[macrojack]

I can buy a 97% efficient gas boiler that hangs on the wall for $5500 installed. Since my gas bill is partly due to cooking and hot water, the heating is only a little more than half of my overall gas bill which came to $630 for the 12 months ending last June. That was before all of the insulation, etc. described above. I'm hoping to have cut that cost by about $200/year. If that proves true I will have left myself with an annual heating bill of about $250. If I cut that amount in half, it would take over 40 years to recoup the $5500. I'm going to be 69 this year so the chances of recovering that investment (and being aware that I did) are remote. Out dining room has a wood framed patio door which is an energy loser. I'm sure I could gain more by addressing that than I can benefit by replacing the boiler.
We will continue to seek minor incremental improvement by tightening the envelope better. I would like to enclose the back patio, thereby creating an insular environment for the patio door, but the costs are too much to entertain at this point due to local building codes. They won't let me heat that room, even as a greenhouse, unless I provide R-49 in the ceiling. With the current joists and the elevation of the existing roof, that is impossible. Besides that, my wife, the sole breadwinner, wants to get completely out of debt - not add more. Who can blame her?

[aldcoll]

As a former Kansan (still in my blood, I just bleed in Oregon now) 

Did you have to do the Hurricane ties from rafters to sub plate?   And will the spray foam help tie that all together

I have wanted to build a stray bale house or Audio room now for years.  The 16 to 24 inch plus walls brings the utility savings in spades.

Any more pictures?

A Rainy Day in Oregon.  Alan

[JLM]

About 8 years ago caught a show demonstrating how to erect straw bale walls.  Come to find out it was about 3 miles down the road!  Sadly the walls (built to replace existing old barn walls) have never been finished.  They probably couldn't figure out how to complete it with existing roof in the way (the bales are compressed by tightening thru rods from the top).

Nowadays existing technology pretty well matches in a practical sense (foreseeable payback times) any "out there" super energy efficient approaches (underground, foam balloons, geodesic domes, shell within a shell, straw bale, etc.).  SIP (Structural Insulated Panels) is just one example (been around since the 1930's).  They are simply OSB board glued to both sides of a thick sheet of styrofoam and can be used for floors, wall, and ceilings.  For foundations water proof plywood is used.  The panels can be up to 8 ft x 24 ft (very few seams) and can clear span 24 feet for roofs (super strong).  With no framing to create thermal bridging, a house made totally of SIP panels is basically a plywood refrigerator.  Just pick thickness of styrofoam (up to 12 inches) based on the needed strength, desired insulation value, and budget.

[tabrink]

As a former Kansan (still in my blood, I just bleed in Oregon now) 

Did you have to do the Hurricane ties from rafters to sub plate?   And will the spray foam help tie that all together

I have wanted to build a stray bale house or Audio room now for years.  The 16 to 24 inch plus walls brings the utility savings in spades.

Any more pictures?

A Rainy Day in Oregon.  Alan

Hi Alan,
My middle name is Allen. 
Yes,
I installed 240 hurricane clips to all exterior and load bearing interior walls and 2 x 6 trusses.  That is a total of 1440 3/16" x 4" lag bolts. The sprayed closed cell foam adds tremendous strength to the overall package. Added to the 585,000 pound massive structure probably not going away. We did construct our "mud" room with 12" concrete walls and ceiling. All of our exterior doors have continuous hinges and are 2 hour fire rated.
In a recent tornado just south of here the only buildings still standing were the ones sprayed floor and ceiling with spray foam.
To accurately answer your question  there is a 13' by 5/8" threaded rebar every 16" tieing the 2 x12" top plate to the massive 54" wide by 54" deep footing. The interesting by product of all the foam in floors, walls and ceiling is that you never know it is storming till you look out and the skies and light is green and the trees are blowing over. Total almost undeniable total silence.

Best,
Tom

[ctviggen]

We will continue to seek minor incremental improvement by tightening the envelope better. I would like to enclose the back patio, thereby creating an insular environment for the patio door, but the costs are too much to entertain at this point due to local building codes. They won't let me heat that room, even as a greenhouse, unless I provide R-49 in the ceiling. With the current joists and the elevation of the existing roof, that is impossible. Besides that, my wife, the sole breadwinner, wants to get completely out of debt - not add more. Who can blame her?

Really?  You have to do the ceiling to R49?  Is there no such thing as a three season room there?

The main detriment to a lot of these insulation retrofits is the time to recoup the cost often is longer than you'll be in the house.  And the falling oil costs don't help, here in New England.  We had a propane fireplace insert installed, and the installers had no problem scheduling us.  No one was buying the inserts.