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We keep the house between 65 and 70 at the moment (depends on the room) because our house is over 230 years old. Since we bought it 1 1/2 years ago, we’ve been making renovations to improve the R-Value of things. Some old windows have been replaced (more to go, but all in good time). Some of the outer walls have/had old insulation that has just disintegrated from age (many of the walls are plaster and slat board, with all those old square nails). We heat with propane and for the size of the house and will all the rooms (it’s defintely not an open floor plan!), two stoves upstairs do the job, but the temperature drops off just before they kick back in again. In front where the one stove is and we’ve got most of the walls done (where I’ve been sleeping), the stove comes on twice at night, so we aren’t really aren’t using as much energy there, despite the thermostat setting (which is awesome). We’ve replaced most of the insulation upstairs and squared up the roof (it was needed). The windows there aren’t redone, but we have UV film on them and we have quilts that have been split in half (like you buy in a store for a bedspread) and made into curtains to pull at night. 🙂 What will be my room currently has no insulation on the outer walls, but it is being worked on. My mom doesn’t have the heat on in her room with the radiator (she likes a cold room and gets enough heat from the main rooms to keep it sufficiently warm – we have radiators downstairs). Next winter, we’ll have all the outer walls done, which will help amazingly. The wiring and attic was needed to get done first this year though (slow and long, tiring work – it wasn’t cleaned out from the landlord when we bought it – he died soon after of cancer – of MANY boxes of old fabric samples, crap antiques, old 40s/50s magazines in piles and piles, some old toys like the old tin ones, some small odd finds, etc. – and not very visible, but necessary before going to doing the rest. The voltages in some room couldn’t take some basic stuff today, it was split up weird for what would go to each fuse and poorly planned – now fixed, and some of the wires were old enough that the sheathing would just disintegrate in your hands if you touched it). We also added an insulated door at the top of the stairs going into the attic (in addition to the door at the base of the short stairs).
I definitely recommend at least the UV film on windows. It does make a difference (though I recommend two people to apply it… to avoid excessive frustration!). Using the bedspread quilts (or something similar) and making them into curtains (they have rings at the top with little grips that hold the now curtains themselves… simple afternoon project) really helps keep the cold out and the heat in at night are can be an inexpensive way to do curtains if you go to a clearance shop or outlet store (or just a good sale). 🙂 Oh yes, and a good pair of slippers or warm socks helps in the morning. On really cold nights we do let the water run at a slight trickle to prevent pipes freezing. Last night was definitely below zero F last night, but not as bad as it has been (it’s a dry cold… wet cold goes right to your core!).
This year one of our pipes did burst and the was a nice waterfall going on in the garage….we run small amount of water through fausets at night…and as for animals at my parents house they have a pomeranian great dane and a cat. At my apartment though we keep house a t 75 for reptiles
Xtharsa wrote:This year one of our pipes did burst and the was a nice waterfall going on in the garage….we run small amount of water through fausets at night…and as for animals at my parents house they have a pomeranian great dane and a cat. At my apartment though we keep house a t 75 for reptiles
Ouch… where are you at? I know you can take some insulating tapes to wrap pipes with. Sometimes, if there isn’t enough insulation between or around the pipes to the outside, it can happen (I ran into this at an apartment I lived in at college – above a restaurant and I had one night that the pipes froze, despite running the water).
I just looked at the thermostat on the back of the house and it read 50 degrees but it is where the sun hits it during the day so I don’t believe it plus there is a cold wind blowing. It’s still cold here.
I have had the heat pump on for the last several days and kept it set at about 72. There is also UV film on all the windows because of the (normally) hot sunl
I might add all my orchids have been residing in the living room for several days
All the plants died due to the unexpected weather. I really should check the weather more. 😳 The weeds haven’t died though. They’re as healthy as ever.
Thanks for the replies; I’m always trying to find ways to keep my pets warmer.
Interesting about the information on parrots, Nam. Basil (RIP), a green conure, was the pet I was most worried about in past winters. I guess it wasn’t total torture making her live in New England and not pumping the heat up to sauna like temperatures =P
Adaneth wrote:I used to just warm up a microwavable heating pad for him (still do) but for this Christmas I got my cats an electric heated bed (indoor/outdoor style with reinforced cord) and they love it! 🙂
I got the rabbit and rats a microwavable heating disk (SnuggleSafe) this winter because they will chew cords, but they aren’t too fond of it’s hardness (but the heat is great!). Is your microwavable heating pad soft or hard plastic?
