Interesting that we are discussing houses here. H and I met with a contractor last evening to discuss redoing our 18 yo master bath. Our plan is to stay in this house until we retire in 5 or 6 years then leave the area. We figure the updated bath will be better for resale but we would like to get some use out of it too. Current house is 3100 square feet on top 2 floors and half of the basement is finished. Way too big for 2 people, I can’t wait to downsize.
My new commute is adding about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to my day. Not as bad as a lot of my colleagues have it, but it does seem like I really have to plan my time nbetter now.
My commute is 10 minutes. If there is snow or bad whether it could be 20. I live about 10 miles from work. I can’t imagine a much longer commute! I know people do it. Just seems like so much of your day must be tied up with going to work, working, and coming home. Not sure that I could do that.
I know that many have it worse. I just don’t think that I could do it. I like my down time and I don’t find commuting to be it. Maybe if I did have a longer commute I would work less? My 9+ hour workdays are starting to get to me. Can’t wait for vacation!
I hate commuting – often stressful and usually not that productive. If I had to commute, I would listen to audiobooks. I eliminated that problem by moving the office to near my house 18 years ago and setting up a fully equipped home office as well.
We replaced the only carpeted look in our house with hard wood while we were away but are gearing up to sell the house in 1-3 years. No need to sell but how much do the 2 of us need. 5 BR house one block from a primo elementary school. I think we are going to see where the kids end up but also how well we like the west coast (both ShawWife and I currently love it). I see bicoastal living in our future.
I am burying one of my bests friends today, she was an amazing person and died too young. Please add a prayer or send a thought for her. She left 3 beautiful daughters 24, 22, qnd 19. years. thanks
yes she was 58 non smoker etc… gets tongue cancer of all things. crazy.
Shaw I never was very beachy but I crave the warmer weather. When I was in Hawaii my skin wasn’t dry, I felt more energetic. I loved south Africa too and although I have only been to Ca once. I think it is like the coast there. Gorgeous.
That was cut off, here’s what I was trying to write
Hey, DTE, sending you hugs for the loss of your friend and for those she’s left behind. The age roulette never makes any sense to me either. I like to comfort myself with the likely illusion that some people have just finished up their “jobs” on earth early and are called home for early retirement.
I used to suffer eczema, hydronic dishydrosis (form of eczema on hands and feet) and dry skin. I’ve noticed a huge difference since moving to a house with a boiler. Between the boiler in the winter and the pool in the summer, (which I treat with borates for silkier water) I have not had eczema since moving here. I’m not sure what else could be making the difference. My workspace also now operates on a heat pump. I never would have believed it would “just go away” but it did.
I am allergic to dust, technically speaking, and perhaps these systems that aren’t forced air also prevent kicking up dust. Either that or my hyperactive immune system has just finally given up constantly “fighting” every little thing and said OK, environment, you win…I’m just gonna sit here and whistle a while
DTE, when my friend (in her 50s) passed away last fall, I had just received the Hamilton soundtrack. The lyrics from this song that the Aaron Burr character sings kept going through my head:
Kmc, I guess we have we have forced hot air in Massachusetts. ShawWife is allergic to dust, mold, perfume, and pretty much anything noon to man. Maybe getting a different kind of heating system would work. I think should do that as we build or move into the next house. On the houseboat there is a gas stove but we really don’t need heat all that much.
I wish we had subfloor heating. I’ve visited homes with this and it is really comfortable without all the dryness. They still need ducting for air conditioning. Hard to retrofit, and expensive to tear up a lot of wood floor.
Well, I caught the dreaded cold. Spent last night shivering and with the very weird symptom of waking up with tears on my face. Never had that before. Absolutely no energy today. Blech. At least H is on the getting better side of it, and brought me soup last night.
As, arabrab, sorry you caught hubby’s cold ! Be well soon!
The first house I shared with a roommate in my early 20s had radiant (in floor) heat and it was awesome! I just never managed to find another house like it that had everything else. It had been a one-floor Cali style ranch near the lake.
This house we’re in now is a lot like it actually. McH has some kind of evil plan to one day put in-floor radiant heat under the areas where I put the slate…he even checked to make sure he could retrofit it I don’t find the stone that cold but I certainly won’t discourage him when the time comes to replace/upgrade the boiler.
Shaw, with your wife’s allergies, I will go out on a limb and say that I suspect she’d really enjoy boiler heat. The big compromise with a boiler is that you also don’t have AC, or vents for AC usually. But that can be handled if you want with mini-splits (wall heat pumps basically) - which can also provide supplemental heat as well.
When we built out the studio two years ago, we put in a mini split that’s rated for -15 (a new and unusual feature) made by Fujitsu. It would have been a little cheaper to just extend the boiler to a fifth zone, but for the workspace, we wanted A/C. My hvac guy wanted me to put two more mini splits in the house proper (you can link them all together with some models up to 4) but I didn’t really care about AC in the house. (admittedly I might feel differently if retired.)
The way this house sits in front of a cooling forest uphill, most days the whole-house fan and surrounding trees keep it cool enough for me and on the rare few hot nights I just go for a swim before bed. I prefer the cross-wind and being open to the elements to closing it up to keep it cool.
So since you’re house shoppingin the future, Shaw wife might want to experiment and see if this environmental difference holds true for her. Eg. If you know any folks with boiler heat, or stay somewhere with same. I personally now would never go Forced Air again. My hvac guy agrees. (Of course, my particular boiler system with 4 zones will cost about 3 -4 times as much to replace as a FAG furnace, so maybe that’s why my hvac guy loves it
