Putting the pipes on the outside of your 'thermal area' is a bad idea - you'll have much higher loses. If you have a good thick piece of foam between the water and the wall, then you'll be better off. I have no idea what you mean by ABS pipes (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene is a kind of impact resistant rubber AFAIK). PVC or PE are the only pipes we have here. I would avoid trying to use the ground as thermal storage unless you can build a suitable insulating skirt around the whole house. The rate of transfer of heat is proportional to the difference in temperature times the contact area. Heat won't pass from the cooler to the hotter (you can try it if you like, but you far better nota...).

I think it's nuts to consider putting in a 20K pre-fab basement in house you're paying less than 60K for. Jacking a house always disarranges things, sometimes in expensive, unforeseen ways. Where I am people who agree to this must sign waivers absolving the house-lifters from any damage claims. If a cellar is that important for you, then go look for a house with one. Even in Iowa, they must be common (storm cellar, etc.) I've read your posts and you seem to be caught up in a rip tide of reno-mania. If you buy this house, then live in it, and fix it up within the parameters of what it is. Don't try to make it into something it isn't and probably never was, and may be should never become. It's perfectly fine to start with a modest house and modestly upgrade it. But when/if your needs, tastes and means begin to exceed that level, then sell it and move on up a notch. Your description of this seller, what he paid, your bid and his almost unbelievable willingness to make very expensive repairs, closing cost contributions, etc. that will further reduce his net proceeds (urgently needed for his move to assisted living) has me wondering if he should needs the protection of a financial conservator. I am happy you are getting a good deal, but the reason this house is priced the way it is, is because it has issues that will need attention and resources. I don't get why you assume (and apparently the seller agrees!) that you expect the reduced price plus the major, pricey things taken care of. Old houses always have things that are out of whack. It's the nature, sometimes the bane, ofttimes the charm, of the genre. If you expect perfect, then buy a new, replica farmhouse modular. You'll be happier, I think. I do wish you the best, if this is the house of your dreams, but I fear your eagerness for it and your lack of experience are setting you up for unhappiness. (Full disclosure: I live in a farmhouse so intact, and primitive, that it has no central heat - in northern NY state, and is only partially electrified. It is our first old house -except for the ones my DH and I grew up in. I think my parents, and certainly some of our friends, thought we were nuts because they assumed we were looking at huge rennovation/upgrade projects, entirely beyond our known skill sets. They were correct about our skills. We had to learn, and learn, and are still learning. But we are happy here because we are content with what it is and resigned, or even preferring, what it is not. If we had instead been focused (as you seem to me to be) on upgrading, even to just basic design, construction and comfort/convenience standards we would have surely been overwhelmed, bickering, nearly bankrupt and thoroughly miserable. Fortunately we took a less pressured approach that left us room to develop an understanding and a taste for old farmhouse living. So when I caution you about not over-improving a house, it's from a deep, personal, BTDT, perspective. One of the benefits of these forums is that it can connect new old house owners to a wider range of people than they might encounter locally. And it offers some of the benefits of hindsight, without having to earn those chops entirely on your own.) L.

I realize this is an old thread, but I wanted to chime in, for others searching this topic -- definitely get price estimates. I was about to go ahead with a ThermaTru door installation and after reading so many comments on Houzz about quality concerns I got an estimate from the preferred Provia installer in my area. The ProVia estimate was nearly 1/2 of the ThermaTru estimate! To say I was pleasantly surprised is a huge understatement!! Obviously the TT estimate was inflated, from a large installation company with probably high overheads, vs the small family business installing ProVia in my area. Lesson learned: don't assume anything, always ask!

We covered this long ago. He said that she was looking for someone to side with her so it HAD to be a man to ensure some measure of impartiality. There were no male marriage counselors within a convenient driving distance. She said that male or female, it made no sense to go by herself because "fixing herself" wouldn't fix him. You see, she does want to complain but too lazy or powerless or combo to do anything about it. My decision was made long ago to not intervene. I was curious as to what others did. Postings have been interesting. One time she was crying, no, sobbing that her house was a mess and nobody wanted to help her. I was struck by her pain so volunteered 3 Saturday afternoons (in a row) to help her clean. We vacumed, laundered linens, moved heavy furniture from 2nd floor to bottom floor and grown children/a@@hole just looked on. A month later we went upstairs to discuss paint and the rooms were the same mess I had encountered the very first time. Nobody did anything. Lesson learned and I was so proud of myself that I said nothing when I really wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, lol. In her defense, had it been me crying about dirty home, she would have come, not 3 afternoon, but 3 entire days to help me. But she would do it as an escape from her house. It seems so ungrateful to question her motives but I've never asked her so neither here nor there. And she is really a lovely woman--warm, funny, smart, not a malicious hair in her body, but oh, what a hot mess, lol!