basics of home heat & retention (floor, windows, insulated, ceilings)

[ovi8]

I've had 2 houses now where it's not exactly obvious to me why some rooms are colder than others regardless of insulation / windows. In my old house built by Levitt, they're known to have very little/cheap insulation and so my 2nd floor was at least 10 degrees colder. You can feel every wall and the ceiling and it'd feel cold to the touch. The windows were simple replacement windows. Is heat being lost, or is the cold coming in and which effects the ambient temperature more?

We moved into a ranch and built a brand new 2nd floor with Andersen 400 windows (supposedly much better than the 200s). But it still feels like there's some cold air, for lack of better knowledge, "permeating" through. We made sure they put in R30 insulation in the ceilings and R15/21(?) for the exterior walls. Even though I don't have the heat on at the time, I feel like there shouldn't be any cold in the room if it's insulated so well. Am I expecting too much?

The extension in the living room has "floor-to-ceiling" older Andersen windows and there's a very obvious draft coming in if you sit in front of the windows. Is it usually from worn seals, the panes of glass themselves, or both? So the cold is coming in - does this mean heat is being lost going out or just equalized as far as the temperature goes? I just want to understand it because the obvious resolution seems to just be throw more heat in the rooms (and perhaps throw some plastic up for the winter)...

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by rh71

I've had 2 houses now where it's not exactly obvious to me why some rooms are colder than others regardless of insulation / windows. In my old house built by Levitt, they're known to have very little/cheap insulation and so my 2nd floor was at least 10 degrees colder. You can feel every wall and the ceiling and it'd feel cold to the touch. The windows were simple replacement windows. Is heat being lost, or is the cold coming in and which effects the ambient temperature more?

Well, the fundamental laws of heat transfer show that heat flows from an area of warmer temperature to an area of colder temperature, so call it "heat being lost" or "cold coming in" if you'd like, but basically the heat in your house is being transferred to the colder area outside.

"Throwing more heat into the rooms" will reduce the problem, since there will be more heat to lose, but the real solution would be to remove the pathway out, which sounds like it's your windows.