There are so many needs these days, and wants are definitely on the back burner. One way that the economy has affected us, even in our normally frugal living home is that some of our priorities are shifting. One of these priorities is to do some serious steps toward heat conservation.
In the previous post, I spoke about insulation and our dilemma about our attic. You can click here to read that earlier post. We are still doing our research to figure out the best solution for that one. Meanwhile, there is one other change we have made this past weekend, as well as another change that we are planning for this week.
One thing that we moved up on the priority list are doors for our fireplace. We anticipate using the fireplace a lot more this winter, to warm up the family room on weekends, when we can gather in that room and keep the rest of the house even colder than usual. We have been working hard to get some wood split and a decent pile of firewood ready to go.
But the fireplace, when we purchased the house, did not have any fireplace doors, only a screen. This meant that there was a lot of heat loss going up the fireplace, even with the flu closed. And, on those days that we did have a fire going, massive heat loss happened when the fire died down and was reduced to mostly coals. We couldn’t close the flu with a fire going, and the fire would suck the heat out of the house.
We first looked at fireplace doors last year. Custom doors that would be exactly what we wanted and seal perfectly could cost up to $1,000 plus the cost of installation. While this might have been a good investment, it was still not a priority price wise. At that time, we decided to do without.
With the current cost of heating our home, we shifted to a compromise this year. We went to a local home improvement store and selected ready-made and in-stock fireplace doors and installed them quite easily. The fit is pretty good, and we can adjust for any gaps in the seal with appropriate caulk, sealer or insulation. The fireplace doors look really nice, too, adding value to our home. The cost was well under $300, but as this was something that we couldn’t get used or build ourselves, it was a necessary expense.
Have you been making efforts for serious heat conservation? Stay tuned for more of our adventures.
Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans.
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