When considering whether you should buy a home, heating issues
are something you should take a close look at. This is
particularly true with rising energy costs.
Heating Issues
As you inspect potential homes, heating issues should be
foremost in your mind. While obvious issues will be apparent,
there are less obvious things that need to be considered.
1. Layout - The layout of a home can have a major impact on both
heating issues and energy bills. While high ceilings are
beautiful architectural aspects, they can be a huge heating
issue. Heat rises, which means you are going to need more of it
to warm a home with high ceilings. Always remember that high
ceilings equate to high energy bills.
A second layout issue concerns the number of stories in the
residence. While a tri-level home or townhouse may seem
enticing, how are you going to heat the lower floors? Tri-level
homes often have a problem with something I call the zone
effect. The rooms on the bottom of the tri-level are always
cool, while the top floor may be close to a sauna. Unless you
have a very sophisticated heating system, tri-level residences
are going to drive your heating bill through the roof.
2. Control Areas - One way to reduce the heating requirements
for high ceiling and tri-level homes is a controllable heating
system. Many modern heating systems allow you to isolate
particular sections of the home you wish to heat. These can be a
godsend for larger homes where certain rooms are not used often.
3. Vents - A more mundane, but important issue, are vent
locations. In some homes, the vent layout appears to have been
undertaken by a drunken sailor. If you find vents located under
windows, you can expect the heating bills to be outrageous. Also
look for very large rooms with one or no vents as these rooms
will take a long time to heat up.
With new homes, one can expect to find heating issues addressed
competently. With older homes, you may need to consider how the
heating issue is going to sap your cash flow during the winter
months.
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