We bumped into another neighbor who explained that they added that second floor to cool their house because these homes didn't have a ceiling to help insulate the house from the Hawaiian heat. They're planning to use the space for storage and wouldn't be using it for living space. Ahhhhhh.... that explains it.
I think air conditioning might have been cheaper but then again, storage space in Hawaii is at a premium. Still, this seems like a drastic solution to me. Fun, but drastic.
We just noticed another neighbor choosing a cheaper option to cool their house. They're painting their roof white to reflect the sun's heat.
I'm a bit confused. These homes didn't have a ceiling? Do they mean something besides what I think of as a ceiling? Insulation? How will another layer help the cooling--specially, if they fill it with storage stuff?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't make sense to me. Help.
Like a big umbrella.
ReplyDeleteGlad it doesn't block much of your view.
Just think, having all that space for storage ... Kay, don't even think about it! :D
I agree. Pretty drastic. But I do understand the reason, because our weather is pretty similar. We have a very thick insulation between our roof and the ceiling.
ReplyDelete3:49 am? You are up early. Insomnia? Join the club. I sometimes post at all hours of the night, too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you; it is drastic what your neighbor is doing. And guess what, that won't get rid of the humidity. For that, you need air conditioning.
I came to catch up Kay.. I know you are missing your family. What did we do before web cams.....Michelle
ReplyDeleteJo: These homes had/have cathedral ceilings. I think that's what you call it. Therefore it has no insulation. It's just the ceiling and then a layer of roofing material over it. When we built a second floor to our house, it fixed that problem but it's still rather warm. We put fans in every room, too.
ReplyDeleteDina: We do have a second story which is actually built on stilts above the first. Sort of hard to explain. However, it does give us tons of storage space between the 1st and 2nd floors.
Betty: We made sure to stick in lots of insulation when we did our home renovation.
Gigi: To be perfectly honest I post dated my entry to appear at that time. I actually wrote it at 10:00 last night. You caught me!
Michelle: You're so right. I am missing my family. It was really great having everybody around and now the house feels empty.
interesting story, I would've been curious too!
ReplyDeleteHope they don't put anything up in their attic space that will melt. I had gingerbread ornaments up in my crawl space. When we brought them down they were deformed! Sad!
ReplyDeleteI have seen some pretty interesting roofs, but I can't say that I have seen one like your neighbors!
White paint at roof top is a cool solution..but I too little doubtful about the usefullness of another extra floor!
ReplyDeleteAnyway both the solution are innovative enough to mention :)
Nice post. Thanks for sharing....
:) :)
I think painting the roof white is the easiest and probably most inexpensive way to solve the storage situation.
ReplyDeleteAccording to reports I have heard recently, we should all paint our roofs white to slow global warming.
ReplyDeleteWell, does sound a little drastic, but guess people do what they can. Being originally from Texas, I understand about wanting to stay cool as cheaply as possible! Ah, that's why I love the northwest! Heat is not a problem -- even though we do sometimes get tired of the rain -- I'll still take it!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of your weekend!
Sylvia