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truckncycle · 09-15-08, 01:12 PM

Bumped the Esc key when I was about done and have to start over.

My wife and I live in a 1600 sqft house that was built in 1984/1985. Roseville is in the central valley of California about 15 miles North East of Sacramento. We have done a lot of work to the house including insulation, electrical and landscaping. We have also had the roof replaced - from shake to comp. The house has a heat pump which is fairly efficient above 50 degrees. Unfortunately, it is not a ground source unit. We keep the house at 79 during the day in summer and 77 at night. In the winter, we keep the house at 67 all the time. The heat pump is better at maintaining the temp than changing the temp. If you try to change the heat by 2 degrees in winter, the auxiliary heat kicks on and it uses a lot of electricity

To conserve energy and water we have:
- Added extra soffit vents to go with the ridge vent
- Added radiant barrior to the attic
- Replaced the flexible ducting in the attic
- Blew in 6" of insulation in the attic and insulated over the garage
- Insulated the garage door
- Wrapped the water pipes with pipe insulation
- Added a wimpy whole house fan
- Added a ceiling fan to the Master bedroom (which we hardly ever use) and wired and prepared the other bedrooms for fans
- Planted trees on the East, South, and North sides of the house (Roseville and Sacramento both have free tree programs but we bought these to have a better selection)
- Painted the house a lighter color
- Changed the 2 toilets to 1.6 gpf models (Roseville will pay for these too. This is an easy 2 hour job in most cases)
- Changed out the shower head in the Master bath. I figure this will save us at least 300 gallons per month.

Things that I would like to do:
- Change out the other shower head
- Replace 600 sqft of lawn (Roseville will pay $1 sqft for lawn removal). I want to replace half of this with a dry river bed and the other half with xeriscape.
- Replace the inefficient double pane windows with some new ones
- Add another whole house fan to get more of the heat out
- Add a solar attic vent fan

At this point, I wish we had gotten a metal roof instead of comp since they don't retain the same amount of heat.

09-15-08, 01:12 PM	#1
truckncycle Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Roseville, CA Posts: 81 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Hello from California Bumped the Esc key when I was about done and have to start over. My wife and I live in a 1600 sqft house that was built in 1984/1985. Roseville is in the central valley of California about 15 miles North East of Sacramento. We have done a lot of work to the house including insulation, electrical and landscaping. We have also had the roof replaced - from shake to comp. The house has a heat pump which is fairly efficient above 50 degrees. Unfortunately, it is not a ground source unit. We keep the house at 79 during the day in summer and 77 at night. In the winter, we keep the house at 67 all the time. The heat pump is better at maintaining the temp than changing the temp. If you try to change the heat by 2 degrees in winter, the auxiliary heat kicks on and it uses a lot of electricity To conserve energy and water we have: - Added extra soffit vents to go with the ridge vent - Added radiant barrior to the attic - Replaced the flexible ducting in the attic - Blew in 6" of insulation in the attic and insulated over the garage - Insulated the garage door - Wrapped the water pipes with pipe insulation - Added a wimpy whole house fan - Added a ceiling fan to the Master bedroom (which we hardly ever use) and wired and prepared the other bedrooms for fans - Planted trees on the East, South, and North sides of the house (Roseville and Sacramento both have free tree programs but we bought these to have a better selection) - Painted the house a lighter color - Changed the 2 toilets to 1.6 gpf models (Roseville will pay for these too. This is an easy 2 hour job in most cases) - Changed out the shower head in the Master bath. I figure this will save us at least 300 gallons per month. Things that I would like to do: - Change out the other shower head - Replace 600 sqft of lawn (Roseville will pay $1 sqft for lawn removal). I want to replace half of this with a dry river bed and the other half with xeriscape. - Replace the inefficient double pane windows with some new ones - Add another whole house fan to get more of the heat out - Add a solar attic vent fan At this point, I wish we had gotten a metal roof instead of comp since they don't retain the same amount of heat.