4 walls will be comfy.
Your right, but there are stints where we may stay in the lower teens atleast for the lows for a month or more. If I am building the one and only house that I will ever build. I want it done right. These structural panels look interesting. I will have to see if there is anyone in arkansas that handles these. I have found some places in other states.
slofr8
ArboristSite Operative
I'm with catfish,
I have a 1550' house with a daylight basement facing the south. The house has a lot of glass on the south side, little on the east and north side, and none on the west. I put my attached garage on the west side for two reasons. First to help block the cold north-west wind from hitting the house in the winter and also to keep the hot summer sun that sets in the west from heating it up. I put 4' eaves (overhang) on the south side and at this latitude, it shades the south windows most of the summer and lets sun in most of the winter. If the sun is out, my house will not call for heat no matter how cold. At night, I'll make a fire in the wood stove we have in the living room and that takes care of my heating needs up stairs. The oil furnace takes care of the basement and domestic water. I might have done this differently had I foreseen $5:00 a gal. oil prices but it is what it is.
My point is that with little extra cost, just by orientating my house to maximize the sun, I think I've cut down on my heating fuel consumption but I KNOW my house is comfortable. Yes the south facing windows that help heat the house during the day, let heat out at night but I'm there to manage that. I'm framed with 2x6's and I burn 3 1/2 to 4 cord of wood a year. I'm sure thicker walls would have helped some but how much considering I'm heating with wood. 1/2 a cord? Maybe? I cut my own wood on my land so even this isn't an issue.
An other thing I did was to spray expanding foam into every hole that was drilled up through the top plates for plumbing or electrical wiring. Added up I'll bet that's like having a 1' uninsulated hole in your ceiling.
More insulation almost always = more efficency, but at a cost.
Good luck. Dan.
CrappieKeith
Addicted to ArboristSite
Try 20-45 below zero non wild chill....teens..we call that a heat wave in the winter.
Your heading in the right direction...SIP are great but where you live...2x6 construction with tyvek outside and properlly insulted will handle that heat load easily.
Heck...heating a well built 2x6 constructed home is easy to do up here .
LOL. I will pass on the 20-45 below. I have a 4200 sq ft house and burn about 25-30 rick of wood to heat it. I cut it my self. The cooling is what tears me up I have had some 400 dollar bills in july and aug.
ericjeeper
Addicted to ArboristSite
Do not skimp on doors and windows
That is one of the biggest faults of todays builders. Using old school glass packs and then spending big bucks on spray foaming the walls.. R19 walls and R 4 windows.. There are windows available with an R 10
Triple glazed with two panes with soft coat Lo-e and Krypton gas. U factor of .18
That is one of the biggest faults of todays builders. Using old school glass packs and then spending big bucks on spray foaming the walls.. R19 walls and R 4 windows.. There are windows available with an R 10
Triple glazed with two panes with soft coat Lo-e and Krypton gas. U factor of .18
biggenius29
Addicted to ArboristSite
What I did in my remodel job in our house, I insulated the walls, then I put 1" foam (the pink stuff that comes in 4x8 sheets) then I drywalled over that. I am going to reside the house this comming summer so I am also going to put house wrap on the outside.
Hopefully I will have a draft free house.
Hopefully I will have a draft free house.
oneoldbanjo
Addicted to ArboristSite
I built my 2,200 square foot house and 1,900 square foot garage using Sips Panels. My garage walls are 4" of foam insulation with a 12" thick foam roof because of the long span - the house has 6" thick walls with a 10" thick roof. The floor has 1.5 inch thick foam under the slab and the concrete floor is seperated from the footing and foundation walls by 1/2 inch thick foam. The seams in the SIPS panels are all caulked during installation and the house is very tight and well insulated. If the outside temp is 90 degrees and the inside is 70 degrees and we shut all the windows.....we will only gain 4 degrees all day. In the winter our utilities run about $ 70 a month. We have an OWB and to heat heat the garage and house and provide domestic hot water it requires about a single wheelbarrow load of wood a day - that increases to about 2 wheelbarrow loads when the temperature drops into the teens.
