Why would my sons' rooms be 80 degrees when I struggle staying warm in the rest of the house?

Question

The house is insultated and both boys keep their heat vent closed.

My bedroom across the hall from them is always freezing but it is in the front of the house and bares the brunt of the winter winds.

The thermostat is set at 67.

Answer 1

Even though the vent in the room is closed, they are very leaky. If they are closer to the furnace, they will get more airflow, too.
Go down and find which duct feeds that room. Look for a damper...sometimes they have a short (2 inch or so) handle, sometimes it looks like a "wing-nut". These are put in the ducts to balance the volume before it reaches the room register. The handle or wingnut is on the side or bottom of the duct so it can be adjusted. In the center of that handle or wingnut is a the end of a shaft sticking out, and it's got flat sides on it. Those correspond to the way the "paddle" or "damper" inside the ductwork is set. If the flat is perpendicular, or at right angles to the long dimention of the duct. Close down the one to your sons room a little, and give it an hour or so to adjust. While you are at it, make sure the dampers on the ducts to the colder areas are wide open.

If you don't have any dampers, you can buy and install them quite cheaply. Any decent "handyperson" can do it. But most systems have dampers somewhere.

Answer 2

DannyK is right.

There's a good chance that insulation or sealing next to, over, or under your other rooms is missing or has gaps, or that your son's room just happens to sit over a warm area. Window leakage is also a potential issue.

Is the duct work on its way to your room/other rooms intact or insulated? Are their some leaks or blockages in your venting system? Do some of the ducts run uninsulated along cold walls?

You really should look into this on your own or have a pro come in, meanwhile, that plastic sheeting you can use to cover windows is very effective in stopping window coldspots and can make a huge difference in temperatures. Just the cold air coming off the windows, even without any leakage or with double-pane windows, can have a big effect on temps.

Another issue is humidity - if you can pump your humidity up in the house, it will feel a good deal warmer.

As far as winter winds go, you can try planting some tall evergreens on the side of the house that faces prevailing winter winds. Plant some shorter evergreen shrubs under/near those too. This will help break up direct winds.

Answer 3

It could be alot of things. The boys room may have only one exterior wall. My daughter's room and 2nd bathroom are like that. Their room may have less windows to let the cold in. Their room may have a lower ceiling than that of yours. If yours is vaulted the heat goes up to the top. If their room is right at the top of the stairs, the heat from downstairs drafts right up into their room. Their room may get more sun during the day than yours. Their heating vents could be direct vents from the furnace and yours could be a branch. The fact that you stated your room is in the part of the house that bares the brunt of winter winds is also a factor. Buy a space heater.

Answer 4

Your bedroom probably faces north, so the kid's rooms probably face south.

The extra heat is coming from the sun hitting the expanse of roof over the kid's rooms all day. Because of a concept called thermal lag, the heat absorbed by the roof and the insulation can keep heating your sons' rooms well after the sun goes down.

Answer 5

The largest part of the heating air-duct vent goes to your sons
room first , then probably separates off to the rest of the house
from thier.

Answer 6

You have hot and cold spots in the house due to age and varying levels of insulation and proper ventilation.

Call a reputable heating and cooling company.

Answer 7

close the vent to this room shut some. adjust till room is equal to others