Thermal Insulation of My Home(chap1)

Story of my home Renovation(Thermal Insulation of My Home)

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Chapter 1（of　6）　Preparation　　 in Japanese　　　　　　8159

Prologue

　 It was on a bed in a hospital when I was informed that my daughter had scalded her leg.

　I suffered from serious illness in the late summer of 2007.

　In March of the next year, I finally left the 4th hospital after surviving several critical situations.
About two months before leaving hospital, my wife told me my daughter suffered burns by a hot water bottle.

　Our house-it was very cold in winter for the person who had moved from an apartment. And it was very hot in summer during the daytime on the second floor, too.

　Because of this, I tried to obtain some knowledge of thermal insulation at a public library　I got such knowledge as a　double glazing, a thermal insulated door, and a house warmed by sunshine, etc. They were introduced with these books. I wanted to live in the house with such specifications, some day.

　I did things which were easy to do and not costly. I changed 50mm-thermal insulations on the ceiling of the second floor into 100 mm. And I placed such removed 50-mm thermal insulations on the ceiling of the first floor.
　And, I removed the soil under the Japanese-style room of the first floor by about 5cm . I spread gravel, and set some foam heat insulator above it.

As a result, the heat from the roof in summer became softened, and we had been able to endure somehow the cold of the first floor Japanese-style room in winter.

But those measures were not enough to obtain a comfortable life.
A lot of years had passed while embracing the dream of rebuilding my house into an insulated house.

October, 2009
A DVD for sales promotion

　One family of our neighbors determined to renovate their house. 　The contractor of the renovation distributed DVD to the neighboring home.

　It was one day when my retirement day approached.

　Their DVD had recommended a wall renovation using the siding board which consists of three parts.

　The heat insulator is put inside of steel board siding,and the steel board is also covered with some natural stones or some tiles.

That redecorating method using the siding that seemed to have high performance and good durability was introduced with the DVD. The siding would be pasted on the existing wall.

Early November, 2009
Is the budget reasonable?

　The construction company who had built our house had held a renovation exhibition.

　I visited the exhibition site, and told a staff of the company that I had been planning on exchanging our house's outside wall and windows. And I informed them that the remodeling contractor had said in their brochure the budget for wall would be about 2 million Yen. And I told that I wanted the wall renovation cost to be under 1.5 million Yen. The staff answered that the remodeling contractor would charge you over 3 million Yen.

　I could not believe it then but the prophecy came true.

It was announced that a house version Eco-point system was started from the next year by TV. The fair wind began to blow to renovation.

Early December, 2009
Expectation

My wife and I visited the office of the remodeling contractor.
A salesperson offered that they would have discounted the material for wall to half if we had ordered before the year end. .

I wanted to replace my house wall to contractor's wall material because the contractor had renovated the house well at my neighbor house.

A few days later, some composite photograph which were showing the outside of my house after renovation were sent by the remodeling contractor.

December 16, 2009
Measuring windows A specification list of panes of your home is helpful.

　I measured all panes and wrote those data onto the list, and I sent the list to three constructors for its cost estimation.

　　　（An example of a list)

№	Position	Height	Width	Number of sheets of a windowpane	Current state specification.	Purpose.	Redecorating idea	New
1	Bay W. in L	1200	1800	4	Bay window consists in three parts.	UV blocking, insulation, and soundproofing		2
2	W. in L	2300	1800	4	Sliding door window with small window.	UV blocking, insulation, and soundproofing		2
3	W. in L	2300	1800	4	Sliding door window with small window.	UV blocking, insulation, and soundproofing		2
4	W. in JR	2200	1800	4	Sliding door window with small window and inner paper window.	Insulation and soundproofing		4
5	Bay W. in JR	1400	1800	2	Sliding window	Insulation and soundproofing		2
6	Entrance hall	1200	800	2	Up down W.	Insulation and soundproofing		2
7	Toilet on 1^st F	600	900	2	Sliding window	Insulation and soundproofing		2
8	Back door	730	500	2	Up down W.	UV blocking, insulation, soundproofing・and crime prevention		2
9	kitchen	750	1800	2	Sliding window	UV blocking, insulation, and soundproofing		2
10	Bay W. in JR on 2nd F	1400	1800	2	Sliding window	UV blocking and insulation		2
11	W. in JR on 2^nd F	1750	1800	2	Sliding door window with small window and inner paper window.	UV blocking and insulation		2
12	Child2’s R on 2nd F	1200	1800	2	Sliding window	UV blocking, insulation, and soundproofing		2
13	child1’s R on 2nd F	1200	1800	2	Sliding window	UV blocking, insulation, and soundproofing		2
14	Bay W in child1’s R on 2nd F	1200	1800	4	Bay window consists in three parts.	UV blocking, insulation, and soundproofing		2
15	Stair case	1200	1800	2	Sliding window	insulation and soundproofing
16	Toilet on 2nd F	900	900	2	Sliding window	Insulation		2
17	Bath room	1400	1800	3	FIX+two jalousies	Insulation

F=floor JR=Japanese style room L=living room R=room

December 18, 2009
Expectation was betrayed

My wife and I visited the remodeling contractor office again. They gave the estimate sheet which estimated the expense for the renovation.

