OMG, My Attic reached 90 degrees

14 years ago

And the outside high was 104.

I know what youre saying..."youre crazy".

No, not really.

I designed my house to have flexible use and be energy efficient.

It has 1300 sf down and 800 sf up. My wife and I live down and the up is only used with company. The HVAC are two separate units with a door at the top of the stairs. Here in S Texas when temps get to upper 90s regularly, with abundant insulation over the second floor, upstairs has never seen over 90, and that is the attic to my first floor. Wouldn't you like an attic that never gets super hot? Bottom line, highest electric bill has been $120.

For those people who have youngsters it's just a two story house. When you become empty nesters, you shut down the up and enjoy the savings. No need to sell and find a smaller home. You still get good appreciation from a standard sized house...in this case a 3 bed, 3.5 bath setup.

I share this with those who are contemplating designing their new home, or just nuts like me. Pic...

Here is a link that might be useful:

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Comments (5)

flgargoyle
14 years ago
I had to do an emergency repair in the attic of our 1981 house in FL the other day, so I brought my digital thermometer with me for the heck of it. It was 130.2 degrees! The worst part is that our air conditioning ducts are all up there. Our next house will be much, much different.
gopintos
14 years ago
That was my intentions also. I went to the draftlady, told her around 1300 on the first floor, couple bedrooms and a bonus room upstairs. Then I planned to finish the basement with whatever space we ended up with.

Well, her first plan she fired back was 1800+ on the first, around 1100 on the second. The problem aside from the obvious of being too big, I LOVED it.

So we are going to end up with more house than I wanted, but there wasnt any place that I wanted to cut back. We did cut down to just under 1700 on the first floor, and around 1200 on the second floor. ( I guess the 2nd floor was a "cut up") ha, figures.

But the idea is to shut off upper and lower level when we don't need it, which wont be for 5 - 8 more years, therefore I decided to go ahead and get the high ceiling in the great room and foyer.

I am hoping that with the geothermal, windows, and insulation, we will be in good shape utility wise. I am on the fence about radiant flooring. Waiting on another bid.

Your house looks lovely :-)
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srercrcr
Original Author
14 years ago
Just to clarify, your upper and lower have to be completely separate, like a duplex would be.
fayemarie
14 years ago
gopintos ,

I have the radiant floor heat and LOVE it ! My bids for geothermal radiant
were crazy high and we ended up diy 'ing the whole system . You may want
to consider diy' ing the radiant tube install yourselves to save some $$ . My
husband and I did 6000 square feet in about 4 days . It wasn't nearly as hard
as we expected . Ours is on 5 different zones so that we can shut down some
bedrooms when the kids are grown .
gopintos
14 years ago
Glad to hear that on the radiant. I am talking myself back into it. The geo guy is the one who was actually talking me out of it. Thought it would be overkill. The thought of doing it ourselves is scarey. I could do the physical stuff with instruction, but the technical aspects.... that scares me.

Although I found a company that I think would do all the technical stuff and send it to me with instructions.

Anyways, thank you for the encouragement. Gives me something else to think about. I am going to end up being my own contractor anyways it is looking like. I have a few bids from some GCs, waiting on a few others, in the meantime, I have talked to most every sub I needed to already so I really think I can do this. I think I already am without really meaning to.

This may be where that "for better or worse" clause comes in to play.....

OMG, My Attic reached 90 degrees

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flgargoyle

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OMG, My Attic reached 90 degrees

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