Energy Saving Options for New Home
 

We have our home design meeting next month for our future home in St Catherine. We have done some research, but would like some feedback from our future neighbors in the Villages. With added costs in mine, we want to be realistic on what upgrades to add. We are leaning toward building the Sunflower/Begonia or Iris/Lilac model home. I guess we’ll find out when we get there on what is standard for our model and what is an upgrade.
Part 1 - Energy saving options. In terms of ROI, which additions should we request?

• Attic Fans: From aerial flyovers I see most (all?) the homes have attic fans. Is one fan standard and multiple fans optional? Also, are solar powered fans recommended?
• Attic insulation: is builder standard sufficient or additional insulation recommended?
• Garage door/ceiling insulation: Worth the cost? Additional ventilation or garage fans worth the cost.
• Insulated siding: Is insulated vinyl siding standard or an upgrade?

Wish I added insulation over the garage and Lanai.

Zone your AC ducts by room.

Agree with Rob.......insulate.

Return on investment is the proper way to look at it. Cost is $$$$$$ time to recover that expense is so many months, years etc. We purchased our home new. I was built on speculation so all the choices were made.

My view, frankly my wife choosing what countertop to buy and what color, I could not take that pain.

We do have an attic fan. I don't know if it is a billed addition to our spec built home or is included in the basic plan. Does it save anything? We all know hot air rises, cold air falls
I assume all, most of the homes have ridge vents down the highest part of the roof as well as intakes along the lowest part of the roof.

Garage door insulation. Reminder insulation can only slow heat flow. Your garage is not air conditioned. I don't think it will save much. We do not have it. It might and probably does block outside noise. Probably, if you want it to get the builder to do it. Your garage door is a balancing act. The counter balance springs are chosen, adjusted to the weight of the door.

Insulated, vinyl siding? We have block and stucco. Our previous home had vinyl siding.
I'm sure it is not the same today. Ours was ONLY 40 years old. They had added insulating board behind it. It was fine when we sold the house. Florida sun, hurricanes etc I don't know. Forty years? I will not last another forty years.

Awnings and window coverings. Window tinting DIY.

We have a Gardenia, concrete block, very similar to sunflower/begonia. Most bang for the buck, careful control of the thermostat. We have 3 stretches, one to the house, the others to the garage and lanai. I did and a fan to force hot air out of the attic, a 120v AC powered unit thermostatically controlled. House is 8 years old, and I see no need to add insulation, etc. The electric bill ranges from $90 to $140, so IMHO any additional insulation, etc., will take a long time to pay off, especially if you will have mortgage. Be careful of the window tint as this typically cancels the 10 year warranty on the windows. I would order windows with a factory tint if necessary.
Hope this helps. Send a PM if you would like to discuss further over the phone.

I agree with Tink on the payback for additional insulation might take a while, but it helps save our world's energy consumption for our grandkids, etc.
:popcorn:

I have an whole home electricity monitor. With 10,000 snapshots a second for three years for a home here I believe I can offer an extremely accurate perspective.

Pay for an upgrade to a two stage HVAC.

Powered vents, by 110 current or solar are not cost effective, a solar will never be in your lifetime, your children's, and your grandchildren. Extra non powered vents may be worthwhile in terms of increasing the lifespan of your roof. What you think are attic fans from the overhead views are round unpowered vents although attic fans are somewhat common.

Insulation over the lanai or garage is not cost effective for energy savings but may be worthwhile for comfort. It is unlikely that extra insulation for the home will be cost effective. You simply do not get that much heat gain radiating down from your ceiling. Here it depends on the cost and how long you will be in that home.

Powered hot water circulation pumps (for tankless water heaters) are never energy efficient, if you opt for this for comfort be sure to use this on a timer. NO! Water savings do not offset the cost of operation of the timer.

Window tint is not cost effective and is generally not needed as the windows are already low e coated.

Any questions, please ask.

To our dismay, we discovered that the circular roof power vents are power-less. They are the same units you buy up north that come with a fan and thermostat and have electrical run to power them. Here, at least south of 44, the are just the shell.

