First frost!

[ewigweibliche]

Last winter was cold. It was very evident that this house is not insulated. Our heating bills are pretty high. (The flip side was that our house was stiflingly hot during the summer.) Adam has asked me not to complain all winter long about how cold it is. Eek. I have my work cut out for me

Comments

[lopezuna]

Do you put that ugly plastic insulation stuff over the windows, at least in the bedroom? The stuff that's like a big cling film, and you use a hairdryer to shrink and seal it. That, and curtains saved my life when I lived in a draughty old house in Boston.

[ewigweibliche]

No. It's not our house. We have an insulated curtain between the kitchen door and the back room (which is an unheated add on) and one over the kids window. We're going to get one over the one curtainless window in our bedroom. I hope it helps.

[facethemoon]

This. The plastic shrink wrap over the windows is essential. We do it in every house we live in EVERY winter. It only takes an hour or two to do all the windows and you can buy kits from the hardware store to do it. We noticed a HUGE difference (like $100/mth) in our heating bill when we do it, especially if a house is drafty.

[ewigweibliche]

It's also ugly as sin. GAH. Does it come off easily?

[hrafntinna]

Ugh, that stinks. I'm enjoying having moved into a warmer place finally, but I absolutely have felt your pain.

[ewigweibliche]

I DEMAND PICTURES OF YOUR NEW HOUSE. Also: are your family in NY ok??

[hrafntinna]

Everyone's fine, thanks.

Yeah, I need to send you photos.

[msmidge]

Oil-filled radiators like this: http://www.shopdelonghi.com/detail/DGI+TRH0715SH
for each bedroom will do the trick. And they seem like less of a fire hazard than many of the other space heater options. Our house in Georgia was not insulated either. We got one of these heaters at Lowe's and it worked really well.

The window film is good if your windows are drafty. It doesn't do anything at all about the fact that your walls are not insulated, though.

[ewigweibliche]

I suspect the window film will help. And perhaps those heaters for night time.

[sapphire_kittum]

Do you have a fireplace to keep warm, or just central heating? Sorry to hear that you are so cold! How are the kids coping with it?

[ewigweibliche]

We do have central heating, but why heat the whole house? Especially if we only need it in a few rooms? And with an uninsulated house the heat just leaks out. Kids are fine. They seem to run hotter than us adults.

[artricia]

In addition to the space heaters and window film, try some silk long underwear. Works like a dream. Also, get some nice warm wool socks. Etsy if you don't knit. And if you have drafty doors, make snakes out of fabric tubes (tube socks will work, but pretty material is nicer) and rice -- or at the very least a rolled up towel.

[hrafntinna]

Bubblewrap is a great draft-blocker.

[ewigweibliche]

I used to have silk underwear and it is AMAZING stuff. I do not have any currently, but I need to ask for some for Christmas. Sadly, that stuff is so much more expensive than I remember!

Our doors aren't the issue. The one that is, we've put a thermal curtain over. Helps tremendously!