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Especially when it comes to staying warm and alive in the northern winter.
If you bought your house before 2001, you're already ahead. The money you borrowed to buy the house is only worth 59% as much and inflation is eating the interest.
In relation to the current mess, the scam wasn't in offering sub-prime mortgages, it was selling the paper to greedy and ignorant investors. Anyone who got a low-interest, fixed rate mortgage before the market went completely nuts - and is still employed - should be doing pretty well. Except for the threat of doubling and tripling energy costs.
I went to closing with a friend in 1997 and the mortgage broker said "Don't ever, EVER, pay an extra penny on this mortgage." Within three years the equivalent apartment was renting for nearly 50% more than the mortgage, utilities and taxes combined.
Quoting an earlier post of my own (from my journal):
"Conservation is your best defense - seal the cracks and plug the holes. Unless you're burning fuel inside the house, there should be enough O2 moving through the walls and various cracks to prevent an unacceptable buildup of CO2. I've always called them "door dogs", but the bead/bean filled socks that you put across the bottom of exterior doors keep a lot of draft out and weather stripping is a bargain, though time consuming to install correctly.
As much as I've always detested the "shrink to fit" window and sliding glass door kits, single pane glass has an R value of one - barely suitable for keeping the air in, let alone the heat. Heat energy transfers from hot to cold and, the greater the temperature difference, the faster it "flows". If glass is R-1, then, aside from preventing any air movement you may have due to leaky windows, a plastic sheeted window provides no better than R-2. If visible light is passing through, then so is infra-red radiation - the heat you're paying so dearly for.
J.C. Whitney sells a radiant barrier insulation (for firewall, floor and header liners) that I've always thought would work well if incorporated into interior shutters or drapes. Being foil faced, it should reflect as much as 80% of the heat back into your home, even with cloth stitched or glued to the face. Infra-red radiation doesn't "see" the fabric, just the foil behind it.
There are also a couple of different kinds of insulating window treatments on the market, though (to date) I haven't found anyone who claimed to be selling insulating drapes. There are insulating honeycomb shades on all the major discount window blind sites. I've found American Blind and Wallpaper Factory to have the best prices and service.
Regardless, the goal is to prevent easy radiant transfer through the window treatment and, secondly, to prevent convection from air "washing" down over the window as it chills, then across the floor. The first depends on the material you use, the latter, how well it fits to prevent air movement over the glass. They should be tightly fitted to prevent air from moving at the top, sides and bottom of the window.
South facing windows are also a great source of winter heat, but you could lose as much or more than you gain if you aren't around to close the shades/drapes/blinds/shutters. A temperature controlled solar air heater is also an option if you're handy and don't mind the look of a huge black glass-faced box hanging off the side of your house. A couple of companies are also making window boxes.
You can close off any rooms you're not using - including those with plumbing - as long as you don't allow them to drop below freezing at any time. However, if the rooms you're using have walls adjoining the unheated spaces, you will be losing heat to those rooms. Additionally, pipe insulation can be used to conserve as much heat as possible in both the hot and cold water pipes. Neoprene is best for this, but it is pricey.
Of additional concern is the impact of closing vents in those rooms you choose not to heat (or to heat less). A forced air furnace and duct system are designed to heat the whole house, and messing around with the system flow might actually end up degrading the efficiency. It may be better just to lower the thermostat to whatever you can live with, wear sweats at home, heat the bathroom with a small, SAFE electric heater and sleep with an electric blanket - the only type of electric heating that makes any sense.
Additionally, if your system is older, check for leaks in the ductwork. If you've got leaks, buy some REAL duct tape - aluminum tape, not the silver colored, plastic tape - and seal the leaks. Change your filters regularly and, if you can, clean the fans and oil the motors.
Programmable electronic thermostats are also widely available and prices should have dropped to a reasonable point by now. They're BS for cooling since it can take a full week to dehumidify a house, carpeting and furniture, but work well with heating.
Hot air rises so, aside from windows and doors, most heat goes up through the ceiling, and that makes attic insulation the most important of all. If you've got open trusses in the attic, you can buy bales of cellulose insulation to dump and spread. Wear a dust mask.
Above all, don't wait until fall to purchase your supplies for any of these projects. There's going to be a hell of a demand this year."
Take it for what it's worth to you.
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