Did we not have a summer, or was thermal bridging a huge issue at my house?

[EatenByLimestone]

Here’s my utility bill from July 2 through Aug 5th.

In March I had my house sided and 1/2” foam board was added to the outside under the siding. Nothing else was done to the house, except my storm doors were removed.

Notice the much higher electric bill last year. I must not have run my air conditioning much. I used 25% less electricity. Either thermal bridging (2x4 walls with dense packed cellulose in between) was a huge issue, or we didn’t have a summer. I distinctly remember sweating buckets outside, maybe it was just humid? The house color basicly stayed the same going from yellow to a creamy color so I don’t think it reflects more light.

Could I be overlooking something big?

 

[begreen]

Fixing thermal bridging and air sealing plus greater insulation make a difference.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Oh, I realize that, I wasn’t expecting 1/2” of foam to make that much of a difference.

 

[begreen]

It's a nice improvement. Did they tape everything and seal around all doors and windows?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I’m pretty sure they did not. I had done a lot of air sealing over past years from the inside already. He trimmed out the windows, but I don’t think he touched a caulk gun until the last couple days. When he trimmed them out he built out around the windows with 1x4, but I don’t think that would have made a huge difference.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

According to a website I like to use for degree day calculations, you have been having a summer at least through July.

Weather Data Depot: free downloads of heating & cooling degree days

www.weatherdatadepot.com

Insulation will certainly help. I noticed that your gas usage was also lower during that most recent cycle. Less laundry? Time away from home? Would the insulation have affected your gas usage in any way you can think of?

Can you tell that I’m actually quite curious about this? I also remember your lower bills after you changed your roof color. I remember showing your posts about it to my husband when we were picking shingles for our new house. We went with a light gray.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

If I remember right the roof made about a 10% change.

The gas is used for heating water, cooking, and the dryer. I don’t think…

Wait, we did go to Fargo for a wrestling tournament in July. That would have cut down on gas a bit. We would not have run the AC for that time also.

Let me pull up another old bill.

Looks like last August was extremely hot, or maybe it was wet and I had to deal with a wet basement.

Baseless excitement, lol.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

When the August bill comes in early next month I’ll see if the numbers are any different from last year.

 

[woodgeek]

A lot of AC is latent heat... energy to remove humidity. I'd bet the airsealing improved a lot with the taped foam.