It is cold this morning. Wretchedly cold - maybe not cold like lots of people farther North are used to, but it is low twenties with wind chill down to the teens.
It is cold.
All plans yesterday evening pretty much focused on doing what I had to do outside and then staying inside, which was a lot more than I had intended to be outside - mostly changing the quail out. And then coming inside to make sure I could do what I could to keep things warm.
Which revealed a number of potential issues:
1) Heat: Heat here (like most of our neck of the woods) is primarily provided by gas. Great when it works, not so great when it does not. We also have a gas insert in the fireplace which is well nigh useless - but wood stoves are not necessarily an option here, especially with fuel (as we have no trees locally).
2) Insulation: We are insulated up top, although it is a little older and we could probably benefit from putting some more on top. That is sort of a longer term project. Of shorter term interest in the garage, which is sealed okay but the door needs insulation (this is a project which I can do pretty readily).
3) Windows: This is the big one which I realized is an oversight - other than a couple of curtains that we have for decorative curtains we have not curtains for 90% of our windows. Perfect place for heat to leak out of the house (or heat in during summer, I suppose). This is something that should be dealt with.
The house never fell beyond 62 F at night, which is a pretty good thing. That said, there is always room for improvement.
As much as the green freaks preach insulation as the answer to everyone's problem it really takes a critical look at just how often you need it versus expense. Ya it would be nice but if you only get six days of below freezing temps a year I would just opt for more clothing or perhaps an extra space heater myself.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest issues are never with the cold here as in the house. I can sit around in a 45 degree house in my carharts and be fine although the wife complaining drives me crazy. It's water that bothers me. When ya have almost 60 animals to water each day it becomes a top priority.
It's a reasonable point, but in our case it would probably help with our fairly brutal summers as well. We are typically in the 100 and over range for most of the summer and insulation has helped some friends locally that have done it. The cold would be icing on the cake.
ReplyDeleteI can see the cold being an issue with that many animals. We just have the rabbits and the quail in the garage and I hate going out to feed and water..