The construction foreman told me that they are just vents added to the roof to exhaust heat. There is a formula for the size of roof to length of ridge-vent (the vent along the peak of the roof). If your house does not have enough linear length of ridge vent, they throw up the power-less round roof vents to aid in the necessary heat-exhaust formula.

I found this surprising. I bought a spec house, so I didn't get to do any planning.

Agree with Toymeister, many things will bring comfort but not cost effective. We built a home with a west facing garage door and front windows. We insulated the garage side (extra), garage door (extra), and above the garage (extra). I don’t think these things really helped from a comfort or a cost savings. I will say when it is cold outside in the winter the garage is a nice temperature, but in the summer still really hot. I probably wouldn’t do these things again, but might add a roll up screen door in the future to remove some of the heat during the day from the garage. Again, more from a comfort perspective.

We did use Solar guys to put tint on our front west facing windows and it definitely helped from a comfort level. They also can provide a warranty for a cost to replace the warranty of the new construction windows.

We had all 12 of our windows and all four of our sliding doors tinted when we moved in.

Even with the low-E new windows, we felt a thermal heating of the areas near the windows. We also had glare issues and worried about fabric fading issues over time.

We got quotes and found a wide swing of prices to do the job.

We ended up hiring a father-son team who came in and spent over a 1/2 day installing.

We paid less than $1000 for all.

I may never know if we get a return on investment in relation to reduction of thermal heating, but it has been welcome for reduction of glare and less heat around the windows and door areas. We are also less worried about furniture fading.

If I had to do it again, I would tint the windows and doors.

Go with the lightest color allowed for your roof shingles - costs no extra but saves on A/C

We went with lightest roof shingles, extra insulation, and missed adding more roof vents, I would double the number of rook vents over the standard. . . with adequate inflow the attic will be cooler than without added, but i did not say cold

Houses faces east and garage door absorbs alot of morning sun and heat, and very hot to perform work, so the garage solutions are the biggest issue if you want to spend time in the garage during the summer months.

and ROI is for revenue producing investments, which a house is not, so only payback is the metric IF you want to financialize your decisions. If not, then buy whatever you feel enhances your remaining life span. . . and you can afford to live comfortably

finance guy

I applied window tint to the arched section of our windows. We have blinds. Custom covers for that section are either very unsightly or rather expensive. Are they needed, I suppose it depends on where your room is. I did the ones in my office. Inexpensive and work fine. Far easier to see my computer monitor.

As said elsewhere, hot air rises, cold air falls so the air moves out the top. Perhaps, in older homes but I expect all current models have proper venting.

Putting in a power fan without increasing the intake is like trying to suck air out of a glass coke bottle.

When people install vents in their garage doors.....I'm always surprised they install the vents at the bottom where the coolest air is.

I agree with adding additional insulation to the attic space above the air conditioned spaces in the house. But, I don't agree with installing insulation on the ceilings that are located above unconditioned spaces, like the garage and the lanai. The basic concept of insulation is to create an insulation barrier between conditioned and unconditioned spaces so that it will slow down the rate of heat transfer between two spaces that have different temperatures. But, if you create an insulation barrier between two unconditioned spaces, like the lanai and the attic above it, the insulation doesn't really do anything because neither space is being temperature controlled. That is why homebuilders never install insulation in these locations.

I will translate toymeistereese to English - Don't do a thing, none of it matters. These homes are built VERY efficiently and don't need a lot more. Your power bill will average $100-120 a month. In the summer might hit $140. Not much will change that.

Now WATER is another thing. You can spend a fortune on that. I would add a sprinkler controller with a remote app to control that when you are away. :)

Love our Begonia, ours has several stretches include 2 in the garage and the BR 2 & 3 / LR stretch. Ours was a spec home, only thing I would have changed is our lanai is 30x10, I would have gone either 12 or 14 feet if we'd built custom.

Nothing is perfect. All the sections are built at the same time or close to it. Our home is roughly 9 years old. It was built on spec so we did not choose. We do have a darker colored roof. All the roofs, here are roughy 10 years old and all have dirt and mold on them. As the dirt and mold is black, the lighter colored ones look dirtier.

