Situation:

Our home was built in the early 1960’s to an electric companys “standard”. Even have the “Gold Medallion” seal by the front door to prove it. Heh.

The ceilings, as best I can determine, were constructed by using two 1/2″ sheets of rockwall with a sandwich of a continuous run of heating element (possibly stapled) and then wet plaster used to “glue” the two sheets together and a 1/8″ finish coat to finish the job.

We do like the ability to regulate each room, and turn off rooms completely when not needed (kids are grown, and we don’t use the living room nor basement rooms continually). And we do not miss the dust and on off cycles of gas fired force air. Retrofitting and it’s associated costs are a bit out of the question.

But I can tell when the January and February electric bills arrive….the snow’s melted off the mailbox…..

So I’ve been wondering if the following might reduce my electric bill:

Attic has approximately 12″ of blown in cellulose. Would it make sense to temporarly remove the cellulose (just move it one or two joists over), cut some 1″ thick, rigid foil backed insulation board to fit between the joists, caulk around the edges and place the cellulose back over it.

This would seal some known small air leaks and I’m thinking it would direct the radiant heating down, rather then allowing it to go up.

Thoughts?

Thanks – Don