The house was built in 1950, with practically no insulation.I've had insulation put in the attic.However, there is one large part of the living room that was expanded many yrs ago, by previous owners.Its basically a thin flat roof, no insultation no attic in that area.In hot summer days the heat that it transfers into the house is amazing, the living room gets incredibly hot.The A/C system is 19 yrs old about 3 ton, where 3.5-4 is recommended by the size of the house.I would love to do both, but budget is limited.What should make a bigger impact for the money.Spending $X to get an additional roof layer with attic space and best insulation?Or replacing the A/C and ducting to a 4 ton new, high efficiency unit?Thanks!!!
i'm pretty sure the tin foil will work, but i'm not an expert
Yes you canI onlu use tin foil
Assuming the added living room is conditioned from your existing unit, i would blow-in insulation between the ceiling joistsThis will give you added insulation which for now will cut down on the heat gain from the roofIt only takes a few holes in the ceiling to make this happen and it can be repaired easilyIf the room is still too hot using the existing HVAC system, add a ductless unit in the living room till you get the money to change out the existing HVAC system Before you go calling in someone to do a Manual J calculation, insulate as much as you canThe biggest source of heat in any space is from the roof and windowsConsider new windows and use the tax credits available to offset the priceThe age of your house indicates it is probably got a lot of sources of infiltration which will also drive up the costs of coolingFind the leaks and fix them Later, replace your existing system to a high efficiency unit or geothermal system for the tax credits again.
