Thursday, April 2, 2015

consuming to invest 13


CONSUMING TO INVEST 13

Insulating And Caulking

Insulating is a religious mantra, chanting far and wide throughout the land.  Why?  Because until the oil crisis of the 1970’s, almost everyone’s efforts at insulating, if at all, were a cruel joke.  Being a nation of plenty ( the reason we felt those lousy Indigs were incapable of adequately holding the place as they clearly had no interest in really developing it-so Baby Jesus must have meant for us White folk to put it to proper use ), energy was always, up to that point, abundant to the point of ridiculous.  We’ve all heard of the typical New England homestead requiring a dozen or two cords of wood for each winter.  Well, those winters are pretty bad I imagine, but I’d wager those houses needed some serious insulation.  Not that they’d think of perhaps having less rooms ( needing heating ) filled with less babies, because the one thing God has a problem with more than not killing heathens that don’t go to his approved church is not having enough kids to fill up the place you just cleared out with a good dose of smallpox.  Of course, being humans, and on top of that, being American humans, we took the religion of insulation and kind of overdid things.  Things like insulation improperly so now we just have leak proof stucco boxes that trap heat and cold in nicely, along with black mold, but are so flimsily built that in effect all you have is a structure of insulation wrapped around support beams with a thin shell of concrete surrounding it.  As soon as a couple of bullet holes or wind blown object impact at velocity, your insulating shell has its integrity breached ( think of it as a thin hulled spacecraft ).

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Now, this is one of those prices we have elected to pay, to stuff many more bodies into this country than the place can adequately support.  At this point, even if all the suburbs are bulldozed, I’d wager we could not feed everybody organically ( read, without oil inputs ), so many people are being stuffed into our borders.  Obviously, we can’t decently house them.  Oh, we have Potemkin Villages for them, all right.  Whether apartment building or detached house, the design is similar, with warped two by fours, pressed board sheets on one side and sheetrock on the other, wrapped in plastic sheeting and then rigid board insulating sheets an inch think covered with an outside stucco, the whole concoction sheltered from the rain by asphalt shingles.  This mess is hurriedly slapped together by semi-skilled underpaid workers, then sold with thirty year financing at ungodly mark-ups.  For the poor but independent, there are mobile homes built at one third the “quality” but for only half the price.  Yep, those are well insulated though.  At least compared to what we used to have.  I’d call it one step above a terrorist gas attack proof room with all the air trapped out with plastic and duct tape.

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Here is another wonderful story about the modern infatuation with insulation at the expense of ignoring everything else.  When I was growing up in California,  we moved on average once every other year until I was in sixth grade, where we settled down just outside Vanderburgh Air Force Base on the central coast.  My parents stayed together a year or two more but had decided to split before that last move.  Very modern and California of them, but how can you blame them if they hated each other and their job as procreators was finished?  So, Mom gets a job right away with the city of Lompoc ( former flower seed capital of the world, population 25k, now just a punk-ass middle class enclave of 60k+ with zero agriculture ) as an energy consultant.  She basically went around and counseled insulation to make homes more efficient.  And she had job security, as you can see from the 32 year population jump.  Yet, here is the thing.  If the dump goes below sixty degrees, it is a biblical apocalyptic event.  It is no where as hot as the southern part of the state, but no where near the cold of the northern end.  It is still almost Mediterranean.   At the same time as this takes place, the city is seeing its aquifer depleting at inches a year ( so God knows how much deeper the wells are now ).  I’m sure water conservation is also preached, but I’d wager never intelligently enforced ( by, for instance, levying heavy fines for having a lawn ).  They sure by gum did their part for energy conservation ( at the behest of the private power company lobbying-you know, socializing those loses and privatizing those profits ), but they wouldn’t curtail growth. 

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So all this treasure and blood spilled for insulation, the first feel good response to losing energy independence, was not so much wasted as just used as an excuse to build more and more residences ( as efficiency rises, more people pour in to use the energy savings and in the end more energy total is consumed-I know there is a Rule/Law on that but can’t remember ).  And they aren’t built to last.  They can’t withstand abuse or neglect.  This system, like all we are living with now, has zero redundancy.  The reason you over-engineer is to weather emergencies.  When you under-engineer, ANY mishap becomes more of an emergency than it needed to be ( prime examples being the plastic panels on car bodies.  One ding and, presto, an $800 replacement.  When it was steel, you hammered it out and bondo’ed it.  Of course, strangely, that plastic car costs a lot more up front AND in replacement parts ).  Once you can’t replace shingles for $10k or put $3k into a new pant job, or fix the stucco crack for $500, your wonderful insulated home quickly becomes unlivable.

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So, not only is your job to insulate very well, it requires you to do so with redundancy built in.  Over-build, over-support and over insulate.  THEN, you have a dwelling that can hold up to some abuse and neglect.  Insulating is the best investment of your money, as you start down the road to semi-independence from the System, but you had better be insulating a proper structure, not a modern McMansion.  And don’t half-ass it.  Insulate for far more severe weather than you think you’ll encounter.  It is not going to go to waste.  As energy becomes more and more scarce ( the practice of throwing money at exploration to get increasing yields is over many moons now-it is now far less bang for your buck ), and costlier, insulation keeps you comfortable even as your energy input declines.  One day, it might even save your life ( after years of saving your money ).

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18 comments:

  1. Modern day construction is done in such a way as to model an onion, layers. If something in the middle needs fixed you have to peel off all the layers above it first before you get to fix the thing that needs fixing, then you have to fix all the stuff you peeled off to get to it.

