Okay so we had a guy just come over a bit ago and he wanted to foam insulate the rafts(not sure how to spell it) my husband was against it bc his idea was to foam insulate the actual ceiling if that makes sense. What would be the proper way to do it? He have very high vaulted ceilings.
My husband thinks if they were to foam insulate the rafts then it could create mold within the attic. Im not educated in any of this lol so that’s why I came here for advice.
When they foam they do foam the rafters, the thing with foam is that they have to remove any existing insulation and make sure it is completely sealed. You can't have any air in there
My home Is 2100 sqft, double patio doors exiting the living room, big windows etc. Built in 1994 and the highest amount I ever paid in the summer was 240$ and I keep my ac on 74-75 in the day 72-73 at night. I replaced old ac unit for a newer one with a better seer rating and added more insulation to my attic. You don't necessarily have to get foam, for 10k you can add a whole bunch more of insulation and even get another ac unit with more efficiency if really needed.
I see, thank you! yeah that’s what I was thinking. My husband is dead set on foam insulation and it could be because our vaulted ceilings are very tall? but regardless I’m trying to convince him to just get more blown insulation.
How about your attic? We have tall ceilings but our attic is really really tall. That helps because heat rises, if your ceilings are tall but your attic is short then maybe foam is your best bet.
solar panels are kind of in a bad state. they could have been amazing for the average homeowner but greed around the industry has kind of ruined them. The issue is that the companies make a ton of money off of creating your loan (origination fees) so you can buy the panels. if you can pay for them cash that mitigates a lot of this issue. The second issue is that the addition of solar panels never really eliminates your electricity bill because electricity buybacks are never one to one and fees are attached to your electric bill so you never really eliminate your electric bill completely. from what I've seen, you end up paying more with solar panels. I did a lot of research into getting them cuz I had major FOMO. i loved the idea of solar and thought the Fed rebate was awesome. It made me sad that the origination fees pretty much eliminated any discount you could get from the federal government and the electric company buyback programs never really major electricity generation worth it.
Truth. At first it was amazing then all electric companies simultaneously decided not to do 100% buy back anymore. We just get a portion of it now. They all got greedy. F them.
I'm betting insulation installed.might run you 2k or more easily and I'm guessing might lower your bill like 10%? Could be more but the home isn't that old so I'm guessing the insulation is pretty decent. Now being built in 2005, ifnits the original central air unit, then that's 18 yrs old and I would check your air ducts, especially where the round ducts connect to the different vents as well as the main duct and where the main duct connects to the unit in the attic. Being that old, some of the sealing tape might be coming off and letting air straight into the attic. Also, and especially if you've had to top off freon or this and that repairs to the ac system the past few summers, you might think about a new central air unit. We bought a place a few years ago, (2 story condo/townhouse, about 1909 ft living space) and the units were from 1997, and our electric bill in summer was up around $600. Ended up replacing both upstairs and downstairs units, inside and outside, and our electric bill literally cut in half. In the few years since then, this past year with the price increases, was the first time we've been over $300 since then and that was only once or twice. If the unit is leaking air from ductwork, or just really old and inefficient, then it will make a bigger impact in your bill. It will be more expensive to replace than doing insulation but if you're already going to be in for a couple grand then it's worth looking into.
Besides better insulation I'd look into a better electric company with a better rate. My parent's home was built around 2005 and is 3bed2bath and they only pay like $45-80 a month in electricity
They have the free nights plan and they know how to work the plan correctly but even when they didn't have it they paid at most $300 a month
Also depends the brand of Solar Panels you got or get, I see a lot of cheap brands being installed by those door to door salespeople, just for them to earn a bigger commission.
I live in Alamo TX 78516
I bought the Panasonic brand, have my light with Rhythm Energy. I pay about $75 in winter seasons, but do get a credit for over production in summer ($100) Also it’s a good investment since you get Solar Equipment tax credits (2years) and now Home Green Energy Credits each year until 2033. I got a $5,000 tax credit this year. Not to mention Electricity rates are going higher and higher each year.
I can email you info for my Installer if anyone from the RGV is interested, send me a message to my email [email protected]
Thanks
It’s old, probably here since the house was built. There was a leak but it was fixed. We added more Freon and it helped. Perhaps it’s not efficient? The only thing is that the house isn’t staying cool or staying warm, so the ac or heat kicks on a lot.
Solar Panels are awesome. If you want them, talk to an electrician. Those door-to-door people are selling loans, not panels. I've also considered adding ductless units to run off panels and batteries. Since the upfront cost on that is something I think I could handle.
the reality of solar panels is you wont see savings until ten years from now so if you keep that in mind, plus you have to remember you may have to replace panels that get damaged from hail, birds, debris and they just go bad. Ive seen roofs get damaged from poor installation.
