Attic Mayhem

Simply put, your roof and attic are the most important parts of your house - anything else is just extra stuff holding the roof and attic up. The whole purpose for a house is to be a place to live in that will protect you and your stuff from the weather, and your attic and roof are what does almost all of the protecting. The roof keeps rain out of your attic, and your attic keeps the house at a reasonable temperature.
The attic keeps the heat in your house during winter, and the heat out during summer. The attic will get extremely hot during the summer, from the sun heating up those dark-colored asphalt based shingles. It will retain that heat long into the night, forcing you to run your A/C a lot longer. There are three solutions to this problem:

1) Vent the attic, get that hot air out of there.

There are many ways to vent your attic, and it can get pretty complicated if your roof is a complex shape. If your roof was properly built in the first place, it's designed so that cold air comes in from the soffits (vents under the overhang of your roof) and flows out through a vent at the top of the roof, allowing a constant "wash" of cold air over the underside of the roof. If you have a crappy old house, like I do, you might just need to install vents and an exhaust fan. Click here for some pictures and demonstrations about what I am describing. This is also important for keeping moisture out of the attic.

PROTIP:
If you have mold, mildew, and rusting nails in the attic, it's probably not venting moisture well enough.

2) Insulate the attic, or separating your living area from the inferno over your head.

This is the most important part of your house to insulate. Here is where the heat of the sun is kept out during summer, and the heat from your heater is kept in during winter. Different areas have different standards for how much insulation goes into your attic, for example, in Maryland the standards are:

- Attic: (Green: R-49) (Std: R-38)
- Floor: (Green: R-30) (Std: R-25)
- Exterior walls: (Green: R-18 to R-22) (Std: 13)
- Unventilated Crawl spaces: (Green: R-25) (Std: R-19)
- Basement walls: (Green: R-25) (Std R-11)

You can see that the attic calls for the highest R-value of insulation in the house.

You have a lot of options for how to insulate the attic, If your attic is pretty open and square, like mine, you can use rolls of fiberglass, or you can use blow-in insulation (for those hard to reach areas, or if you're too lazy to roll out the fiberglass). Another option is spray-in insulation, it's expensive but is supposed to be the most effective.

You don't want to compress the insulation once it is in, the air inside the insulation is one of the things that gives it such great insulating properties.

PROTIP:
Use a mask when laying fiberglass, and rub all exposed skin with baby powder before starting work, it makes the glass much less likely to stick to you and saves you tons of itching. I tried this, it works.

3)Reject heat before it even gets into the attic.

Don't use black shingles, they soak up the sun. If you already have them, many companies offer a aluminum-based silver paint that not only protects your roof, but helps reflect heat away from your house.

PROTIP:
If your roof is the right shape, it will reflect and focus the heat onto your neighbors house, causing it to explode. Wear eye protection.

Now, if you're one of those idiots who bought a really small house with no space to store anything (like myself), then you probably want to turn your unfinished attic into storage space. That is what I chose to do, because the roof is so low you can't even stand up in the middle of the attic - turning it into living space would be pointless, wasteful, and cruel to your guests if you turn it into a guest room. I went to Home Depot (boo) and grabbed the cheapest flat wood I could find that would still hold my weight - half inch OSB (chip board) at $5.22 per 4x8 sheet. I had them chop it in half into 2x8 sheets to make it easier to transport and manage (it's free to have them cut your wood).
My house is divided into two sections, the addition, and the old house. The addition has proper 2x6 supports and is very sturdy. I simply put the OSB down and nailed it in place, sometimes notching the edges to allow a wire through. The old house has 3x3 beams, and is not even remotely sturdy. There are many solutions, but I just wanted storage space. So I made supports by cutting a 2x4 to fit and screwed one end into the joist (the 3x3 beam I was going to be standing on) and screwed the other end into a rafter (the slanted beams holding up the roof deck). Then I notched the OSB to fit around the new supports.

Now I have a floor I can walk on and store stuff on in the attic.

PROTIP:
My friend Mark did most of the measuring and cutting for me, everyone needs a Mark. They may be out of stock of Mark at Harbor Freight, check back in the future.

Ceiling Fans: The Hanging Menace

Here in Maryland it was dry, windy and freezing only a few weeks ago, now the mercury has climbed above 90 degrees, the wind stopped, and the humidity hit the point where you only have to inhale if you want a drink of water.

As the local power company knows, Montgomery County, Maryland usually welcomes in the weather with the cacophony of a couple hundred thousand air conditioners turning on at once, converting piles of money into pure Colombian uncut cold air. One of the multitude of roaring air conditioners was attached to my house, it's metal tentacles reaching out and taking money out of my wallet and beating up the occasional kid for his lunch money.

