On 10 Nov 2005 16:35:27 -0800, someone wrote:

9 months ago, I put my entire life savings into the down payment for a
home......cut
I am looking to cut costs b/c I'm pretty broke right now...cut
Meanwhile we have no heat, and I've no idea which (if any) of these
contractors I can trust. This is my first home.....cut

Welcome to the world of home ownership!

No Mr. Landlord to call to just take care of it.

Tough when you use ALL your money to buy the place, and then what do
you do when something breaks, since now YOU are the landlord.

The contractors should show you their heat loss calcs. You don't do
this just by the s.f. floor area of the home. It has to do with the
exterior wall and roof area, taking into account their respective
levels of resistance to heat transmission and the areas of windows and
skylights, compared to the "design temperature" for your area.

The mere size of your house isn't all that big, but apparently it has
poor energy efficiency. If you hired your own engineer, you'd get a
straight answer as to what sized furnace was required (and whether
"twinning" was a good idea), but hiring your own costs money, which is
why most homeowners (not just you) want the contractors to do this
work "for free".

You may need to come up with enough for an engineering consultation if
you don't feel confident you are getting straight answers from
contractors.


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.