Putting an offer on a house, advice on heating needed

[Whelan]

FYI before reading, this is a REALLY good price for a house in this area, as most of them are still in the very high 3's, 4's and there are new homes being built around the corner probably in the 5 and 600k range. And remember this is Southwestern CT, expensive real estate. If we were in NC we could use this same money and get a mansion, but our jobs would pay us less given cost of living.http://rightchoicerealestate5....#aTopHere are the bits:-2 story colonial-2,128 Sq. feet-4 bedrooms-2.5 baths (one full in the master bedroom)-1 acre of land-inground pool (4-9ft. w/ wraparound cement patio)-deck that goes full length of house in back-backs up to woods so no building behind-2 car attached garage-wood floorsThe story, couple has two kids getting divorce or just divorced. House went on the market last sept. for $460k. It is now in foreclosure (not foreclosed yet), offering at $340k. We saw it with my cousin (realtor) and fell in love. For the area it is in (right where we want to be), the size, yard, etc. it fits the bill and is something we could never find in this area for that price. We are making an offer tonight to the bank and were pre-approved (we both had really good credit, hers slightly better in the excellent range). The big one I am trying to think through is the heating system. So for all you home owners, put your ears on. The heating system is electric radiant in the ceiling. There is about a 70-80 gallon hot water tank in the garage which we would probably switch out for a 30-50 gallon since it is just two of us and it would be less expensive to heat electrically. The heating system for radiant is all on separate zones as it should be for electric. The main family room has a wood burning stove in the fireplace which works really well in the winter in that room. All the rooms have nice doors to keep them separate so you are not heating the whole house at once. And according to the current owner with 2 kids their total electric bill is about $500ish a month. I'm not sure if I believe that, but I do know that we do not have kids so it would possbily be less. The stove runs off propane btw.So the question is, do you make the investment of $3-5k and have my HVAC friend put in an oil tank, furnace, new water tank and run baseboard along the permiter on the first floor or see how bad the bill is next winter for the electric heat before making the move. I am really not sure what to think of the heating situation. The house was built in 1978 and is built pretty much on a hard rock so there is no basement, hence the heating setup. Oh and FYI again, the current price of a gallon of oil around here is about $4.06

[jimincalif]

Nice looking house, good luck.Your heating requirements in CT are entirely different from here in SoCal, it never gets below freezing at my house and most years doesn't even get below 37 on the coldest days of winter.That said, I've been a few places where there was radiant heat in the ceiling, and it was awful - top of the room was hot and bottom cold. Probably could help with some ceiling fans but who wants moving air when it is cold. I can't help you on what the electric bill would be. I've read that it is expensive. Where the house is located, do you need AC in the summer?Even though I don't think the ceiling heat is a good idea, I still suggest you live in the house for a year. We had a lot of ideas about things to do to our current house when we bought it, but I am so glad we waited a year, as once we lived there our ideas evolved.

[Kamikaze]

I just bought a brand new Furnace High effiency gas. House has duct work for the vents...about 1800 sqft for the floor plan, and I pay about $250-$300 in the cold winter for electricity / gas.personally, before spending any money to update the heating, I think you're almost better off leaving it and seeing where you start... then if it's bad you can update it.

[Sublimewind]

My dad is a former HVAC guy and by looking at the house it would be rather difficult to install forced air... not impossible, but remodeling parts would be required (know a good drywall guy???) Radiant baseboard heat sucks, period... radiant heat sucks period UNLESS it's floor heat... now, something that "could" possibly be done would be to remove all flooring and install radiant floor heat lines and then fill the whole house with about 1.5" of concrete to cover... replace the flooring...You could do a corn fired boiler for the radiant, corn is the wave of the future with gas going the way it is... buying by the ton brings the price down even more.. These are my suggestions(from working with my dad off and on over the years), but having a plan and various estimates would be key of course.. Oh, and if you have good water, go with a new high effiency continus water heater, tankless...

[Whelan]