It was nearly 6 million Yen including the roof tile renovation. For the wall, it was over 3 million Yen!

We were surprised. I said to a attendant that their company had said in their brochure ”We can renovate the wall with 2.08 million Yen.” He answered that it was for the houses which were over 20 years old. These houses usually have small wall.

We noticed that the contractor was not a trust worthy company. We left the office immediately.

Various kinds

In the night, a window carpenter in Tokyo　sent his estimate of the thermal insulation modification expense of the panes for my home by E-mail.

I realized by this estimate sheet that there are many kinds of double glazing.

One of double glazing units does not use the insulating gas but the air between the two glass sheets has been expelled by vacuum.

Low-emissivity (Low-E) double glazing has a thin coating of metal on the surface which faces inside.

The vacuumed double glazing is very expensive, but the low-E one is a little cheaper.

December 22, 2009
Performance of Low-E double glazing,

　A nearby window installer came to measure the size of panes. I had sent a mail telling the size of each window of the house. Also,I had been asking him for the estimate of expense.
He came to my house. He said, "I should see the site.”

　Before he measured, he asked me the purpose of renovation of windows. He said, "The means for renovation changes for the purpose."

　Bringing a sample of vacuumed and a sample of Low-E double glazing, he explained.
The vacuumed are supplied by only one manufacturer in Japan. They are very expensive but have high performance in thermal insulation.

　The week point of it is it has spacers which are placed between two glass sheets. If a strong force added against the window frame, the spacers might fall down and the two glasses would break down by outer air pressure.

　I felt the heat ray from the sun was interrupted by the Low-E double-glazing when it was held up against the sun. The low-E double glazings are comparatively inexpensive.

　He also explained that a bay window could not be insulated so much by double glazing panes.

　The part of bay window tends to be very little insulated,due to its structure. He recommended adding another window to a bay window portion.

　After the meeting 　I 　re-considered the way of thermal insulation during the next couple of days.

January 13, 2010
Diagnostic service window

　An invitation letter to　the YKK"Diagnostic service of windows" came from another joiner in this city who I had requested the estimates.　The joiner said that the diagnosis had started this January, so, the measuring instrument tools had not been ready yet, but only an interview with a specialist of a manufacturing company was available.

　The diagnostic result was not so much helpful. 　However, I got to know that there were two kinds of Low-E double-glazing.

January 15, 2010
The first meeting

　We visited the construction company that had built my home before.

　An architect had told us before　that he had thought to cover the surface of house wall with siding panels by choosing the lightest metallic siding. But he had changed his mind. 　He decided to peel off the existing mortar of the wall. 　After peeling off the mortar, he put the siding panels on the wall. Later,it was　ascertained　that this decision was a right way.

　The estimated cost was 2.5 million yen or less in total for wall construction, exchange of gutters,the minimum painter's work, and the scaffolds.

　Also, he told that some metal fittings could be added by this way, and the house would improve structurally for earthquakes. 　　　　

We decided to adopt this plan and to place an order of renovations for this company.

January 18, 2010
New proposal

　I went a office of the window installer nearby and informed them that our plan had been changed and so the existing mortar wall were going to be removed.

　Then he recommended to me that if the wall of my house was peeled off I should consider replacing the bay window unit itself. I was surprised that if I wanted to replace the bay window unit, I should have placed an order for it with a wall constructor. But he recommended an exchange of sash though the order with him might be decreased. The reason why he recommended is that a new insulated bay unit can shut down the heat conduction effectively, much more than the double glazing.

He also said that those inner windows and double-glazed glasses might be delivered the middle of the next month even if they were ordered on that day.

If so, coldness of the winter would be over. I changed the schedule of renovation.

February 6, 2010
The immediate exchange of the Eco-points　House version Eco-point system. Convenient way of spending the points.

　　The outline of the Eco-point became clear. I realized that to reduce the amount of payment, I should have to use the method of exchanging the Eco-points at once.
I realized that if I had decided to place an order with one company for all the constructions. I could have escaped the troublesome application procedure of the Eco-point .

　A estimates of renovation came from the construction company. Contrary to my expectation, it was cheaper than the estimate of the window installer.
So I decided that I should place an order with the construction company for all the constructions. *
I also decided　to replace the　old door　by insulated one, too. I examined many doors’ specs and prices on the Web sites, and selected the one with a comparatively low price among insulated doors.
I gave an order with the construction company for the insulated door. It was about 5000 yen higher than the lowest one among Web prices. Avoiding the expense of cash beforehand, and making the responsibility be clear, I decided　to give the　order　with the same construction company for all constructions including the door.

　 I had been wavering about restoration of the bay window of living room.
Finally, I decided to abandon replacement of the bay window unit. Having considered the budget, I decided to attach an inner window to inside of the bay window unit.
I also decided to replace the old sash of Bathroom window, which had a pair of jalousies(similar to a louvered glass)which had been making a fine show in their design,aｎd a fixed pane to new double grazed sash. Because　this had poor thermal insulation performance.


(The door that had been used)	(Former bathroom sash)

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