I am constantly looking for ways to trim household expenses.
I cut coupons, shop sales, turn the lights off when I leave the room and keep my showers as short as possible.
I’ve realized that heating and cooling accounts for approximately 50% of our household energy usage. Because of this, I’ve focused on tightening up the house to prevent the heated and cooled air from leaking out. I’ve gradually replaced every single window in the house. I installed thermal pane, Energy Star rated, low E windows that were extremely expensive. I carefully caulked and insulated around them. I also bought new exterior doors and weatherstripped them. I’ve added ceiling fans to help push the heat toward the floor in the winter and encourage it up and out during the summer. I have thermal lined curtains that I close to block out the sun on hot summer days and open to let the sun heat up the rooms on cold winter days. Just recently, I realized that the insulation in the attic needed to be replaced. It was obviously compressed and damaged by moisture and rodent infestation. The attic is designed to serve as a barrier between the living space and the outdoor conditions. When properly insulated, the attic can significantly improve comfort and reduce the workload of the heating and cooling system. However, with insufficient insulation, the attic tends to get extremely hot in the summer and horribly cold in the winter. Warm air tends to travel to cooler places. That means the heat from the attic moves into the air conditioned living area during warmer weather. In the winter, the heat from the furnace migrates up into the cooler attic. Replacing the insulation in the attic was a cost-effective idea but also an awful job. I spent an entire day crawling around the overheated attic, dealing with wet, dirty insulation and then installing new insulation.
furnace