Last winter we ran out of propane twice. We had a small propane tank, that we have now replaced with a big guy that was a big part of the problem. But, we were still using a lot of fuel. We went through the house looking for and filling in all kinds of holes. Why a 6 inch row of 1/4" wide holes along the top of wall just below the ceiling we don't know; filled all those in. Checked weather stripping. Match around windows to see if there was air coming in. Nothing, everything was checking out. Still a lot of fuel was being used.
When we took the metal dwn from interior walls to put up on the exterior of the garge look at what we saw. That is light coming up from the apartment into the attic. If light is escaping; heat is escaping, warm air rises. This looks like we may have found our problem.
Okay, found the problem but didn't know what to do about it. The previous owner put in the type of can lights that cannot be covered with insulation. Insulation has to stay 6 inches away for air exchange and so the lights don't over heat.
Spent a little while on the internet and discovered; this is a common problem. And lots of tutorials on how to fix this. We needed to make little houses for all 28 lights. You make these out of rigid foam insulation and metal tape.
We started with 4x8 sheets of the insulation and started cutting
At this point we were on our knees with a straight edge and utility knife making cuts. Wait a minute, always use the right equipment. Into the Workroom and onto the table saw, didn't take long to make our pieces and it saved our knees and backs.
Now we have all these squares we need to build open bottomed boxes out of.
Reflective sides to the inside and tape away.
What's wrong with this picture? Oh, right reflective side to the inside. Those had to be taken apart and redone.
Here is the start of our little houses. I spent a Sunday afternoon listening to television and built and built. I wanted a picture of all them done but Bill was too quick in getting them into the attic.
This is what we see in the dark with the apartment lights on. Totally darkness. That is light coming in through the apartment door glass. There are two lights in the bathroom that are under the planking the HVAC unit sits on that we couldn't cover. Our heating bill will drop considerably this winter.
Our next project with this is to trade all 28 light bulbs to LEDs. Then we will have no fear of anything overheating. Went to buy the LEDs and got sticker shock. I bought one and only one. Told Bill we will by two a month and at the end of two years we will have replaced all of them. He spent some time on the internet and found a web site 1000bulbs.com and they are half the price as in town.
Hopefully, this has solved our heating bill problem. We will know the middle of January.
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