    The scheduling of subs and materials on new construction is murderous. If one sub is back logged on another job the next sub after him just goes right on and does his thing oblivious that the one before him hasn't been done yet. Now the onion has to be unraveled before it's even completed.

    I built our first new home in 2002, acting as the contractor, and it is a full time job maintaining everything - like herding cats. It's appalling the level of foresight and care in these subs. A friend told me, "You can't buy good construction, but you can supervise it.", and I never appreciated those words until I got the opportunity to put them in action.

    Building codes? Please, don't make me laugh. The people that write and enforce the codes are not responsible for the decisions they make so their decisions are mostly worthless. Codes are designed for minimalists, and the enforcers (inspectors) do their job from their truck going 40 mph down the road - they just don't care, and nobody holds their feet to the fire so you end up with houses falling apart before they're completed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Code enforcement sounds like my kind of gig. Who do you have to blow?

      Delete
    2. Everybody, no matter how far up the ladder you go there's another hard dik waiting for you. Having been in gov't employ (army) I'm surprised you asked this. Maybe it's true, that bad memories fade and good memories shine. Regardless, the flavor of dik never changes, so I am told.

      Teacher axt Buhweet to use the word "dictate" in a sentence.

      He pondered for a moment then Buhweet said: "Darlene say my dictate good."

      Delete
  2. Yes, the energy efficiency conundrum- the more energy efficent the infrastructure and devices are the more energy in total is consumed. Well known among scientifically minded economists and environmentalists.

    As far as insulation and building I think thermal mass is a HUGE deal for the building and design of affordable and efficient homes.
    I was spurred by your post today to put up my own (if you will allow the link). Any of your readers just getting into the concepts of dirt cheap energy efficient construction might want to peruse it.
    http://pointingouttheabsurdandoutragous.blogspot.com/2015/04/when-preparing-for-future-ours-and-our.html

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Don't be silly, why wouldn't I allow a link? I don't have a monopoly on good ideas ( I have one on the BEST ideas, of course ). Good article. Thanks.

      Delete
  3. Looks like you have gone back to some kind of word count goal again. Sure shows in the quality.

    More BLABBER doe NOT mean more wisdom.

    YKW
    MM

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All my drivel is wisdom. The blabber part is extra entertainment

      Delete
  4. “Once you can’t replace shingles for $10k or put $3k into a new paint job”

    When I built my small cabin, I used (I believe?) the 30 year shingles. I do believe that there is a 50 year shingle available now? Probably a good investment as long as you don't live in a violently stormy state, where you will be replacing them every winter. In that case, I'd probably go with sheet metal. Some of the paint that you can get now also has a several year rating.

    My little cabin is very well insulated. But even at 2700' elevation in the Sierra's, it gets cold enough in winter that you would be miserable without any heat.

    If you're one of those fortunate souls that never has to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom (Unlike myself) I would suggest for winter time, a good synthetic sleeping bag, as they're cheap enough these days. The best would be one that fits fairly tight such as a mummy bag. But I could never sleep in bags like that so I get the over sized.

    Earth sheltered will always be the very best solution for when there will be no more fossil fuel heating and cooling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And everyone can be earth sheltered. At least afterwards. Stock sandbags, chicken wire and stucco. Better than nothing.

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    2. 9 years ago I built my 24'x36' office/workshop and used the galvanized steel ribbed sheets from Menards. From roof peak to eave was 14'-3" of single run of steel, no vertical seams (less chance of leaks). The cost was 1/4 that of shingles, the weight was 1/10 and the time to install was 1/10 and the longevity is 50+ years. Me and 1 other guy did the whole roof (#30 felt, ice dam, steel panels, ridge vents, drip edge) in 6 hours. Best decision I made in a long time. 9 years later it still looks shiney and new.

      Delete
    3. I think I might have made a "best decision" sometime ago. Longer than none years. Mostly, just a dumbass

      Delete
    4. No, I'M the dumbass. Re-read what I wrote above - no vertical seams. That should say no horizontal seams. One piece of metal from peak to eave. Each panel was 39" wide with a 3" overlap of the adjacent panel. 3/4" galv screws in the flats, not the ribs. Looks purty. Gonna see how it works as an antenna this summer - and maybe a reverse solar collector.

      Delete
  5. Hey Jim (lord Bison)
    Lompoc and nearby Santa Maria have some of the highest percent unlicensed and uninsured drivers in the country. And housing costs are high in California because of the regulations. A building permit, water meter and indian site survey in San Luis Obispo City for a 2200 s.f. house now runs about $85,000.00

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Okay, seriously, I just re-read that price and almost soiled myself.

      Delete
    2. I'm also from CA and can confirm this as well. Even the more rural areas are heavily regulated. Just the perc test for my property alone was going to cost $800.00. It wasn't long after that, that I decided that I won't be building anything in CA; at least not anything permitted. If you must be in a place like this, better to go way out away from everything and stealth build among the trees.

      Delete
  6. It's not a rule. It's a paradox: Jevons Paradox. First noted by, Jevon, in 1865.

    It is one reason why you have McMansions. The greater insulating properties of modern construction (particularly the windows) keeps the price of heating/cooling from getting too crazy.

    One very different type of "insulation" is a radiant barrier. They use them on chicken coops a lot, but it is featured in commercial construction occasionally. It is essentially a mirror placed under the roof line (in a house the South facing attic roofline) that bounces the heat back out of the building. It is not a huge percentage difference in energy/heat saving (single digit %) but they aren't that expensive, and don't need to be air tight to work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jevons Paradox. I knew I was in the neighborhood. Now, again, I'll forget it again in two minutes. Thanks.

      Delete

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