Mine is a Snugglesafe as well, must have had it for at least a good 7-8 years now. (I got it for my dog years ago when I’d leave her in the car when running errands in the wintertime).
I usually put mine inside a fleece thing or under a couple layers of a folded blanket or towel. My cat didn’t like the hardness at first, but now he doesn’t care anymore and sits right on it. Sometime he’d lie sort of against it, so he could be on a softer surface but have it pressing against him.
But yes, the chewing is a problem. It’s why I held off on an electric bed for so long, until I found a model with wire wrapped around the cord (unfortunately, not tightly enough to ward rats and rabbits, I expect).
Some parrots are more greatly effected by cold than others. Some have feathers more adapted for insulation, some do not. There are feral Quaker parrots (also known as Quaker parakeets or monk parakeets) living in NJ, NY, PA.. in the cold winters up here! They are actually often a nuisance because they build huge nests in power lines and it’s been causing a lot of problems, which is one reason they are illegal to keep as pets in some states. It depends on what the species evolved for.
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My art: featherdust.comMy parents live in a canyon near livermore in Bay area…it gets about 5 degrees colder in the canyon because the hills block the sun and the heat escapes…it was about 28 the day the pipes burst…now we leave water running at night to keep it from happening
Well we’re having some heavy rains–thundershowers! Just a while ago we hard thunder and lightening–was worried if my birds would freak out but they didn’t. Surprised because I could feel the house rumble! Then it rained, rained, rained! Now that cloud has past over. What’s good is that we may get some periods of heavy downpour then when that passes, there is a spell of a few hours before we get more rain–in this storm anyway. So good we get a break and there is no need to start building an ark! 😀
Okay, so what is it with flooding in the month of January? Last Jan. we had a pipe break in the middle of the night in the basement and we lost EVERYTHING down there including my kiln and ALL our books. Today, as I’m getting kids out the door to school, I noticed a wet patch on the carpet in the family room… As I’m looking up at the ceiling, I see that the light fixtures on the ceiling fan are full of water (something along the lines of “my cup runneth over” 😈 enters my head) During the dash from the family room to kitchen for towels to mop up with, it began to “rain” in the family room… End of looooooooong story – we now have a masterbath and laundry room to repair to the tune of a little more than $10,000.00 *SIGH* I guess no more Windstones for us for a while… 😈 🙄 XD XD
twindragonsmum 😀
tdm
Now that totally sucks TDM! Nothing like rain from your light fixtures–to the tune of $$$$$$$$$$$$! For once I didn’t sit biting my nails as it poured [then something could be getting soaked and I don’t know it yet–ignorance is bliss] I have new fences between my neighbor to the side and in back and my gutters have been cleaned out so no backups where I have a waterfall on my front porch! But then again–something may be getting soaked and I don’t know it yet! Gaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh! :shout:
I return to the apartment that I live at when I attend school and the first thing I smell when I open the door is mildew. Uh-oh, the hallway got flooded, and my roommates bathroom had some flooding issues. We don’t really know what happened since it all happened while we were gone, but we are working with the office to get things cleaned up and fixed. This complex is pretty good about repairs and damages.
I’d been supposed to drive to Raleigh today to spend the weekend with my folks and do some shopping – including paint for my PYO muse. 10 to 20 inches of expected snow between me and there sort of requires a change of plan. Figures, though – after two snow warnings that produced nothing, the weekend I actually want to travel we get it in spades. (Which reminds me, I need to get a snow shovel one of these days.) We’ve got about an inch and a half of white here right now, but the moment it’s sleeting fairly hard. This is annoying since I grew up in South Florida, and I want to see some actual snow falling!
On the other hand, we’re guessing that there will be no work Monday, since the plant I work at is well in the middle of the 10-20 inches and it’s not supposed to go above freezing this weekend. At least I can try to sketch out the muse and plan the colors I’ll want to get next weekend.
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