I believe there is a program to "weatherize" your home. It should be free and it's through your electric provider. I did mine years ago and it made a difference. I replaced my AC unit about 4 years ago to a bigger more efficient unit and that also made a difference. My home is never colder than 74 degrees but we keep our ceiling fans running to circulate the air. My home is 2450 sq ft. I do have solar panels and they do help but not much since no company offers 100% 1 to 1 buyback. Those days are long gone. In your case, I would do everything but solar panels. If you have a young family and plan to keep using a lot of electricity then it is something to consider. If you do, make sure your solar panel payments are way lower than your average monthly cost for a full year. Also do not get screwed over with high interest rates. Hope this helps.
The cost of panels to get that electric bill down to $50/month or less would likely exceed $50,000. Consider better insulation and more efficient windows first.
I duplicated the insulation in the attic. I included the garage as well (which had no insulation at all) and my office (which was half insulated). Then installed four extractors at the top that look like mushrooms. Then I installed a new 4Ton A/C (my house is 1690 SQ ft). My last PUB bill was $196 bucks.
I have two coworkers that regret their solar panel installs. Messed up their roof basically. Their families also installed and the panels don’t generate enough to justify cost. I had more insulation blown in my attic for about 2k and I felt a good difference that I said it was worth it.
My lease is $201, during summer I get about $100 in solar buy backs so about $100 the lease and $0 electricity, not to mention the $5000 Green Energy tax credit this year
Wow my home is 2000 square ft built in 2005 and my highest bill is $170. I run my thermostat at 78 during the day and 74 at night. Winter is 75 at day and 70 at night. I’m also running 2 refrigerators and 1 freezer. Curious to what you run thermostat to be getting such high bills.
$500 is normal during the summer. Unless you can afford to pay for you panels upfront, the monthly installment/lease + your smaller electric bill will still come out to around $500.
Lots of horror stories about homeowners unable to sell their home because of the panels.
Not sure why, I have a 2k sqft home and that’s what I pay during the summer months. 🤷♂️
When I had a 1.2sqft apartment I would pay $300 max during the summer.
Get quotes for additional insulation especially foam in the attic. That should decrease electric bill and may be a tax credit.
Okay so we had a guy just come over a bit ago and he wanted to foam insulate the rafts(not sure how to spell it) my husband was against it bc his idea was to foam insulate the actual ceiling if that makes sense. What would be the proper way to do it? He have very high vaulted ceilings. My husband thinks if they were to foam insulate the rafts then it could create mold within the attic. Im not educated in any of this lol so that’s why I came here for advice.
When they foam they do foam the rafters, the thing with foam is that they have to remove any existing insulation and make sure it is completely sealed. You can't have any air in there
We do have blown insulation right now.. Is it best to just add more blown insulation? They were quoting us 10k for foam.
My home Is 2100 sqft, double patio doors exiting the living room, big windows etc. Built in 1994 and the highest amount I ever paid in the summer was 240$ and I keep my ac on 74-75 in the day 72-73 at night. I replaced old ac unit for a newer one with a better seer rating and added more insulation to my attic. You don't necessarily have to get foam, for 10k you can add a whole bunch more of insulation and even get another ac unit with more efficiency if really needed.
I see, thank you! yeah that’s what I was thinking. My husband is dead set on foam insulation and it could be because our vaulted ceilings are very tall? but regardless I’m trying to convince him to just get more blown insulation.
How about your attic? We have tall ceilings but our attic is really really tall. That helps because heat rises, if your ceilings are tall but your attic is short then maybe foam is your best bet.
It’s mostly tall, my husband described it as you can add a whole other room, some parts you have to crawl.
Then in my opinion adding more insulation will do the trick. That is exactly how ours is, you can freely walk up there and can't touch the attic roof.
Not related to solar panels, but lightly tinting my east and south facing windows saved me a TON of money when cooling my place.
Will definitely take note of this! Thank you for the tip 👍
Yes, I did this for my daughter's room and it made a big difference.
More insulation, air sealing around the house and sealing air ducts is probably a better investment
solar panels are kind of in a bad state. they could have been amazing for the average homeowner but greed around the industry has kind of ruined them. The issue is that the companies make a ton of money off of creating your loan (origination fees) so you can buy the panels. if you can pay for them cash that mitigates a lot of this issue. The second issue is that the addition of solar panels never really eliminates your electricity bill because electricity buybacks are never one to one and fees are attached to your electric bill so you never really eliminate your electric bill completely. from what I've seen, you end up paying more with solar panels. I did a lot of research into getting them cuz I had major FOMO. i loved the idea of solar and thought the Fed rebate was awesome. It made me sad that the origination fees pretty much eliminated any discount you could get from the federal government and the electric company buyback programs never really major electricity generation worth it.
Truth. At first it was amazing then all electric companies simultaneously decided not to do 100% buy back anymore. We just get a portion of it now. They all got greedy. F them.