It does make sense that a lighter roof will absorb less solar heat and that it will save on cooling. It will also cost more to heat in our cooler season. Cost of cleaning? Effect on roof life due to cleaning due to removing some of the grannuals that protect the tar like material that the shingles are made from? Net difference? Truth I have no idea.

Not quite, I noted it is worthwhile to upgrade the HVAC to a two stage unit. The standard, spec HVAC is a one stage system.

The Federal requirement for new HVAC units is 13 SEER, TV installs 14 SEER. The upgrade is 16 SEER.

Let me slow the roll here. SEER is Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating. Or more specifically it is is how many BTUs per watt that unit can cool.

By itself 14 vice 16 SEER isn't insignificant. It is has 14.3% more cooling efficiency. It has bonus savings because the two speed system is better at dehumidification, this usually means you will keep the drier air home warmer.

Between the higher SEER unit and two degrees higher temperature you'll save 20% of your heating and cooling costs or slightly more than 10% of your total electricity usage. No other savings measure approaches this. Radiant barrier, for example saves 1.5% (at best) and only during the cooling season.

Now we could get into a discussion if a even higher SEER. unit would be worthwhile. That really exceeds the depth needed for this post. At design you can choose a two speed HVAC. It is well worth it for energy savings and comfort.

HVAC costs are by far the greatest cost in your electric bill. The gas bill, if you have gas, is insignificant.

You will not be offered any way to save water at the design stage, so it is not relevant here.

We have a West facing oversize two-car garage plus a golf cart garage. I installed insulation on the doors from a kit (required two kits) I believe I bought at Lowe's. The insulation resulted in a noticeable reduction in garage temperature. I also keep the small window partially open as well as the propping the drop down stairs open about two inches to create an updraft which helps lower the temperature. I can't quantify how much, if any, savings resulted from this.

Our Seabrook only has eight windows in the house part and two in the garage. We added extra insulation to the lanai and garage and insulated hurricane glass to the lanai.

Our house in Cincinnati had 57 windows. Three floors, counting basement and some were small ones over others but it was a big energy drain with 22 ft. ceilings in the great room.

The one we have here is very good to save energy, we think.

It will also create negative pressure and suck conditioned air through every penetration for wires and vents from the living space below and into the attic.

We opted for windows in the garage and did insulate wherever we could on our building, garage door and attic. The house won’t be done till December. Is there a way to cool the garage further? Do some homes go the extra mile and exhaust their garages through the soffits or something? Any advice would be taken seriously. My parent’s garage is an oven in the summer.

I did my own garage door insulation on the West Coast. Fairly easy and cheaper. You buy the foam panels and insert them after cutting down and lots of caulking. Door insulates and becomes quieter. Garage fan would be necessary though for the heat.

We purchased a home with a radiant barrier already installed in the attic. The first time I went into the attic during the summer, I thought I had an AC leak and I was cooling the attic. Turned off the AC for a few hours and returned to the attic. It was just as cool. Having the attic cooler (by approximately 15 deg F), places a much lower heat load on the ceiling. I cannot quantify the savings, but when I compare my electric bill in the summer with neighbors with the same floor plan, my bill is consistently lower. Of course, thermostat settings are a big player. We leave our thermostat at 76 deg F year around. Not necessary the most efficient setting, but comfort for us is more important.

No matter how you quantify it garages will never be efficient to cool. There are simply too many ways for the outside air to leak in.

I'll let others discuss the benefits/drawbacks of fan ventilation from the garage to attic.

If the point is to mitigate heat gain the most effective ROI in a garage is insulation on the garage door.

If you want the garage to approach living space comfort then insulate the ceiling, the exterior block wall (or frame on a stick built) and install a mini split.

The mini splits for a garage (often two ton units) use raw cooling capacity to overcome the heat gain. They are sold as 18 SEER or 20 (I believe) units and will cost 4,500 and up.

That's what I did to make my garage, used as a shop, quite pleasant. I use this on an as needed basis. A neighbor leaves his mini split on yearlong. I have never asked him how much it costs to operate. It makes him happy and that is what it is all about.

