Inside of house is cooler then outdoors?

[Ironman1079]

if the weather is nice outside, what would cause the inside of your house to be cooler? i dont have a/c of any types. thanks, sounds weird but is true.

[Mr T]

Your house is well insulated. You dont have anything heating up the inside of it.

In the summer, I can set my AC to 75 and close up all the windows/curtains. It wont run all day untill someone comes home and lets some heat in.

Inuslation works both ways.

[Ironman1079]

thing is my house was built in 1948, i recently had the 2nd floor remodeled and fully insulated but i believe the plaster walls on the downstairs are not insulated, because in the winter, i get many drafts and stuff in certain rooms.
i guess i will have to wait for the hot days this summer to see really how well insulated this house is.

[CR500]

My house is similar. Its cold / drafty in the winter and hot in the summer. But in the spring, it remains cold unless I open all the windows and doors.

[pushkins]

I buy and renovate alot of old homes many have not been lived in for weeks or months and without heat, most of these homes are far colder inside than out mainly because cold air is heavy and wants to sit, especially if it can sit in a box that a home becomes. Hot air will rise up in the same box and look for small holes (can lights) to get out into the attic space for example. Unlike cold air that will drop in through can light fittings if they are not insulated correctly. Once the cold air is inside the home it won't seek to leave via cracks around doors or windows because the cold pressure outside is greater than inside. Imagine a cooler inside your unheated garage closed, it will always be colder inside than outside because of the same reason, once it gets cold even opened the cold air would rather sit inside the cooler.

[CR500]

Guess that might be a reason not to insulate the floor. Let that cold air fall into the basement!

I buy and renovate alot of old homes many have not been lived in for weeks or months and without heat, most of these homes are far colder inside than out mainly because cold air is heavy and wants to sit, especially if it can sit in a box that a home becomes. Hot air will rise up in the same box and look for small holes (can lights) to get out into the attic space for example. Unlike cold air that will drop in through can light fittings if they are not insulated correctly. Once the cold air is inside the home it won't seek to leave via cracks around doors or windows because the cold pressure outside is greater than inside. Imagine a cooler inside your unheated garage closed, it will always be colder inside than outside because of the same reason, once it gets cold even opened the cold air would rather sit inside the cooler.

[pushkins]

Guess that might be a reason not to insulate the floor. Let that cold air fall into the basement!


Now now, that's not what I said, nor would that help.
If you want to do the test do this >>> take your cooler out into the yard out of the wind, take off the lid, add a tray or two of ice cubes inside the cooler to artificially decrease the temp. leave the lid off and measure the temp. the cooler will continue to get colder (to a point) no matter what temp it is outside.
Not very disimilar to basements that are unheated and not airconditioned, when in the middle of summer the outside temp. might be 80 F but the basement will seldom reach that temp. it's a box that any cool air will sink into via stairwells etc...
Another example is a detached garage, insulated and not heated after a cold spell the garage will almost always remain colder than the outside temp. until it has time to equalize. ( I was in an attached garage today 45f outside...38f inside.
Insulating the floor is not just to stop cold air coming into a home but just as importantly to stop warm air exiting the living area.

[CR500]

Now now, that's not what I said, nor would that help.

:-), LOL. Didn't mean to imply you did.

Actually, my damn walk-out basement is absolutely freezing in the winter. Although it is cool in the summer (but the dehumidifier runs nonstop). I insulated the basement ceiling, pipes, and wrapped all the HVAC ducts and water heater with R13. I should probably bang up some studs and hang some vapor barrier and insulation.

Wish I had radiant underfloor heating on the first floor of the house!

[scuba_dave]

My basement was dipping to 47 1st year I lived here, we went thru 3 tanks of oil.
I insulated the sillplate all the way around, replaced 3 single "pain" windows
Sealed the basement door
Sealed 2 other windows (garage going in - they will border garage)
Replaced almost all the 1st floor windows, the rest will be replaced this year

Basement now stays between 59 (heat off) & 63 - heat on
I have a fireplace with vents - I installed fans
This year went thru about 5/8 of a tank of oil

I plan on insulating the walls next, and a new basement door