All Forum Posts by: Vishakha Penney

@Michele G., yeah that’s crazy. Regarding the rebate, great point! I actually found a contractor through the power company website who does work that they will then give a $250 rebate on, so that’s pretty awesome. Actually thinking about doing it at my house too! ;)

@Michele G., thanks for the tips, especially about the mess! Contractors never seem to mention these things, and this tenant is kind of OCD, that would drive her nuts if she didnt know to cover..!

@JD Martin, Not only are there no returns in the attic, there is no attic access at all! LOL. Kind of a funky old house. I appreciate your advice.

@Joseph Druther, thanks, that was definitely one of my concerns. The attic has a few soffit vents, but fewer than is code now, and no ridge vent. There is no attic access at all to the house (lovely and weird, I know) but still, the attic is probably under passively vented. Thanks for the advice, blown in it is!

@Jim S., good point about the bills. Thanks!

@Bryan Devitt, thanks. That's what I needed to know, I appreciate your feedback.

@Randy E., thanks that is super helpful. It sounds like insulation is the logical place to start. We weren't actually thinking a whole house attic fan, just the kind of attic fan that goes in the roof and pulls air out of the attic only. But it sounds like the consensus is that even those are secondary to insulation and sealing the attic space.

@John Underwood, thanks for your reply. Yes, that was my first thought too...oh it must be the HVAC. Six trips later I'm not honestly sure. The house is hot, no doubt about it. On a 95 degree day, it was well over 80, with ceiling temps of 110 or so. The air coming out of the vents is pretty cold at 65, but the return is warm. What I don't know is whether it was like this every summer before and the tenants just didnt care...

The poor bastards at the HVAC company have cleaned the coils multiple times, checked the pressures, and at their last visit emptied the entire unit of coolant, put in a new pump just in case, and then weighed the coolant back in to make sure there were no contaminants. So, I suppose I could pay another company to go out there and confirm this was all done properly, but given this one company has sent every tech they have and finally the tech manager, I'm inclined to think the remaining problem lies with the house, and my tenant's general tendency to be less tolerant than the last three!

Follow up question: If the consensus is insulate, which is better, blown or sheets? The house does not currently have any attic access btw. (Did I mention this was a class C property?)

We are in the middle of a hot North Carolina summer, and one of our older, C class properties is not cooling properly. 

It is unclear to me at this point if this was an issue before. We've owned this house for nearly 4 years but no previous complaints about too hot or cold. The HVAC is four years new. Previous tenants may have just tolerated it, but I really have no way of knowing. The HVAC people have tried and tried to fix it, and at this point their conclusion is that the unit is now working properly and the final issue is with the house, ie, basically no insulation. 

Now, we do not generally put money into insulating class C rental properties. However, we have to do something as the house will not cool below 80 degrees despite running the HVAC continuously.

The HVAC guy recommended an attic fan because of the very high temps at the ceiling. However, I looked online, and many seemingly knowledgeable people recommend against them, and recommend just doing a lot of attic insulation. 

Its probably going to cost around $800 either way.

Would love to hear your experience on this matter. Thanks!

Some references for those interested:

http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/year/1995/i...

https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/38676/Don-t-Le...