KUB wants how much?

Due to the arrival of an unacceptably high utilities bill this Wednesday, Dave and I spent the weekend working on creating a more energy-efficient house. Probably the number one heat saving adjustment made was closing the storm windows. I know, I know. What's sad is that Dave's mom even pointed out that most of our storm windows were half-open when they visited after Christmas. We just didn't do anything about it. Sigh.


We also replaced our old poopy thermostat (it really wasn't that old)






with a newer, programmable model.




We replaced our old foundation vents (Dad, you see there is a barrier there, it was just filled in with dirt and leaves.)


with automatic foundation vents.(Well, we've replaced most of them. We've got a couple left to do.)





These vents have a bi-metal coil that opens the vent when it is 72 or higher and closes the vent when its 38 or lower.



We also covered the hot water heater with insulation.
We still plan to do several things:
1. Caulk around the windows.
2. Put baseboard in the kitchen on the wall between the kitchen and garage. For some reason, there is only a strip of quarter-round and you can feel the draft of cold air from the garage when you set the dog's food dish on the floor.
3. Improve the weather-stripping around the front door.
4. Putty the cracks in the front door. (We can see sunlight through them!)

So, I should probably stop typing and get busy! Break time is over.