I was alarmed, and not just because my air conditioning unit was mugging people - I was alarmed at the fact that the air conditioner took a very large amount of energy to make the house a bearable temperature, and due to the lousy insulation in my old house, it had to keep using a lot of energy. I calculated it out to an extra $100 to $120 a month to keep our house cool.

I needed a solution, so I turned to the best model I could think of for saving money, an industrial revolution era sweat shop. Looming far over the heads of the hapless and overworked rabble below, powered by their rage and their deep-rooted hatred of humanity, the ceiling fans loom.

The history of the ceiling fan goes back a long way, and with modern fans the concept is the same, move air around. In a modern home, the ceiling fan is usually only noticed when really dirty or unbalanced - or if it is mounted too low and some unsuspecting fool tries to take off their coat and accidentally hits the fan, sending the dust that's been sitting on it for twenty years flying everywhere, but I wouldn't know anything about that. When functioning properly, the fan gets a nice breeze going in the room, just enough to be comfortable without being obnoxious. It makes higher temperatures bearable without actually dropping the temperature.

Unlike an air conditioner, fans take very little energy, usually around 80 watts on their highest setting, around the power use of one of your ancient Edison-era earth-destroying incandescent light-bulbs. That is why they became very popular in the 70's energy crisis. In fact, they liked ceiling fans so much in the 70's that they had to invent platform shoes so everyone could be closer to them.

In the winter you can set the fans on reverse to push the hot air that collects on the ceiling back down to to you. I haven't tried this myself yet.

There is a huge selection of fans to choose from, though the newer fans actually tend to be much lower quality then the older fans (for example, older fans tended to come with solid wood blades instead of particle board). I read a bunch of articles going on about blade pitch and shape and motor quality, but for my price range I just wanted a fan that worked well and was cheap. I got three from Home Depot, made by Hampton Bay. $40, $50, and $60. If you want to spend a lot more, you can get nicer fans, but for me to spend more money on a money saving device, it better deliver more value - such as allowing me to travel through time or get along with my mother-in-law.

Fans come in a lot of different sizes, but almost all of the ones for sale at Home Depot were 52 inches (a measure of the diameter of the whole unit, not just the blade). To find the proper size for your fan, check out the handy chart here. I have low ceilings so I got "flush mount" fans (most fans have a "flush mount" feature). The theory behind the number of blades a fan has is more blades, more air moved at a slower speed, so less noise and bearing wear.

Installation of these fans is pretty easy, despite the massive instruction novel included with them. Installation is made even easier if you have a great friend like Mark helping you install them. For all three of the fans I had to install, I was replacing an existing light fixture, so the wires were already there. Also, they were strong enough that I did not have to reinforce the receptacle. If you do have to reinforce yours, it's not that difficult, and a lot of fans come with kits to help you do just that (not that you really need them, a 2x4 and some screws will do the job nicely)

The first fan I got went over the kitchen table, it's a 52 inch that did 4000 CFM (Cubic feet of air Per Minute) on high. Unless you were sitting directly under it you didnt feel much air at all. In the bedroom I installed a 52 inch fan that featured 5000 CFM on high and it was perfect. Just a warning to you, don't expect hurricane force winds from a regular cheap-o store bought ceiling fan, you don't really want that, you just want the air moving so that you'll feel a lot cooler and the humidity wont drown you. They look nice too.

It's nice falling asleep knowing that you're comfortable and the A/C isn't on all the time, sucking up money and small children, and the breeze is nice too.

If you are considering getting a ceiling fan, Wikipedia, despite it's obvious biases, actually has a really nice article on them.

Seven useful websites for help with the high price of gas

Sure, there's tons of news about how high energy costs are, and how that's driving up the price of food and other goods, but these sites stood out to me, and I'd like to share them with you.

1) Ten things you can like about $4 a gallon gas - "But it's also true that Americans are finding options where there seemed to be none. They're ready to change — and waiting for their infrastructure to catch up. They are driving to commuter-rail lines only to find there are no parking spots left. They are running fewer errands and dumping their SUVs. Public-transit use is at a 50-year high. Gas purchases are down 2% to 3%. And all those changes bring secondary, hard-earned benefits. "

2) Website lets drivers lock in gas prices - "A recently introduced service called MyGallons.com allows drivers to fill up their tanks sometime in the future but at current prices, using a debit-like card which banks gallons rather than dollars."

