I donâÂÂt have all the answers, maybe I donâÂÂt have any. I was just trying to provoke some useful analysis of the problem. The attic and everything up there should be as cold as possible. You mentioned that the new addition has most of the problems and the older attic has none. Might this be because the newer section is too tight and the older one âÂÂbreathesâÂÂ? You should not have to clear snow off the roof with proper roof vents. See link below for roof vents designed for a cold climate. TheyâÂÂre very common here where snow can be quite deep on the roof, I donâÂÂt know if theyâÂÂre common in your region. They always extend above the snow. SR Here is a link that might be useful: 'Maxie Vent'

David, I live in dry CA and honestly have not done any research on how it affects humid environments so my experience can't offer you much help. Did it work? It helped reduce my electric usage immediately and the air temp differential from a vent dropped by about 3 degrees immediately. I didn't test much after that, but the before/after differential was done two days apart at the same time of day. I was keeping my thermostat between 81 and 83 (damn sweaty hot) and still had a $400/mo pge bill (~1700kwh) and after the RB I kept it at 77 and the bills were between 10 and 20% lower. The bills compared year-to-year were so much lower over 12mo period (20%?) that the utility gave me some kind of automatic refund. I bought my stuff from Horizon (savenrg.com). They are in Phoenix AZ where the climate is a bit worse than mine, but similar. They aren't a flashy company, obvious from their site, but their material made so much sense when I confirmed from other sources. It's not cheap. The owner also helped teach me the DIY w/duct sealing: making sure all joints are tight (ties/metal straps), lathering on tons of mastic on them, and applying metal backed tape where needed. Dust is the #1 killer of a radiant barrier. Their site explains it and how multiple layers of reflectivity, when separated adequately (scrim), keep the RB working even when dusty on the top layer. The RB on the floor, above the insulation, is triple layer. The ducts are wrapped with their ducting RB which is double layer and I put the triple layer on the top-parts where the dust might collect. Either way, I'm not taking chances as I'm having my roof replaced and afterward I'm going to cleanup & dust where it's easy to do so. After the 15 months I went back up to check out dust and it was very minimal, except directly under the dormer vents where a handful of smaller leaves/dirt had dropped. Ducting: That's existing flex ducting (r4/5 don't recall) wrapped w/multi-layer RB. RB under Roof I'm not sure it will help all that much to put RB under the roof when it's already on the attic floor + ducting like mine. Their site also talks about this. IMO I'd be creating an oven situation, but in reality I don't know if it matters. I currently have shake roof w/stick frame so it slightly breathes there and through the ventilation at night. However, once it goes to OSB w/composite shingles, I'm relying on the vents anyway. The roofing salesmen say "sure it helps, anytime you can prevent heat from entering the attic in the first place is good" as they try to sell the OSB w/tiny bit of foil on the bottom of it. I don't know if that works w/out creating conductive heat transfer that then radiates in the attic. As far as whacky CA rules, yeah no kidding. I honestly think in certain parts of CA they should've left the R alone and just suggested RB properly installed. I was hoping bluelogic would've been subscribed to his original thread and could tell us what happened with his project.

OK, now I'm a little more confused. HVAC guy used 50 sq. ft for both bathrooms which is pretty close and provided the following equation: The heaters have a capacity each of 1275 Btu's. The restrooms are an estimate of 50 sq ft. The manuel J calculation for second floor room with one side exposure to outside is approximately 18 Btu's a sq ft. 50 Sq. ft. x 18 btu's =900 Btu's per restroom. Using BTUs seems to make sense so I did a little more research on using BTUs as a basis. Here's my assumptions because I don't have the Manual J to refer to: Room square foot = 50' Room cubic feet = 400 (8' ceilings) Based on the fact that the nearest heating ducts are in bedrooms and we keep our doors closed and thermostat turned down to 65, I'm going to assume the starting temperature is 65 and we'd want something like 75 temp in the winter, so temperature rise would be 10 degrees. I'm just making assumptions here, so if they seem out of line, someone let me know. I know some calculators use desired temp minus minimum outside temp to calculate the temp rise, but the calculator I've linked to below seems better suited to our needs, as it appears to take into consideration the starting temp which will be set by the house furnace. At this point, I don't know if the primary purpose of these heaters will be to supplement the 2nd floor heating or if they will only be necessary for warming the bathrooms - if they were baseboard a/c units, I would have left them running at full blast this summer to provide some relief to the rest of the 2nd floor. If we're going to need them to supplement the heat, I'd assume they'd be left on most of the winter and the bathroom temperatures would remain fairly constant. But, if the current furnace and existing ducts are able to maintain the house at about 65 degrees, I see them as primarily being switched on in the mornings to heat the bathrooms before morning showers, then turned off before leaving the house. And in either case, I think it's important to take into consideration how long it will take the units to raise the temperature 10 degrees and will that time be different for a unit that's constantly running to assist with maintaining a 65 degree temperature vs. starting from cold to warm a room from 65 degrees to 75 degrees? The calculator below is giving me 3,675 BTUs and 1,077 Watts/hr, which is closer to the recommendations made by the folks here, but conflicts with Manual J calculations. I don't know that much about a Manual J, but it does appear to take into consideration things like 2nd floor room (I assume that also means room underneath is heated), 1 exterior wall. The online calculator does take into consideration factors like insulation type, but doesn't ask if it's 2nd floor. I don't think either wanted to know that the ceiling above is attic space with poor insulation (at this point, anyway) One other thing I discovered in doing more online research is that the thermostats that were installed on the baseboard heaters are single pole, which means they don't actually turn completely off, so does that mean that they will be generating at least some heat year round? Does that mean that they will continually draw electricity year round too? If so, would either of those factors concern you? Any thoughts? Here is a link that might be useful: The Heat Shop BTU calculator

Chispa - It was just laying on the floor so I dont think there was anything it got caught in. I know there was a small gecko living in the house. The tail seems kind of large to be his, but i did see him near the bird room a few days ago. I dont think anything would be big enough to eat the birds, unless it is a large snake, but there’s no way a large snake got in here, unless it came through the fireplace. Whatever it is, if it’s still in the house, I suspect it’s a reptile and living under the built in appliances in the kitchen where it’s warm. I’m going to get up tonight with a flashlight and look around. The birds are safe at night because they sleep in night cages in the master suite area.