Has anyone ever had an home energy audit before? We have an office that I would like to make into another bedroom but it's sooooooooo cold in there. If I had my way and money wasn't an option I would rip out the walls, properly insulate the room and maybe replace an old window. (Hubby is not a fan of this plan). Another problem is that the way our heating zones work, the master bedroom is on one heating zone, the 2 yo's bedroom is another separate zone but to heat this new room would require heating the rest of the house! Ugh. So, you might say, make this room another separate heating zone. Great idea except we had our basement redone last year and all the walls and ceilings are now finished. We would have to rip open what we paid to have finished. Ugh. I wanted to add another zone while the walls were open but hubby wouldn't agree to spending the extra money. Well, now we are still in the same chilly house with a five week old baby and no where to put him. FYI: the 2 yo's bedroom is very small and I'm not a fan of the kids sharing rooms until the baby is sleeping through the night. One more thought, our plumber suggested that maybe we could move the thermostat into the bedroom (it's in the hall now) so that at least the heat would kick in until the room was up to a desired temp and then turn off. I just want a new house with good windows and properly insulated walls. I can dream, right?
Any advice? Thanks,
K.
We solved a similar problem with a tower fan and just leaving the door open.
It helped the warm air circulate into the unheated room.
You could also go with a small space heater.
If you decide on an energy audit or replace windows you may be eligible for a tax credit. The Economic Recovery Act provided for tax credits to people that 'green' their homes. Call you local city govn't sustainability coordinator to see what credits your city will be giving out and what the Feds are giving out.
Here is info for energy audits in particular:
http://www.energyaudits.com/Content.aspx?p=9#Federal%20Ta...
Other than that all I can think is space heater. But that's not a long term solution.
GL!!
Call or go to the website of your power company or energy supplier. Most of them have information about audits (some free).
I'm all for insulation, that and good windows!
The bedrooms in my house are usually freezing, we have to leave the doors open to let the heat in, if we close them it becomes frigid. We also closed the vents in the bathrooms and on the basement floor which we don't use much, this helped send more heat to the bedrooms so its slightly better. Our bedrooms are over our garage so I think we need more insulation between them, many people have suggested getting the insulation that is blown in between the walls, its seems the easiest solution if you don't want to tear down walls.
It stinks being cold all the time doesn't it? Most men don't understand how much women hate being cold! Especially when some rooms are warmer than others, all day long I constantly put my sweatshirt on and take it off, depending which room I'm in. Annoying.
K.,
We had called NSTAR and they came out and did the energy audit for us. We ended up having insulation blown into our walls - they can do it from the outside (so no mess!) - Whoever does teh audit is generally contracted with a couple people for whatever you are looking for (insulation, windows, etc) and they will cut you a "deal". When they come they will replace all of your bulbs with flourescent for free : ) Can't lose!
This is a question for a professional. It sounds to me like the biggest problem is heating the office space, which begs the question: why is it cold in there now? Is the office over a first floor, full basement, or slab? Is there any insulation in the room? Is there any heating in it now? Even with great insulation, if there is no source of heat, the room will seem cold in the winter. Do you have radiant or forced air heat in the house? You can easily add electric baseboards, but it is a more expensive way to heat the room than adding it to an existing furnace. So you can spread the cost out in higher electric bills or spend more now to add it into the system. Depending on how DIY capable you are, you could add some solar panels and an electric heating system. Sorry that there are more questions than answers, but it is a complicated situation.
C.
what about using a space heater in the room that would only be on when you were in there?
call your local electric company. that's who we called and they came out to do the audit for free. another company we were given the name off, while sounded very good and detailed wanted $350 to do the audit. We got alot of good information from the man that the electric company contracts out with.
First try to do as much of the work your self,the office rip out walls replace with blanket insulation,if you have it blown in from the out side and the person doing the blowning does not adjust his air on the machine right or does not check for fire stops in the wall or where the next stud is so he can drill his hole to blow into,The insulation will settle and you will get half of what you payed for,you also can do that your self.The office for heat what about a monitour (propane).
