GETTING READY FOR WINTER . . . and Next Summer


By the time you read this,


I think the hot and dry record- setting summer of 2012 will be over.My, my, my, it was a tough one. And just about all of us have felt the pain when we received perhaps the highest summer utility bills ever. Yes, including the Doug Rye household. However, just as you  reasonable because our house was  methods the electric cooperatives and I teach. Because the summer was so


hot, I received a lot of calls about  I am devoting a third consecutive column on this subject. I will use  and my responses to those questions in the hope it will answer your questions as well. In almost every hot attic


conversation, we talk about insulation. We nearly always recommend either cellulose or foam insulation. The best solution determines which one to use. We feel cellulose is the “greenest” insulation of the two and is usually lower in price. However, in many cases, foam is easier to install and can be the best answer to the problem. Almost every person asks about the foam, so let me give you a short history of it.


As best as I can determine, a


German chemist named Otto Bayer invented a type of foam in the late 1930s. It was then introduced in the United States in the 1940s and used primarily for military and aviation purposes. When the idea of super-


insulated homes was introduced in the 1970s, the interest in foam increased and several different types came to the marketplace. One type contained formaldehyde and had a problem of shrinking, which led to its ban.


"Cellulose is the 'greenest' insulation and usually


lower in price; however, foam may be your


best solution." It seemed to me the interest


in foam insulation really dropped off for a couple of years and then re-emerged rather rapidly in the 1980s. It was about this time I started teaching folks about energy  me ductwork in a hot or cold attic is a major energy problem. I was driving through Mountain Home, Ark., on a hot summer day


and noticed a steel-framed building under construction. The sign said it was to be a new food center. I noticed rolled insulation was being installed on the walls and on the sloped roof. I remember thinking, “Wow, that building won’t even have an attic. There will just be a   It was at that time I started


telling folks at seminars, “Write it down and date it. Doug Rye said we would see the day when houses didn’t even have attics.” Many houses have now been built without attics. 


of calls from folks concerned about their hot attics. Rita called from Oklahoma. I asked the questions I always do about a house:


☞ Where is it located? ☞ What is its size? ☞ How big is the attic?


☞ How much and what type of ceiling insulation is there now? ☞ Where is the ductwork located?


☞ How much was your last electric bill? and


☞ Why are you concerned about the temperature of the attic? Rita told me she lives in Enid, Okla., has a 1,200-square-foot one- Continued on page 23.


  


14 


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