I have thought of all the ideas listed and thank you so far for the replies. I personally see waiting through next winter to see how bad it actually is would be the best idea. My friend who runs his own HVAC company was telling me doing ductwork would be very hard. We could not even run ducts through closets as they do not match with closets downstairs. It would require a lot of work and cost probably in the 10-15k range to do. So we would sacrifice the Central Air.As for ripping up the floor, that is totally not happening. The wood floors are in mint condition and too costly to rip up and replace.The whole corn idea sounds interesting but I don't think would be very effective where we live in CT. The baseboard actually is pretty efficient, we had it in my old house and loved it compared to forced air. It keeps the room warm continuously instead of blasting hot air and then shutting off till a minimum temp is reached. Thus you have constant on and off. The radiant keeps a consistent temp and the water in the pipes circulation on a one loop system as he proposed would not take a lot of power to use. He would be the install guy I would go with as he would charge me for parts and not much labor as I would help him with the install. Plus with oil going the way it is, who knows, electricity may be cheaper in the coming future as new ways to generate it come about. We could even throw up some solar paneling on the back roof to help facilitate. Personally I like that idea cause it's environmentally friendly and me and my fiance are fairly concious about that stuff.The main family room has a wood burning stove in the fireplace which would also help to keep the downstairs warm as they throw a ton of heat out. Get a cord or two of wood and let it rip. For the upstairs, a simple solution could be to install a sidepipe from the stove and let the hot air run upstairs as well. There are a ton of ideas running around with this, but I think for the summer we should sit on it, let the winter come and find out how bad it is, knowing us we will be doing things like changing the light bulbs to the ultra efficiant spiral tube style bulbs that use like half the wattage. I have heard they reduce consumption to a noticeable degree. Plus we don't use a ton of lights in the house anyways. The on demand water heater is a good idea, I thought about that, but the issue is when we have kids down the road, is it up to the task of supplying for all of us.

[Raven]

If you can circulate some of the heat from your woodstove, you would be amazed how much it will heat. I heat my entire house with my livingroom woodstove. I use a fan and have an 18"x18" hole(vent) directly above the stove to let more heat go upstairs. I just have one baseboard in the basement to keep it at about 50°F.

[keithvibe]

come 2010 with electric de-regulation you will pay just as much for electric as for oil.In my neck of the woods they are talking 35-50% jump in electric charges.corn or pellet stove or LPgas stove would offset the costs of all electric.

[WaveAction]

nice looking house

[kunkstyle]

Natural gas heating FTW. Sorry, just enjoying heating a home in Canada right now.I'd definitely wait and see where you're at in the winter first. If it's bad then look at upgrades or a complete change out. You may have little to worry about.

[keithvibe]

that wallpaper in the kitchen has to goand in the dinning room lol If the condition of the landscaping is any indication of the upkeep..... besure to have everything looked over with a fine tooth comb.Other than that... looks like a very nice home to throw a MEET at lol two car garage for the installs, and a bbq next to the pool lol

[Herb]

If you could afford it, I'd suggest a geo thermal heat pump, but those types of systems can cost up to 15K to install. Benefit is over the long term so if you are thinking of keeping the home in the long run this might be an idea.Of course it might be a bit more difficult since you said the ground is solid rock. Couldn't hurt to look into it

[scherry2]

I have a house in Indiana 21 years now. and I have radiant heat the house was built in early 70's and it has kept me warm. its quite different heat. it warms you like the sun, as in you feel the warmth on your skin. considering the alt radient heat is quite economical. its nice to be able to turn down the heat in rooms not being used all the time. now the bad part.electric radient ceiling heat was a fad back in the seventys and it could burn out. no saftey problems of burning the house down or anything like that. it happened to me. 3 years ago my living room (which has a gas fireplace, good thing it was november) started getting brown spots on the ceiling. and then I noticed I had no heat. I had a contractor that works with ceiling heat come in and check it out. in the brown area the wire had gotten brittle and burned thru. He replaced it by stringing new wire and remudding the ceiling. cost $1000.00.2 years later my dining /kitchen heat quit working same spotting. again I replaced it at a cost of $1500.00 (little bigger room. the contractor told me the thermostats were original an they always have electricity running thru the wires in the ceiling even when turned all the way down. he told me to buy new ones from Honeywell that have an off switch for months when not in use. haven't had a problem in any other rooms since I replaced all the thermostats. and I have notice the savings on the electric bill with the new thermostats.I thought about putting in a furnace but I have a 2 story house on a slab and to put one in and run the ducts thru the walls would have cost an arm and a leg. it looks kind of like my house in size you have 1 more bath than I do. my house isn't priced like that and I sure don't pay that in taxes. check with the relator and have him check the thermostats see if the have shut offs on them. I hope that helps.

[Whelan]

We are having her father put contingencies on the offer such as a full home inspection from my uncle (licensed inspector), and others. The wallpaper is def. coming down, the decor is very country and we are not. Nothing big though.

[18stars]

Regardless of all the options available, I would definitely wait a year. You'll be so much better able to assess the situation. Also, since the house will be new to you you may find over the course of a year other items that may arise. Take your time. By the way, its a beautiful house.

[Whelan]

Just and update, Saturday we signed off on the offer. $330k is our bid. We added a $1,000 deposit for good faith and a pre approval notice to show we are serious and ready to buy. Her father the lawyer added a few lines and contingencies such as a full home inspection, radon test, leaving the pool and equipment for it with the house, etc. So now we wait and see. My fiance is all anxious and will be upset if we lose it. I love the house, but at the same time I"m not going to worry cause it just causes nail biting and it's not worth the aggravation to pace. What's worse is as a teacher, she has April vacation this week so she gets to walk circles in her room.

[Kamikaze]

Good luck! I hope you get it!If not there's a couple of other ones' out there...