In Hotter Water

Although you wouldn't know it from reading this blog, there has been a flurry of activity here regarding insulation. Its that time of the year when Jeff claims 62 degrees is the real "Room Temperature" and he starts to mutter about the cool breezes coming in through the front door, all the windows and even most of the electrical sockets. Note: We did turn the heat on before November 1 this year.

We've had several meetings with different companies to have our house audited for energy consumption to identify the areas that should be insulated and how we can qualify for the rebates.

Knob and Tube Wiring

We had to have all the knob-and-tube wiring removed from our house (this photo is from someone else's house on Flickr). It still had current running through it!

We had the basement air-sealed with foam insulation injected between the foundation and the sill. 

That should remove some of the drafts in the basement. By the way, this was FREE! Contact CSG to see if you can get this.


Our gas company came out to look at our boiler and told us we had too much gas coming in from the street and they turned down the flow.


Someone along the way suggested we begin to think about a new hot-water heater. Shortly after that conversation, the water wasn't as hot. Showers seemed tepid. We started to get nervous. Then it hit me. Jeff checked the temperature setting on the hot-water heater and found it was set to the lowest temperature. Problem solved! A quick adjustment and we have hot showers again!