Retrofitting the Old House

Seward, AlaskaThis old house, built sometime in the mid 1940′s, had NO insulation. Originally 2 x 4 construction and single level, 800sf, Tom was raised in this house and lives in it today.

When Tom and his brother Steve were teenagers they, with Dad Perry and a handful of neighborhood kids, hand dug a full basement under the house. Perry had a bigger garage built, with an upper level to store boat gear and nets in but eventually Tom’s parents wanted to move and in 1991 Tom bought the house from them.

Tom made some updates to the bathroom and to one bedroom, and in 2005 he added insulation to the master bedroom and living room, but but the majority of the retrofit began in 2008 when oil prices skyrocketed (hitting over $5 a gallon in Seward).

With information and ideas from a University of Alaska (Fairbanks) lecture about retrofitting [PDF - Building in Alaska - Tips on Insulating and Existing House by Richard D. Seifert] , he decided to do a massive retrofit.

A summary of the work:

    frame and insulate 2×4 walls on in the interior two story garage
    frame and insulate the garage ceiling with 2×6 sub-ceiling
    frame and insulate 2×4 walls around the exterior of the house
    replace the 30 year old boiler in the basement of the house
    re-frame and replace the old 30″ front door (with its single pane windows)
    replace 9 windows (three single pane, 6 double pane)
    insulate the roof of the house with 12″ of blown-in insulation
    dig a 2′ trench around the basement to add 4″ solid foam insulation to exterior concrete basement walls
    replace 2 single pane windows in the basement

Since starting the project he’s also decided to replace the kitchen floor (25 year old vinyl), the 1970′s faux paneling in the living room, hallway and bedrooms and re-do the bathroom (again).

Most of the materials are purchased as finances allow (that’s what’s taking so long!) and as time permits and the weather in Alaska is a factor for the exterior work.

LINKS: Alaska Building Science Network | Cold Climate Housing Research Center – Portal on Retrofits, Training and Loans| Cold Climate Housing Research Center
 |