3) Gas Savers - "A community of fuel economy enthusiasts. Our typical member does not own a hybrid. Our typical member is like you: With a normal vehicle and a desire to increase the fuel economy of that vehicle. Whether you want to save money, save the environment, or just reduce our dependency on foreign oil, there is a place for you here! Perhaps you just wish to have a way to track your fuel consumption. Using our garage you can create a profile for your vehicle and start tracking your fuel consumption. You can even compare gas mileage with other members in the Garage. Join GasSavers, do your part, and start associating with people like you. You don't have to be a mechanic or a gear head in order to change your fuel economy, you just have to know what to do."

4) EcoModder - "An automotive community where performance is judged by fuel economy rather than power and speed. EcoModders employ a combination of vehicle mods, driving techniques, and common sense to squeeze every penny out of the pumps. Reasons for becoming a member range from the economical to the ecological. More info about where EcoModding came from."

5) Gas Buddy - "Now you can see what gas prices are around the country at a glance. Areas are color coded according to their price for the average price for regular unleaded gasoline. Click here for the Canada National Gas Temperature Map."

6) Motorcycle Fuel Economy Guide - As oil prices rise across the world, gas prices just keep rocketing up too. Cheap gas seems to be a memory of the past as we all look to save money on fuel, and saving is never all that fun. Why not do both? Save your money and have fun at the same time; on a motorcycle! . . . Motorcycles are some of the best vehicles to give you the best economy, efficiency, and gas mileage. See and compare all different models from the major manufacturers all in one spot."

7) Gas Edge - "Find out if it's worth the trip for cheaper gas! Sure, the gas station across town has a lower price on gasoline, but is it really worth the trip? Will you save more money on the gas then it costs to drive to the cheaper gas station? Use this free calculator to find out"

How to Drive for the Best Fuel Economy: Debunking the Myths, Part 1

In today's article about saving that precious clear liquid that almost all of us world-wide are addicted to, you're going to learn a fun trick: Don't drive slow, accelerate slow (but not too slow, I'll explain)

Driving super slow doesn't save gas, in fact, it wastes it. If your car is not in the highest gear possible, you're most likely not getting the best fuel economy possible. I'm sure you've seen those people in economy cars, driving around at some insanely slow speed, thinking about all the fuel they're saving, but in reality their engines are working harder then they need to, spinning faster and sucking down more gas then the fellow who speeds past them.

It all has to do with the gearing of your car's transmission. When you're in first gear, your engine is spinning rather fast, and the faster it spins, the more air it sucks in. The more air your engine sucks in, the more fuel it needs to balance out the mixture (at least on gasoline engines). So, you shift into second (or your car does it for you, if you're one of those unfortunates with an automatic transmission), and now the engine is doing less work to keep the car going the same speed, or the same work to go a higher speed. Each time you go fast enough to shift up a gear (and do so), the engine spins slower, using less gas and wearing out slower.

So, the first reason going too slow wastes gas: If our car is not in its top gear, your engine is doing more work for less distance.

Now, once your car is in its top gear, going faster and faster will lose you fuel economy once you exit the point that your engine is efficient. This point is different for different cars. For example, my 91 RX-7 got it's best fuel economy at an average of 72MPH on a long highway trip. After that point, if I go any faster, the MPG drops. On regular cars, that spot is a bit lower, around the low 60mph range, depending. On vans and SUVs, the fuel economy "happy zone" is a bit lower, (probably around 50 to 60, depending on your car) because wind resistance is such a factor at higher speeds.

So how can you apply this?

First off, the faster you're in the next gear, the better. The longer you're in a low gear, the more gas is being wasted on going less distance. Though, if you shift too soon, the engine will lug (in older cars your engine might even knock and ping!) and you'll end up having to put your foot down more and more just to get up the tiniest of hills with your fuel economy dropping the whole way.

So, since shifting too soon doesn't work, how about flooring it to get up to speed so you can shift faster? That won't work either, as jackrabbit starts are a huge waste of gas. Ideally, you want the engine to be doing as little total work over the entire course of getting up to speed as possible. A good rule of thumb if you don't know how fast to accelerate, is try to keep the engine relatively quiet. If that doesn't sound scientific enough for you, you can buy a decent vacuum gauge for $36 from Summit Racing (dot com!), so that you can tell how hard your engine is working. If you go that route, try and keep that needle above ~9.

Mentioning "Top Gear" so much makes me think of the TV show, so by all means, have a read about what they have to say about fuel economy at Clarkson's top fuel saving tips, the fellows who brought you this video:




If that isn't interesting to you, you can always read about the fellow pulling 59mpg in a plain old Honda Accord.

I hope this article has been helpful to you, feel free to share what tricks have worked for you in the comments.