Instead of a garage fan have a couple of the glass panels in the garage door replaced with screens. Careful with attic fans since it has to have air enter the attic to replace the air it is forcing out and that can be pulled into the attic through any leaks in the airconditioned house. Also, don't run the exhaust fans more than is necessary for the same reason.

Put a electric plug in your master closet to use when your ironing if you buy an iris. I also have a sink in the garage..comes in handy so you may want pipes run there.

We have east facing garagedoor and 2 Br windows. I insulated the garage door and tinted the windows. Not difficult jobs. Both made a big difference. The garage stays cooler longer and the window tint keep my wives sewing room cooler longer. Remember a lot of these upgrades can be done after you move in.

With or without ceiling fan(s)??

Hi When your talking ROI how long are you planning on living there in this house a couple years and then moving to something newer or planning on staying a long time? If its just a couple of years your going to save enough compared to what you put in but if your in for the long haul yes the investment will probably be worth it. I would put some extra insulation in the ceiling. Invest in good energy saving window treatments. Personally I would put in a insulated garage door ( assuming the outside walls are insulated) even though the garage is not a condition space it will act as a buffer between the house and outside temperature. Also the items you store in the garage will not be subject to the higher temps a uninsulated garage may have. Depending on how large and layout of the home install zoned ducts with separate smart thermostats for each zone. Low flow shower heads 1.5 gpm to 2.0 gpm water is not cheap and your also paying to heat that extra hot water used. Irrigation there may be a saving depend on how large of a lot you have to water

We built a stretched Gardenia in Chitty Chatty and did not add any additional insulation or modify the HVAC. The AC is set on 76 and the heat was set at 72 with electric bills to date that have not exceeded $100 and some have been $60 or so in the Spring of the year. The homes are well built and insulated (ours is block) and you can always add insulation on your garage doors, attic, etc. after the build if you desire to do that. Personal choice though. Enjoy the home and finish selections, and the build process! 😊 🏠

Without. The mini split moves enough air that there is a fan effect without ceiling fans. It's just a garage (shop). I don't need that much comfort and I don't want extra saw dust moved around.

There's only a few things that are cost-effective and reasonable to do. A high efficiency AC with two multiple stages. And making sure you have a vent that forces hot air out of the garage. Also generally they put in multi-pane Windows with or without filming between

I actually tracked this. When I had a seasonal rental, all electric gardenia. I ran it as a business. Utility savings is part of that business.

I had a wifi water monitor on the hot water side and the cold water side. I installed a 1.75 GPM flow restrictor on the existing shower head.

With changing monthly renters I had a lot of data to analyze. Mainly I used the water data to determine if renters were truthful on not having four or six adults there. It is extremely easy to spot multiple adults in the home just by hot water usage. Spoiler alert: people lie and frequently at that. I didn't re-rent to those who lied to me

The total cost savings for. 1.75 GPM shower on average, including electric, water and sewer was .87/month/couple

Now, a flow restrictor is a cost effective saver. But when I became a full timer I skipped the flow restrictor. We are worth $10.44/year. Maybe you are too.

Additional electric outlets
 

We have a CYV and the one thing that we have discovered over our last 5 years of domicile in TV is that most all homes don't have enough electric outlets in either the garage area, the lanai area or alongside of the exterior walls. Extremely frustrating when you attempt to do any work in the garage and have to power additional refrigerators, freezers, power packs for your lawn/garden equipment. Also, if you are thinking about hot tubs in your future, you might want to upgrade your electric panel to a 200amp model...you'll most likely need it. :ho:

Install a 'coolmygarage'
 

Install a 'coolmygarage' (found on line) garage ceiling fan (under $500). It has a thermostat to go on and off as your attic heats up. It also has a fire break damper that actuates in case of fire. Add the blown in insulation over the garage, as there is no wall between garage attic and house attic. The garage ceiling fan will draw air through vents in your garage door, up into the garage attic and then they exhaust through the home roof vents. Installation is very easy and can be done yourself.

Let me say, this thread is the content on TOTV that is awesome. It provides real life examples of things relevant to living in The Villages.

THANKS.