Dave Heil wrote:
wrote:
It seems to me that a lot of amateurs insist on a new house, or at
least a newer house, meaning something no older than 10-20 years.
Older homes are simply off the radar, for some reason. Is it just me,
or is this a real trend? What's behind it?
A lot of it might be in heating and cooling costs. Most newer homes are
super insulated--built with 2x6 walls, wrapped with Tyvek and have
joints sealed with expanding foam.
I wish I could say the same for my area. Many of the largest, most
expensive houses have very little insulation. There is a dead giveaway -
after a snowstorm, they are the first houses to lose the snow on the
roof. A good bit of my wife's work comes from designing remodels on 2 or
3 year old McMansions.
I think maybe that during the 80's and early 90's home construction
related to insulation was pretty good, but as the housing market took
off, and people seemed to be willing to buy anything for any amount of
money, the quality dropped.
Many of them offer geothermal
heating/cooling systems as well. One of my pals lives in Indiana. His
total energy bills this past year have averaged $125 per month with his
geothermal system. That is for a five year old, all electric home with
a geothermal system. That isn't bad for lights, cooking, heating water,
watching TV, ham radio, computers, etc.
It is truly impressive what can be done with a little work. The caveat
it that when you have a tightly sealed house, you have to be very
careful about chemical exposure. My sister has something fairly similar.
She lives in a large modified A frame with one side all glass. Has a
wind generator, Geothermal heat system, and uses a wood pellet stove for
the comfy glow you get from radiant heat. She lives on the first hill
south of Lake Erie shore near Erie, so there is always some wind.
I would love to be able to put up a tower in the back yard
I've owned only two homes in my life. My Cincinnati home was a full
masonry brick house (plaster inside directly attached to two courses of
brick). That place was costing me $200-$250 per month during the winter
for natural gas in the late seventies/early eighties. I don't like to
think about what the gas bill might be these days. That's the only
place I ever lived where I could find frost on a closet wall on a cold day.
brrrr.. Was that the averaged out bill per month?