[Goldenstate]

Forgot to mention that for those building new, they now have a more efficient R-15 insulation and a R-21 for walls. If building new, just go with the air sealing and the new thicker insulation in the walls for a super efficient home from the start.

With the low pitch roof on my home, it was impossible to do much air sealing from the attic. I found that making the holes next to the top plate just large enough for my arm and a caulking gun worked well for the sealing of the top plate. Sometimes the gaps at the top plate were so large that I had to wait for the Dynaflex 230 caulk I was using to shrink up and apply a second layer of caulk to insure no cracks in the resulting seal. When one opens up a wall and can feel cold air pouring down from the top plate gaps, it is a strong message to seal the gaps first, fill the wall with the loose fill fiberglass insulation and then check for shrinkage gaps before the final fill of fiberglass all the way to the top.

I pulled the door casing off of the insides of the exterior doors. Found gaps on all doors between the door frame and the house stud framing. Went after the gaps with expanding foam or caulking if the gap was very small. Here was an opportunity to throw the old door casing away and purchase a new wider more elegant door casing for a wonder visual upgrade as a bonus to the sealing of the home.

I have battery powered electric deadbolts with a code instead of a key for entry. The housing on the deadbolt where the battery is fitted, had plenty of room for some thin insulation. Found some 1/8 inch thick Kaowool on Ebay which was cut and fitted to the interior space of the deadbolt housing.

Another area was the smoke fire alarm entry holes in the ceilings. Used caulking and foam to seal those up as well.

End result is that during the spring and fall days, I have seen the interior temperature of the house vary by less than 5 degrees in a 24 hour period. Almost like a thermos bottle on steroids.

Recently a friend in Oregon reported that he had his home custom built with Foam on the exterior walls and floors and ceilings as well. Backed up with some fiberglass insulation under the floors and ceiling, he had achieved something like R-69 or greater in some areas. Claimed it was the best money he ever spent on a home build in his life.

This past summer was the hottest on record here in Central California. Even with the record heat, the new interior insulation work and sealing resulted in a 6% savings of electrical energy compared to the summer of 2023. Compared to bills from 5 years ago before I started to do much at all to the house, the savings comparison was a whopping 29% improvement. For the first time I was able to avoid purchase of additional electrical power except for a small amount in July. Otherwise, my solar system was able to keep up with the demand like never before.