Random Thoughts: Warm and Toasty

That's what I want to be this winter without breaking the bank if that's possible. The other day, I saw the post written by a former coworker who is pre-buying the oil to heat his Bed and Breakfast in central Vermont. In his post he discusses the option (converting to wood heat) he is considering as a result of the high price of oil. I have considered seriously using wood as a supplemental heating source, but it is impractical to use it as a primary source unless I want to invest in the infrastructure of a wood boiler. Knowing that I will need it soon, I checked the price from the place I buy my oil. I think I actually heard my wallet faintly scream when I saw $4.44 per gallon.

On my way to work that day, it just so happened that the talk-radio host was taking a deviation from rampant local corruption and outrage. He was soliciting ideas from people to save energy (money) and improve efficiency of their homes. The first and only caller I heard had the best, most cost-effective, logical suggestion... Insulation. That fluffy pink stuff can turn a drafty ice box into an oven.

Naturally, I wanted to know some additional information. First off, I checked what I "should" have. According to various places, in this area of the country I should have an R-49 in my attic. OK, great. So now I have to find out what I currently have. I grab the tape measure and climb up into the attic and find that I have about 4.5-5 inches of partially compressed fiberglass in my 2x6 joists. Being generous, I would have R-19. More realistically, I have somewhere around R-16. Hmm... That doesn't sound all that great.

OK. I have made the choice to find out what it would cost to replace what I have with a full R-19 and add an additional R-30 on top of that. The only place I can think of locally that lists the prices online is Home Depot. The cost per Kraft-backed R-19 roll is $19.78. I would need approximately 18 rolls for a total of $356.04. The cost per R-30 unfaced roll is $23.75. Because they are thicker, they cover less square footage. As such, I would need 28 rolls for a total cost of $665.00. The total comes to $1021.04. That seems like a lot of money. Is it worth it?

A little (actually, surprisingly, a lot) of searching led me to a pretty nice calculator. Using the estimate of 5750 heating degree days, 864 square feet, $4.44 per gallon and a switch from R-16 to R-49, I would save $186.81 per year. Factoring in error and the fact that I couldn't easily find space to store the stuff that is in the attic, I would safely say that I could probably save $125 per year. If the price of oil stays flat, I would make out after 8 years. If it rises, I would obviously do better. It seems like a pretty good investment to me.