The cost of SIPS panels is supposed to be about 20% more than conventional construction but you are supposed to make it up in labor savings as the panels to up very quick. We didn't experience the labor savings as our framers had never worked with the panels before - but I suppose the next one they do will go quicker. Our garage was a complete shell in 2 days and it took about a week for the house. There are some quirks with the SIPS panels as wiring and plumbing are done a bit different and similar to what a log cabin requires. I love my house - it is my retirement house (I plan on retiring in this house in about 15 years) and I never intend to let the utility company hold me hostage with high fuel prices.
The cost of SIPS panels is supposed to be about 20% more than conventional construction but you are supposed to make it up in labor savings as the panels to up very quick. We didn't experience the labor savings as our framers had never worked with the panels before - but I suppose the next one they do will go quicker. Our garage was a complete shell in 2 days and it took about a week for the house. There are some quirks with the SIPS panels as wiring and plumbing are done a bit different and similar to what a log cabin requires. I love my house - it is my retirement house (I plan on retiring in this house in about 15 years) and I never intend to let the utility company hold me hostage with high fuel prices.
I built my 2,200 square foot house and 1,900 square foot garage using Sips Panels. My garage walls are 4" of foam insulation with a 12" thick foam roof because of the long span - the house has 6" thick walls with a 10" thick roof. The floor has 1.5 inch thick foam under the slab and the concrete floor is seperated from the footing and foundation walls by 1/2 inch thick foam. The seams in the SIPS panels are all caulked during installation and the house is very tight and well insulated. If the outside temp is 90 degrees and the inside is 70 degrees and we shut all the windows.....we will only gain 4 degrees all day. In the winter our utilities run about $ 70 a month. We have an OWB and to heat heat the garage and house and provide domestic hot water it requires about a single wheelbarrow load of wood a day - that increases to about 2 wheelbarrow loads when the temperature drops into the teens.
The cost of SIPS panels is supposed to be about 20% more than conventional construction but you are supposed to make it up in labor savings as the panels to up very quick. We didn't experience the labor savings as our framers had never worked with the panels before - but I suppose the next one they do will go quicker. Our garage was a complete shell in 2 days and it took about a week for the house. There are some quirks with the SIPS panels as wiring and plumbing are done a bit different and similar to what a log cabin requires. I love my house - it is my retirement house (I plan on retiring in this house in about 15 years) and I never intend to let the utility company hold me hostage with high fuel prices.
very nice.
biggenius29
Addicted to ArboristSite
Oh yea, much better. But wait till you price it out...... Not cheap.
Curlycherry1
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yes, foam makes the connections air tight. Cellulose will move and get out of the way of a draft, foam cannot do that.
Curlycherry1
Addicted to ArboristSite
My SIPs panels went up ungodly fast because the crew was experienced. The electrical chases were already in the walls, one at 18" horizontally for electric, one 4' up for switches and stuff, and every panel had at least one vertical one top to bottom to connect everything. I recently needed to add an outlet recently and so all I did was go into the basement and find the vertical chase and then marked it on the wall, opened up the wall and right there it was. I was able to run iPOD wires from my pantry down to my stereo in the basement.
I also second the placement of the house. Mine is passive solar double house and it costs virtually nothing to heat and cool my house. Single woodstove at night keeps the furnace off until around 3 am. Sun in the day takes the place up to 72 and holds it there no problem. Long South side eves (27" for this lattitude) keep the sun out of the house from April 8th until sometime in September. So the house never gets hot in the summer due to the sun. My dog loves the basement in the winter because he follows the sun like a sundial.
I also second the placement of the house. Mine is passive solar double house and it costs virtually nothing to heat and cool my house. Single woodstove at night keeps the furnace off until around 3 am. Sun in the day takes the place up to 72 and holds it there no problem. Long South side eves (27" for this lattitude) keep the sun out of the house from April 8th until sometime in September. So the house never gets hot in the summer due to the sun. My dog loves the basement in the winter because he follows the sun like a sundial.
Art Vandelay
Bovinius Maximus
If you go with 2x8 walls, I gotta ask what are you going to do for windows and doors. I've never seen frames for them bigger than 2x6. Custom ordering them could be outrageous.
You might want to look in to the icf concrete forms also with a SIP roof. That is also way up on the effieciency list. It is also rated well for the tornados and such that happen in Arkansas. Kinda like a Styrofoam lego that is then poured full of concrete after building them. I have worked on a few and they turned out really nice.
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