Do you use your home efficiency?

[oprn]

It's a fact that our vehicles are used very inefficiently (2 ton 6 passenger trucks and SUVs that spend most of their life on the road virtually empty) but what about our homes?

We heat our homes in the winter and cool them in the summer but how much of that house gets used on a daily basis? I will start.

Our home is a very modest 1.5 story 1000 sq. ft. older farm house with 5 bedrooms, 2 baths, Kitchen/dining room, living room and family room. On a daily basis we only actually use 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and the kitchen/dining room. If family comes (4 or 5 times a year?) it increases to another bedroom or two and the second bathroom. In actual fact for day to day living we could easily get by with a home half this size.

How about you?
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[steve244]

'58 brick ranch. 1,200 sq feet.

3br. One's a "study." One's a guest room.

Wife, me, 4 cats, 3 birds, and a demented old dog.

I win.

I'm converting the basement into the most awesome man cave ever and it's not taxed as heated space!!!! suckers.
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[oprn]

Interesting! We are not taxed on heated space just the footprint of the building. Our basement is finished and heated. It contains 1 bedroom, bathroom and family room. The second story of the house is not heated and contains 2 bedrooms under the peak of the roof. If we use them we put a temporary electric space heater in them just for the duration of the usage.
_________________
We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[steve244]

How insulated is your house? What year was it built?

In GA in the 50s insulation was optional. Walls are just an airspace between the sheetrock and the brick. I blew insulation in the attic and swapped the windows to 2 pane glass. We replaced the 80% efficiency 20 yo furnace with a 95% efficiency. Both natural gas. I had guilt pains over not converting to a heat pump, but I want to be able to heat the house without power (no fireplace). The gas furnace, lights and fridge will run off a 2kW inverter generator in a pinch.
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[kingkarmann]

We could "get by" with basic shelter. I guess the Tiny House movement is what immediately comes to mind.
But since you asked
I prefer our "NeverDone Ranch" along with the enjoyment we get from living here.
I try not to think about the inherent waste that comes with owning things.
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"Depression is a malfunction of the instrument we use to determine reality.”

Mike Gerson

What is your "Bespoke Reality"?

[Manfred58sc]

1400 sq ft Earthship, oriented 10 degrees east of true south, vertical glass,6" concrete floor.

Y'all lose this one

180,000 lbs of thermal mass
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Fat chick owner/operator

[steve244]

Pics please.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bjQEJBW4CqCQ6fzg8
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[oprn]

[steve244]

Used to live in Stratford Ont. Kinda miss winter.

Insulation up there isn't just nice to have.

Doesn't really get that cold here. Lowest has been about 15F (-9C). No comparison to up there.

Most of the time it's in 40s and 50s in the winter here. If it snows enough to cover a road in some part of the city, all the schools close. Then came icepocolypse in January 2014. Didn't make it home. Spent the night in a bar with no alcohol sales. shudder.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9jeyng2WHa41VWNXA
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[NJ John]

We have a 1972, 2800 square footer. Unfinished basement under the main house. The family room, laundry and garage are a slab. Baseboard hot water heat, but forced air a/c. The boiler is in the basement, so it’s warm. Garage is cold, been trying to figure out some easy heat for there. Our bedroom is over the garage and I can see where they spacaled over holes for blown in insulation. It all seems to help. The fire place has a pellet stove insert, I haven’t used it yet. Been in the house just over 2 years.
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1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[madmike]

We have a 1200 sq foot 'Chalet' steep ass roof (We built our self & insulated the shit out of) ,a couple loft's one is Open,you know a 'Cabin' one bath , two bedroom ,Sunroom takes up most of the south side of the house,, half basement other 1/2 Root Cellar & Sauna,,Wood furriness ,coil in stove heats the floors with pex tubing, Wood CookStove heats the house up to 80*-90* when I'm Baking it also heats all our Hot water We have NO Gas Bill and we lowerd out Electric bill with Solar Panels and Battery bank.
Cheers,Mike
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'Black Ice'Drag Buggy 'Turbo'
Rail Buggy 1915 turbo
76 Drag/Street bug 2180cc 'Turbo' 11:85 @113 mph"If I go any faster I'll burn up the Hamster" ,gets 28 mpg. also 10/09/22 11.90 @115 mph
"If I'm ever on Life Support,UNPLUG Me, Then Plug me back In see if that Works"

[Abscate]

[madmike]

Dude, Turn off the T.V.
We've been doing this for 35 years
_________________
'Black Ice'Drag Buggy 'Turbo'
Rail Buggy 1915 turbo
76 Drag/Street bug 2180cc 'Turbo' 11:85 @113 mph"If I go any faster I'll burn up the Hamster" ,gets 28 mpg. also 10/09/22 11.90 @115 mph
"If I'm ever on Life Support,UNPLUG Me, Then Plug me back In see if that Works"

[Bonesberg55]

We have a 2000 sq. ft. cape cod style log home on approximately 2 acres. There are 4 of us so we basically need most of the space. I converted the great room to extra living space a few years ago by making it 2 levels. We have lived here for 23 years and for about the first 10 years it felt like we were on vacation. Log homes look great but are a maintenance headache. Our plans are to cover the logs with vertical steel siding so the endless caulking and painting will stop. I replaced a small rotten log section a couple of years ago and don't want to deal with that either. My wife and I are both in our mid to late 60s and don't want to spend our retirement years dealing with constant maintenance.

[NJ John]

We had the solar salesman sitting at our dining room table, twice last month. Way too much money. Especially if you want a battery to have power during outages. If I was younger, maybe.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[oprn]

All good to share but we have drifted a bit off topic. The original intent was to see how much of our houses we actually USE and how much is dead space. I would say about 45 to 50% of ours is dead space for the vast majority of the year.
_________________
We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[Glenn]

4 bedroom cape cod built in 1954. Not sure of the total square footage, but we use all but the 2 bedrooms and bath on the 2nd floor on a daily basis.

Basement is 1/2 finished with a big couch and 62" TV. Other side is mechanicals, laundry, storage and work shop.

Main floor is bedroom, home office, and living space.

Could do with less space but it would cost more to move.

_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

#BlueSquare

[Marcdeb]

[steve244]

House size is the footprint? Instead of heated floor space.
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[Glenn]

180,000 Sq ft

_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

#BlueSquare