A Little Bit Of Insulation Makes A Big Difference

This might just be From The Land Of Duh, but Insulation Works.

See, the thing is that my house in South Florida had a lot of problems with it.  We bought it with worn out tiles, a bathroom that needed a lot of work, and a Florida Room.

Mind you, that Florida Room is a space that has been upgraded over the years.  We think it was originally simply a non-enclosed porch.  Over the years it got enclosed with Jalousie Windows, Air Conditioning since it does get "warm" here, and then the windows were upgraded to Hurricane Glass.

Hurricane Glass.  The stuff reminds me of a bank teller's window.  Thick enough to stop a speeding bird, then break its neck as it flies into it at full speed.

The latest improvement to the space was to insulate the ceiling.  We also put in some LED lighting.  

The upshot of all of this is that the house may just have gained a new and USABLE room.

By this I mean the house is right now being cooled to 74F/23C.  The only time we were able to get the house that cool was when it was our two weeks of winter and it was "cold" to us.  I live 8 miles south of the freeze line and the coldest it ever gets here is 34F/1C.  Peak of summer when the temps are in the mid 90s, the compressor would run all day long and only cycle after sunset.

All this temperature nonsense aside, we normally kept the place at 76F/24C.  That same room is on the opposite side of the house from the thermostat, and when we were in our normal 90F Plus summer temps (32C), the Florida Room would be as warm as 82F/28C.  There are two air vents in that room and the doorway to the room is always open and you can stand with your arms stretched and not touch the edges.   It's a big open space without a door.

I learned the first summer here that my desk in the Florida Room would not get used because it was just too hot to sit out there.  I took over the dining room and would do my computer and "desk" work there.  It was cooler there, and I simply said to people that there was a thunderstorm difference of temperature in that room.  

Oscar the parrot did not seem to mind the heat and could watch the outdoor birds when they came to visit him.  He would sit there and chatter at both me in the Dining Room, and the Orioles and Hummingbirds that would hide in the Bougainvillea from time to time.

So here I sit, across the street, waiting to be able to move back into my house once all the work is done.  Once it is, I expect to be able to be out there and leave the dining room to be used for dinner.

What a surprise, huh?

So when people harp at you about insulating your attic, take it from my Florida Room, you should.