this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2026
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Might cost you less to seal some windows or something than the cost of running the AC 24/7
You forget that American houses, especially lower class ones, are made out of practically cardboard or literally foam. While sealing can help a decent amount most older homes are lucky to have R10 insulation total from drywall to whatever external sheeting exists. Even now most new construction only has to be R15.
That means at best you'd be running the AC 24/7 during the summer months if you live in the 80% of the US that gets above 32c for days at a time.
I wish I had foam. My house was built in the 1920s and as such has plaster walls over lath, with a layer of studs behind and asbestos siding over the exterior sheath. Did you notice what's missing from that list? That's right: Insulation!
I insulated the shit out of my roof when I had the ceiling out of the second story (there is no attic), but the walls basically may as well just not be there as far as the season's temperature is concerned, whatever it is. Somehow, some way, I'm going to have to stab holes through the plaster and blow in some insulation material. The bottoms of the exterior walls are literally open into the basement, though, so I have some work to do down there first.
On the bright side, this place was built back when they were still using real timber so it's probably not going to fall down until much later after all of the other new construction around here.
using real timber so it’s probably not going to fall down
Nothing wrong with today's lumber, but there's a lot wrong with antique building standards of the 1920's + lack of code enforcement + old carpenters attitude of "that's the way it's always been done" if they even knew the current/correct rules in the first place.
A lot of near furniture grade lumber was used in old houses because it was common and cheaply available- unlike now. But there is no special advantage to using it in old houses for structural purposes. Today's houses are as engineered as automobiles are for cost and safety.