Hit a snag need suggestions

[nfored]

Last night I couldn't work on the stand for my fish room so I thought I would start on insulating the back room. To my shock I found the room was already insulated, now I have a problem that room in the winter is cold enough to freeze water literally.

The room is covered on 3 sides with windows and has small cracks to the outside, these cracks will be filled up with great stuff, but I am not sure they are the reason for the poor temperatures. I have been waiting for a year to get this fish room, and spent to much money to give up.

I could do nothing and spend a small mint heating the tank water. I could buy a in wall heater that you hard wire to the electrical system, but this might also cost a small mint to run. my only other option is to move everything to the basement which is not that much better insulated but at least it stays around 55 to 60 in the winter, and would probably stay warmer if I insulated it.

Any helps to keep my dream alive are welcome.

 

[EllieGreene]

You are on the right track with the Great Stuff. There are probably also large gaps between the window frames and wall framing. For those you can use the low-expansion great stuff or regular fiberglass insulation loosely stuffed in to the holes. On a room with that many windows that should help a lot. Also look at the windows and make sure they have all the weatherstripping in place.

This sounds like someone converted a screened in porch to a "sunroom". If that is the case then a couple other things come to mind. Is there a vent from your HVAC system that would tie it in with the rest of the house? Also, is the ceiling/roof insulated? Is the floor wood, and if so is it insulated underneath? Is there air seeping around the floor/wall and wall/ceiling gaps?

Last question.. if you decide to take over the basement.. how big of a swimming pool can you fit down there? >

 

[EllieGreene]

Also, what type of insulation is there now? Is it the really thin R-3 stuff?

 

[nfored]

You are on the right track with the Great Stuff. There are probably also large gaps between the window frames and wall framing. For those you can use the low-expansion great stuff or regular fiberglass insulation loosely stuffed in to the holes. On a room with that many windows that should help a lot. Also look at the windows and make sure they have all the weatherstripping in place.

This sounds like someone converted a screened in porch to a "sunroom". If that is the case then a couple other things come to mind. Is there a vent from your HVAC system that would tie it in with the rest of the house? Also, is the ceiling/roof insulated? Is the floor wood, and if so is it insulated underneath? Is there air seeping around the floor/wall and wall/ceiling gaps?

Last question.. if you decide to take over the basement.. how big of a swimming pool can you fit down there? >

This room is a ghetto rigged add on done buy someone's uncle bob. The floor is 1 inch plywood with a concert slab with no space between. The HVAC is not tied in, but luckily due to the location the room and vents I can easily change that. The ceiling might be uninsulated I will check this when I get home.

You joke about the pool but it has always been a goal of mine to put a several hundred gallon pool down there. I am just waiting to make enough money to care for that much water and fish.

So I will check all the windows and doors for gaps, and check the roof. I hope I don't have to insulate the roof, as I don't know how.

Also, what type of insulation is there now? Is it the really thin R-3 stuff?

The insulation is the rolled on pink stuff and fills the whole area between the studs. When I cut a whole in the wall to check for insulation I could barely see any space between the insulation and the back of the dry wall.



So do you think there is still hope of salvaging this room, basically I will try the following to save the room.

Re route the HVAC vent from the kitchen to the backroom, the kitchen is open so it can be warmed from the vent in the living room.

Fill all gaps I can find in the doors windows and structure with great stuff.

Check the ceiling for insulation.

Any other suggestions?

 

[tcarswell]

Is the ceiling insulated? Also boarding over windows helps are they double pane windows?

 

[tcarswell]

Let me know if you need any help with the HVAC or heat loss calcs etc

 

[nfored]

Ok so i went demo mean on that room today, it looks like there is gaps around every window leading to the outside. There are gaps all the way around the floor, there are also gaps around each side where it connects to the house. So now is a good time you all to buy stock in great stuff as i am about to buy the store out. There is no insulations in the ceiling, and I dont know how to fix that.

At the end of the day all the gaps will be filled, and the only problem will be the ceiling. All windows are double pane.

 

[seamus]

You are losing a lot of heat through the uninsulated ceiling. Is the ceiling vaulted?

If you do not insulate the ceiling you will have still have alot of issues with heating the room. With it being that cold adding a vent is not going to do much as the t-stat will be controlled by the temp in the main part of the house and the fish room will not be receiving much conditioned air. Do you have access to the HVAC trunk or will you be stealing air from another room?

 

[tcarswell]

You are losing a lot of heat through the uninsulated ceiling. Is the ceiling vaulted?

If you do not insulate the ceiling you will have still have alot of issues with heating the room. With it being that cold adding a vent is not going to do much as the t-stat will be controlled by the temp in the main part of the house and the fish room will not be receiving much conditioned air. Do you have access to the HVAC trunk or will you be stealing air from another room?

You can re route the thermostat to your fish room if needed. It may imbalance the house a bit. Insulate the ceiling if at all possible. Worst case scenario would be to add rigid insulation to the ceiling(Yes inside the room) . Kind of ghetto but it works well. Is there attic space above the room???

 

[seamus]

You can re route the thermostat to your fish room if needed. It may imbalance the house a bit. Insulate the ceiling if at all possible. Worst case scenario would be to add rigid insulation to the ceiling(Yes inside the room) . Kind of ghetto but it works well. Is there attic space above the room???

Possible yes but IMO, an absolute last resort. Im guessing that getting access to the trunk is not an option so the air will be coming from an addition branch line. The amount of air going to that supply will be minimal and having the t-stat in that room will cause the furnace to run forever. Considering the imbalance this would cause and the fuel cost, not something I would do. If you go this route consider a wireless t-stat.

Depending on the cost of electricity vs whatever your furnace runs as well as potential usage is electric basebaord or even a ceramic heater and option?