Need your help, please! (Honesdale: renting, houses, water heater)

[Mom2pipnpod]

Hello, everyone-

I don't post here very often, but now I have a situation where I really need some info from fellow NEPA-ers. I'll try to make this short and sweet, but I'm not sure if that's possible. If it's long, I apologize in advance....

What do people pay to heat a 2000 sq foot old house? I could just leave it at that, but I feel the need to explain...

Ok- my family and I (DH and 2 kids) moved here last summer from St. Louis to be closer to family. We've been renting, and since January we've been looking to buy a house, got pre-approved, etc. I've been amazed what people are asking for houses, way more than I had estimated. We are looking to buy around Honesdale, as that is where I work (looking to spend around $150,000). Well, anyway- about a month ago, a beautiful old Victorian came on the market at an incredibly reasonable price, right on the outskirts of Honesdale. We went to look at it, and other than being very cluttered, it's in pretty good shape. Here's the problem- it's a little over 2000 square feet. It used to be a 2-family, but it's been converted back. When we went down to the basement, there are 2 oil furnaces, with (3 ) 225 gallon tanks. We were immediately concerned, and we did ask questions, but we liked the house so much we figured we had to have it (figured at the very worst, it might cost $3,000/yearly to heat). We made an offer- they made a counter, and then we asked them to disclose their utility bills before we made another offer. They did, and we were horrified! In the last three years, they used 1500, 1600, and 1450 gallons respectively! In the most expensive scenario- that's almost $5,000 a year! That's crazy, isn't it? So we withdrew our original offer, and needed time to think. I decided that the price was so reasonable, that it was worthwhile to get a heating guy in there to give me an estimate. He said that the 2 oil furnaces were less than 10 years old, but if we wanted to haul out the old and get 1 gas furnace and a water heater, it would cost around $11,000. Again- I was stunned. People at work said that's ridiculous- it should not cost that much, but it's not my house- I can't have 5 people over to get the best estimate, I can only go with what I've got. My husband has pretty much given up on the place, but I just can't let go. I'm thinking that since the furnaces are fairly new, that may not be the biggest problem- must be insulation issues. The disclosure says "insulation unknown"- and with the house being over 100 years old, I'm sure there's little or no insulation, but what would that cost? I'm going to try to call some insulation places and try to get an estimate.

So -this is why I need your help. My husband is from St. Louis, the "show me" state. He needs to know that if we bought the house, and spent some money (around $10,000) to either insulate, get a new furnace, or some combnation of both, that we could get the heating bill under control, say under $3,000. Does anyone think this is possible? Can anyone give me an idea of what it costs to heat a 2000 sq ft home, and if so- is your home new or old? Insulated or not? What type of heat? I'm really looking for a basis of comparison.

And if there are any HVAC technicians or insulation people out there, I would love comments, ideas, advice, suggestions.

My dad says "buy a house that works". My husband loves the house, but is disgusted with the bills. I love the house, but I don't want to put our family in the poorhouse just to pay the heating bill, especially now with fuel costs rising. Thanks for sticking with this long post!

Beth

[johnqpublic]

Is oil your only option?? Insulating and double pane windows will definately help. Consider a coal/wood/pellet stove to suppliment your heating system..Chances are with an old Victorian the walls arent insulated, for a large old construction of that type your going to spend some $$$ no matter what you do...

[ff18wife]

Is re-siding the house an option? That could probably help with the insulation. Just a thought.

[johnqpublic]

siding with backerboard has a minimal r factor, it wont help bring heating costs down. If the house is framed, and not double boarded blown in insulation would be an alternative.

[Karnak]

Mom2pipnpod,

Our house is a 100 yr. old Victorian, too, a bit larger. Last year, our Gas + Electric was $4,000. We have started closing off some rooms, and using electric space heaters in the rooms we are in, while keeping the gas low or off.
This seems to be helping a lot. The 4 months of Dec. through March are the worst, by far. (We just started the space heater thing in March, and it cut the bills down tremendously)

[littlebunnie69]

I have a 90 year old stone farmhouse, with oil heat. first year we were here i did not know that heating was going to cost so much (6000.00) So last winter starting using our fireplace more, closing rooms that we are not using, using space heaters in some commonly used rooms, we replace all the old windows. the heating bill did go down but not by much $4000.00 its hard owning a old house many things will go wrong. but oil prices going up do not help the situation.