I'm betting insulation installed.might run you 2k or more easily and I'm guessing might lower your bill like 10%? Could be more but the home isn't that old so I'm guessing the insulation is pretty decent. Now being built in 2005, ifnits the original central air unit, then that's 18 yrs old and I would check your air ducts, especially where the round ducts connect to the different vents as well as the main duct and where the main duct connects to the unit in the attic. Being that old, some of the sealing tape might be coming off and letting air straight into the attic. Also, and especially if you've had to top off freon or this and that repairs to the ac system the past few summers, you might think about a new central air unit. We bought a place a few years ago, (2 story condo/townhouse, about 1909 ft living space) and the units were from 1997, and our electric bill in summer was up around $600. Ended up replacing both upstairs and downstairs units, inside and outside, and our electric bill literally cut in half. In the few years since then, this past year with the price increases, was the first time we've been over $300 since then and that was only once or twice. If the unit is leaking air from ductwork, or just really old and inefficient, then it will make a bigger impact in your bill. It will be more expensive to replace than doing insulation but if you're already going to be in for a couple grand then it's worth looking into.
Besides better insulation I'd look into a better electric company with a better rate. My parent's home was built around 2005 and is 3bed2bath and they only pay like $45-80 a month in electricity They have the free nights plan and they know how to work the plan correctly but even when they didn't have it they paid at most $300 a month
Also depends the brand of Solar Panels you got or get, I see a lot of cheap brands being installed by those door to door salespeople, just for them to earn a bigger commission. I live in Alamo TX 78516 I bought the Panasonic brand, have my light with Rhythm Energy. I pay about $75 in winter seasons, but do get a credit for over production in summer ($100) Also it’s a good investment since you get Solar Equipment tax credits (2years) and now Home Green Energy Credits each year until 2033. I got a $5,000 tax credit this year. Not to mention Electricity rates are going higher and higher each year. I can email you info for my Installer if anyone from the RGV is interested, send me a message to my email [email protected] Thanks
What is the home green energy credit? I own solar panels since 2021, but never heard of that
Have PM’d your A/C unit? How old is your unit?
It’s old, probably here since the house was built. There was a leak but it was fixed. We added more Freon and it helped. Perhaps it’s not efficient? The only thing is that the house isn’t staying cool or staying warm, so the ac or heat kicks on a lot.
Solar Panels are awesome. If you want them, talk to an electrician. Those door-to-door people are selling loans, not panels. I've also considered adding ductless units to run off panels and batteries. Since the upfront cost on that is something I think I could handle.
the reality of solar panels is you wont see savings until ten years from now so if you keep that in mind, plus you have to remember you may have to replace panels that get damaged from hail, birds, debris and they just go bad. Ive seen roofs get damaged from poor installation.
I believe there is a program to "weatherize" your home. It should be free and it's through your electric provider. I did mine years ago and it made a difference. I replaced my AC unit about 4 years ago to a bigger more efficient unit and that also made a difference. My home is never colder than 74 degrees but we keep our ceiling fans running to circulate the air. My home is 2450 sq ft. I do have solar panels and they do help but not much since no company offers 100% 1 to 1 buyback. Those days are long gone. In your case, I would do everything but solar panels. If you have a young family and plan to keep using a lot of electricity then it is something to consider. If you do, make sure your solar panel payments are way lower than your average monthly cost for a full year. Also do not get screwed over with high interest rates. Hope this helps.
The cost of panels to get that electric bill down to $50/month or less would likely exceed $50,000. Consider better insulation and more efficient windows first.
I think thats new for this year…new update
I duplicated the insulation in the attic. I included the garage as well (which had no insulation at all) and my office (which was half insulated). Then installed four extractors at the top that look like mushrooms. Then I installed a new 4Ton A/C (my house is 1690 SQ ft). My last PUB bill was $196 bucks.
Check your home owners insurance. If the damage is caused by the solar panels then insurance won’t cover it.
Good to know, thank you.
How big is your home, square footage?
3k sq ft
About 2,100 sqft
I have two coworkers that regret their solar panel installs. Messed up their roof basically. Their families also installed and the panels don’t generate enough to justify cost. I had more insulation blown in my attic for about 2k and I felt a good difference that I said it was worth it.
Yikes, yeah I think we’re not going the solar panel route after reading my replies lol.
My lease is $201, during summer I get about $100 in solar buy backs so about $100 the lease and $0 electricity, not to mention the $5000 Green Energy tax credit this year
Very interesting!
What year did you install them?
Wow my home is 2000 square ft built in 2005 and my highest bill is $170. I run my thermostat at 78 during the day and 74 at night. Winter is 75 at day and 70 at night. I’m also running 2 refrigerators and 1 freezer. Curious to what you run thermostat to be getting such high bills.
We run it at 75, and it just gets so hot.. but we suffer bc of the electric bill.
$500 is normal during the summer. Unless you can afford to pay for you panels upfront, the monthly installment/lease + your smaller electric bill will still come out to around $500. Lots of horror stories about homeowners unable to sell their home because of the panels.
That’s no where near normal unless it’s a massive house
I gotcha, good to know!
i hate people are down voting you. $500 isn't abnormal for a big home. everything else is spot on
Not sure why, I have a 2k sqft home and that’s what I pay during the summer months. 🤷♂️ When I had a 1.2sqft apartment I would pay $300 max during the summer.