Blog Notes-August 2009

Originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself.

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1. Energy efficiency ideas
   • http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/conservation.htm - numerous ideas for all types of home energy issues. This listing is a major resource with lots of ideas, some rather off the wall - but take what you can use and smile at the rest!
2. Pull Down Attic Stairs - sealing up this major heat/cooling loss for your home. The primary idea is to create a barrier for the air flow while allowing entry/exit into the attic. Pull-down stairs have a box structure in the attic that can sealed up with a lightweight box made of foam board. The box fits over the stairs (in the attic) and can be moved aside to enter the attic. The width of the rigid foam determines the R value. For increased R value, add more or thicker boards, or add traditional insulation bats to the outside of the box. Another trick is to use expanding foam to fill any cracks or gaps. Don't let the air pass through! Weatherstripping on the attic stairs door will add one additional layer of stopping air leakage.
   • Energy Guardian. Starts at $210
   • Draft Cap. Starts at $99
   • Attic Tent. Starts at $199
   • And the DIY low cost version using rigid foam starts at about $20!! http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/AtticStairSeal.htm
   • Another DIY idea How To Insulate Pull-Down Attic Stairs
   • How To Insulate Attic Accesses - basic idea with stacked foam
   • Ladder Mate installs a new insulated "door" so everything is on the inside rather than in the attic. A creative alternative.
3. Defrag info in Vista -
   1. run CMD window with administrator rights
   2. command line defrag c: -v
   3. returns fragmentation report
   4. Additional info on options to defrag the folders and files is at: Defrag shootout - analysis of potential tools, other than the Vista default http://bit.ly/3LOUvs Objective is improved speed / manual run