In June of 2012, we reached out to a realtor to find us a home. Rental. We had a list of criteria some of which included pet-friendly, a fenced in yard, 2-3 bedrooms, and long-term. At the time, we were at the tail end of getting everything ready for our wedding the end of the following month. Neither one of us thought our realtor would locate a home for us before our wedding. In fact, we both assumed it would take several months. Much to our surprise, our realtor found us a home in less than a month. Long story short, we moved in less than 2 weeks from our wedding day.
Although all the items on our list were checked off, I was skeptical about a couple of things. The first was the size of the bathroom. It's small. However, considering what you actually do in the bathroom, it wasn't too worrisome. We utilized the storage shelves and purchased a decorative shelving until that fit around and above our toilet.
The second is this 2 family house was not insulated. It's an older home. From my experience, I know that pose a lot of challenges during the cold weather months. However, that summer, we had one air conditioner that we put in the living room. It cooled our entire home. Lisa and I were fairly confident that it would be just as easy to heat our home.
We. Were. Wrong. Very. Very. Wrong.
That winter was horrible. At the time, oil prices were through the roof so that didn't help. Between January and February of 2013, we forked out over $600 for oil. And, that was with keeping the thermostat between 60 and 64.
It was an expensive winter to say the very least. That Spring, and as it neared more towards the cold weather seasons, we considered moving. But, when we put everything on the table, we decided to give it another year.
The winter of 2013, we made it our mission to be prepared. We put plastic over the new windows, purchased insulated curtains for every window in our home, and we bought a couple of high quality, energy efficient space heaters. In addition to the changes we made and oil prices dropping considerably, that winter was a lot better.
Much. Much. Better.
Since then, the old owner of this 2 family home sold it. The new owner moved in upstairs with her daughter. She's incredible and we consider her family. She's made a lot of home improvements which has made our life a lot easier. The most recent have been getting this house energy efficient and insulated.
Today, the energy efficient company came in. Someone had canceled. They pushed us up. Thankfully, Lisa was home. The owner of our house was on the other side of the United States for business. It would have been quite the challenge having to be available for them along with taking care of our kids plus our fur-nephew and fur-nieces.
They conducted some initial tests to confirm whether they could go forth or not. The house passed all of the tests. It was a long day, but it was interesting and educational. We learned quite a bit about energy efficiency and how small changes throughout your home can lead to substantial savings. For example, they replaced all of our ceiling fixtures in the kitchen. There is 5 total. The fixtures they installed are incredible. What all 5 of the new fixtures use for energy totals is what we were using in ONE of the single fixtures. Best of all, the new overhead light fixtures last for up to 25 years.
In addition, they weatherproofed the doorways, pipes, and any other problem areas. They also installed energy efficient removable showerheads and faucets.
At the end of the day, after extensive testing and fixing the problem areas, their estimated savings for our home was right around $300 a year.
Happy dance.
In addition, on December 4th, another crew is coming in to insulate this house. It'll be blown in insulation from the outside because the house is vinyl sided.
Another happy dance.
We are beyond excited. You have no idea. Since the winter of 2012, our home has been quite the challenge to keep warm. About 80% of those challenges was due to the house not being insulated.
This winter, it'll finally be insulated.
I can't even begin to tell you how happy we are.
And, how grateful we are to our sweet friend, Kim, the owner of this house, who lives upstairs, for making home improvements to better our lives.
To keep us warm and safe.
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