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hi, we bought a house in new Hampshire in July of this year. They never disclosed that there was no heat upstairs. upstairs are 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. Do we have any recourse against the sellers, real estate agent or home inspector?
You bought a home without paying for a HOME INSPECTION ?
We live in a 2000 sqft cape and have not used the upstairs heat in over five years. There is no need for it, heat rises. Even on the coldest days of the year, we never seen a drop of more than five degrees. Pellet stove keeps the living room at 74, upstairs is 70.
We live in a two story house and only use the electric heater in the upstairs bathroom to keep the pipes from freezing. Same in the downstairs bath. We do not use the baseboard heaters in the rest of the house at all. In the winter we use a 1500 watt electric space heater in the evening to keep the living room warm. We also collect solar energy with 12 ft. of sliding glass doors facing South East.
We do not mind have a house in the low to mid 60's in the winter. That is why we know all of the LL Beans outlets in New Hampshire. It is amazing what a couple of Polar Fleece blankets can do as lap robes on a cool winter morning.
As suggested just leave the upstairs door open and heat the bathroom as needed.
Is this an older home? Many were built without heating upstairs, relying solely on passively rising heat through floor vents or stairwells. Likewise, seasonal and vacation homes also frequently lack upstairs heating. Unless the seller outright lied about upstairs heating, I don't think you have any recourse for failing to notice a common heating configuration.
What type of heat is present downstairs? Is the house well-insulated? You may not need any heat upstairs in the bedrooms. Get a space heater for the bathroom.
That's a bit tricky, in a room with water usage going on. There have been tragedies resulting from space heaters in bathrooms. If there's a wall far enough away from shower/bath and sink, you could put in a small baseboard heater, or better yet, a small wall heater near the floor.
We've used a small, electric space heater in our upstairs bathroom for years. You run it for a few minutes with the door closed and it gets things toasty for your shower. It's never left running for long periods of time unattended.
Our oil burner and steam radiators do a nice job heating our home but we just have one zone and have things set at the rads to keep the upstairs a bit cooler (since it's mostly just sleeping up there and we used electric blankets). The space heater makes those dead of winter showers a lot more pleasant.
He didn't want a solution to the heating issue, he just wanted to know if he could sue someone. He'll be a welcome addition to NH.
This here made me laugh out loud. Well played.
-Mike
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