Help with keeping our house cool :)

[blessedby3]

We live in SW VA and have a colonial wood frame house (no siding) without a basement. We did get replacement windows last fall. We only have single heat pump (for both floors). We checked into adding a second unit when we bought the house 7 years ago, but it was going to cost a mint to run the ductwork, etc. The main level is our living area, and the upstairs has 4 BR and 2 BA.
Anyway, we keep the heat pump set on 78 degrees for the most part, but while the lower floor stays okay....the upstairs is like a sauna. The thermostat is downstairs also. If we want it to be liveable upstairs we have to run it back to like 70-72.....then the downstaris is freezing. We have ceiling fans in each room upstairs (and the den, kitchen and dining room downstairs)
My DH says we have 2 layer of shingles on the roof (Im not sure why) and that may be the problem...or he says we may need more insulation in the attic area. Just thought I would come here and see if anyone else has this problem and if anyone has a suggestion on what to do. The whole house is out of the ground for the most part. Just the back rooms downstairs are under a bit, but not much.
Thanks for any input

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The cheapest solution would probably be to put in some window air conditioners in the upstairs bedrooms. The best solution is to add a heat pump for the upstairs; yes I know how expensive that will be.

 

[blessedby3]

Thanks...I just figured the window units would cost so much maybe not these days with the more efficiant appliances. We also keep our blinds shut all the time (much to my husbands dismay), as it helps keep things a bit cooler.

 

[kirstenb1]

We have a 1 1/2 story home, also in Virginia. We only have 1 heat pump, and the 2 upstairs bedrooms are hotter than the rest of the house. I'll say, every 2 story house I see around here has 2 heat pumps, or even 3. When we replaced our heat pump, we asked the contractor about adding a second one. He said in our case, it wasn't very practical with only 2 br's upstairs.

 

[mikehn]

window air conditioners - they are dirt cheap, like $200 each

 

[pigletto]

Do check your insulation!!!! Our first home was from the 20's and our bills were astronomical for heat and it was always sweltering upstairs in the summer.
It turned out we had NO insulation. Thats right.. the walls were full of old newspapers. We paid about 3,000 to blow it in ourselves and fix it in the attic and it made a big difference in keeping both floors the same temperature. We still had to use box fans in the windows, but that made it cool enough to sleep and be comfortable on the top level

 

[blessedby3]

Do check your insulation!!!! Our first home was from the 20's and our bills were astronomical for heat and it was always sweltering upstairs in the summer.
It turned out we had NO insulation. Thats right.. the walls were full of old newspapers. We paid about 3,000 to blow it in ourselves and fix it in the attic and it made a big difference in keeping both floors the same temperature. We still had to use box fans in the windows, but that made it cool enough to sleep and be comfortable on the top level

Thanks...I will let my DH know that. He will be getting in the attic tomorrow to check

 

[clm10308]

2 layers of shingles is not unusual and shouldn't be causing your problem on its own.

In addition to checking the insulation, check to make sure that your roof has ventilation. I have known a few people who have electric exhaust vents in the attic/roof that are supposed to really help.

Also, I can't remember what it is called right now, but there is a product that is some sort of reflective coating that can be sprayed in your attic that will cut down on the radiant heat coming through the roof. It is not as efficient as the kind that is put on with a new roof, but it was advertised a lot when we we lived in Texas

 

[blessedby3]

2 layers of shingles is not unusual and shouldn't be causing your problem on its own.

In addition to checking the insulation, check to make sure that your roof has ventilation. I have known a few people who have electric exhaust vents in the attic/roof that are supposed to really help.

Also, I can't remember what it is called right now, but there is a product that is some sort of reflective coating that can be sprayed in your attic that will cut down on the radiant heat coming through the roof. It is not as efficient as the kind that is put on with a new roof, but it was advertised a lot when we we lived in Texas

Thank You. I think we have those attic fans. I will tell DH about the coating

 

[CTdiznymom]

Know exactly what you are going thru. We installed an attic fan and that has worked well. I am constantly pulling shades, and drawing the curtains. We installed window units in the bedrooms and put a curtain at the top of the stairs to close off the two floors. We couldn't justify the expense of installing and running a big second unit. The window ones fit the bill, and now my kids have moved so we only run a small unit in our room instead of cooling the whole upstairs when it isn't needed.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Thanks...I just figured the window units would cost so much maybe not these days with the more efficiant appliances. We also keep our blinds shut all the time (much to my husbands dismay), as it helps keep things a bit cooler.

Window air conditioners are really not that expensive. They are certainly worth the price to be able to sleep at night.

We have a two story colonial (plus basement in MD) and we have a heat pump for each floor. Originally there was just one heat pump, but one of the previous owners installed the one for the upstairs, so we didn't have to. Works very well.

 

[bearzabout]

We were able to fix this problem with our house this year. Even though our attic had 8" of batt insulation, the attic still heated up severly in the summer. We bought Reflectix style rolls of foil/bubble wrap type insulation and stapled it to the sloped rafters in our attic. We bought ours mail order but I think Lowes and Home Depot have it in 6' tall by 50' long rolls.

