The Rebirth of the William Tripp House: Heat me.... Cool me....

Heat me... cool me.... make my world an even temperature! For years we have lived in an uninsulated, inefficiently heated house that is supposed to have an element of passive heat. Well, passive heat from where? From the day we moved in there has been little heat in the kitchen/ dining room area. But plenty of heat in the living room. It goes from 0 to hell in a few minutes but then goes nowhere. It wasn't until we got a better (not new- thank you Craig's list- again!) wood stove that we were ever warm. In contrast the summer was like living on the surface of the sun. Recently we had a European made Baxi- state of the art propane heating system and central air starting to be installed. There will be multiple zones to accommodate our temperature moods. Cold weather or hot weather I say "bring it on!" Our old oil burner had been limping along for quite a few years now. Each winter we held our breath as to whether not the old boy would make it. This year I just crossed my fingers and hoped that it would chug along until the new one was put into service. So far so good....

Looks impressive- no idea what it's all about.

Not the laundry- top is furnace and bottom is hot water!

New basement merging with old basement

New duct work going under old house

With the new system we will actually have zones so that we can control the heat in different areas. Right now we have one zone and a very old and rickety thermostat that has a mind of its own. I welcome the new technology and can't wait to get this new system cranking! Plus all the new insulation will keep the heat inside of the house. What a concept!

Since it has been a while since my last post a lot has happened. Let me show some updated pictures of the most recent progress.

As you can see the outside of the addition is fully clapboarded and the windows painted. Right now I call the house "a spectacular shell" since it is all flash on the outside and still a disaster inside. But that will change soon enough. People keep stopping me and commenting on how nice the house looks. I had no idea that so many people knew where we lived. The main comment aside from the window color (thanks to Dave) is that the new house blends so nicely into the old house. They ask who the architect is and I quickly say- no architect- that was Peter Gulick's design and it's wonderful!