We installed those styrofoam air chases behind the batt insulation to make sure we had good airflow from the soffits to the ridge vent then stapled and taped the foil insulation from the floor of the attic to the cross beams on the rafters. Our attic temperature dropped 20 degrees immediately.

The foil reflects the radiation from the sun and also keeps the heat in during the winter. We can't tell if it saves us power since so many of our bills are estimated and based on last years usage, but the upstairs is finally comfortable. It is only a few degrees warmer than the downstairs.

If you try this, make sure to get the foil/bubble wrap insulation that is fireproof. It looses its effectiveness if it does not have airspace on both sides so it is not supposed to be installed flat against a solid surface. That said, we did staple it to the inside of our west facing garage door and installed it in the garage attic. The garage stays in the 80s during the summer and does not freeze anymore in our Michigan winters with no supplimental heat.

Tape the joints with the foil tape made by the same manufacturer.

I think this stuff is amazing. It is not too expensive and an easy do-it-yourself job. It worked great at changing our attic spaces into usable, critter free, leak free storage spaces.

 

[pigletto]

We were able to fix this problem with our house this year. Even though our attic had 8" of batt insulation, the attic still heated up severly in the summer. We bought Reflectix style rolls of foil/bubble wrap type insulation and stapled it to the sloped rafters in our attic. We bought ours mail order but I think Lowes and Home Depot have it in 6' tall by 50' long rolls.

We installed those styrofoam air chases behind the batt insulation to make sure we had good airflow from the soffits to the ridge vent then stapled and taped the foil insulation from the floor of the attic to the cross beams on the rafters. Our attic temperature dropped 20 degrees immediately.

The foil reflects the radiation from the sun and also keeps the heat in during the winter. We can't tell if it saves us power since so many of our bills are estimated and based on last years usage, but the upstairs is finally comfortable. It is only about 5 degrees warmer than the downstairs.

If you try this, make sure to get the foil/bubble wrap insulation that is fireproof. It looses its effectiveness if it does not have airspace on both sides so it is not supposed to be installed flat against a solid surface. That said, we did staple it to the inside of our west facing garage door and installed it in the garage attic. The garage stays in the 80s during the summer and does not freeze anymore in our Michigan winters with no supplimental heat.

Tape the joints with the foil tape made by the same manufacturer.

I think this stuff is amazing. It is not too expensive and an easy do-it-yourself job. It worked great at changing our attic spaces into usable, critter free, leak free storage spaces.

You know it's been 15 years, so the details are fuzzy but this sounds like what we used too! I remember the foil tape and the foil type insulation for the crawl space attic!

 

[bearzabout]

Reflectix is just one brand of the foil/bubble wrap insulation, but their web site has great information on why it works so well. I think the material for our attic only cost about $200-$300 - a bargin considering how comfortable our second story is now.

 

[ilovemk76]

Thanks...I just figured the window units would cost so much maybe not these days with the more efficiant appliances. We also keep our blinds shut all the time (much to my husbands dismay), as it helps keep things a bit cooler.

You can get 5000 BTU units for $100 or less. That will do a normal sized room.

How old is the home. More insulation will help. As a PP said, two units is the way to go.

The next time you change your shingles, have them install a reflective layer on the sheathing.

 

[bearzabout]

The problem with window AC units is not so much the cost to buy them but the cost of electricity to run them.

Our electric rates have jumped 50% PKW in one year.

Just be grateful you do not live in Hawaii where electricity is over $.55 PKH. It can cost about $800/month to use a window AC unit there.

 

[happily single]

I have a very silly question-What the heck is a heat pump?
I owned a house for 10 years and never heard of this

Maybe its a regional things? I'm in New England

 

[Dizisfun]

We owned a 2 story Colonial and we also had only one heat pump for the entire house. I know this isn't the answer you are looking for but I would shove the temp down to 72 degrees when my husband wasn't home. Yes, it was colder downstairs but I slept well. On the serious side, we ended up putting window units in the 2 bedrooms that were being used and we would turn them on just before we went to bed. We owned the house for 14 years and always talked about adding a second heat pump but never wanted to invest the money. We had a basement in our Colonial which was mostly underground and it stayed cool down there so that wasn't a problem except for in the winter time, then we plugged in a small electric heater.

 

[CTdiznymom]

happily single- I'm assuming that it would be a condenser specifically for each floor. My home is 2 stories, but we only have one thermostat for the entire house. Adding an additional pump would make it a two zone with an additional thermostat on the second floor. Sometimes these additional pumps are placed in the attic to accomodate the second floor.

 

[kirstenb1]

I have a very silly question-What the heck is a heat pump?
I owned a house for 10 years and never heard of this

Maybe its a regional things? I'm in New England

It's probably too cold to have them where you live. They're a combination of central air in the summer/heating unit in the winter. I've always heard they aren't effective in colder climates, but they're probably the most common heat/ac device here in Virginia.