I have 15 SEER Heat pump with vs ahu. propane for stove & water heater. best move I made was getting away from propane for heat. variable speed air handler unit keeps RH between 52-55%. I only hooked up half of my heat strips & only once has vs ahu gone into high speed. both times last winter...when we had 3 weeks of freezing temps. this is where I was heading with you op...but tiger dunes did it very well! just like you want to mastic seal ducts, air seal the ceiling/attic floor before insulating. air will still move from attic into conditioned space through the insulation. this will de-rate the insulation value & not let insulation perform at its R-value. caulk is a great air sealer. buy clear caulk with a long life. btw...lot of difference between 26 year old unit's efficiency & the ones you are choosing between. best of luck.

I know there are fans out there of coal stokers, which no one will argue make use of a cheap and plentiful fuel. Unfortunately, coal probably just isn't the best choice for many homeowners, unless they're willing to deal with the extra chores that a coal heating system entails. Someone will have to haul the ash and cinder out of the basement and dispose of it, and someone still has to operate the clean-out lever on a regular basis, and then, of course, there's the occasional stoppages in the the stoker to be cleared. There's also a space consideration. you're either going to need a silo or you'll need to have a basement with sufficient square footage and head room for coal storage. A ton of rice anthracite takes up about 40 cubic feet of space. Then you need room for the feed mechanism and the furnace/boiler -- plus sufficient space around them for servicing. And finally, let's not forget a place for the delivery truck to back up to a coal chute. Die-hard coal-stokers will think this is all worthwhile, but let's face it, most homeowners don't want the bother. Oil or natural gas may cost more....but they're so much simpler. The original poster said that she burned nearly 1,500 gallons of oil last year while keeping her house at a less than comfortable (at least for most people) temperature of 65F during evening hours. While the numbers she mentioned for upgrading her present system sounded rather daunting (and perhaps on the high side) , if she can reduce her heating costs significantly and raise the thermostat a few degrees with a modern gas condensing boiler and she plans to stay in the house for the foreseeable future, I'd say it's worth looking into, especially if her state or local utilities are offering any incentives or rebates. If she's owned the home for many years, there could be some tax benefit as well. It's possible that all or some portion of the cost of a new boiler could be treated as a capital improvement, effectively raising her cost basis on the house. If she were to ever sell the house at a significant gain (exceeding her exclusion), she might recoup some of her investment through savings on capital gains tax. Then, of course, there's that good feeling you get every time you open the gas bill -- and it's about half of what your old oil bill used to be!

What would happen if your son said, fine, dad, I'm all in favor of forgiveness & putting the past behind us; let's just get the business part of it out of the way first; you just pay mom what the court says you owe her & I'm your boy, okay? Your situation reminds me of something my old roommate Laurie told me: Her mom, Fran, divorced her dad & didn't take one cent in settlement; Fran had been a homemaker her whole adult life; she didn't have the funds to fight her ex in court, & she knew she couldn't help her daughters financially, so she agreed to waive her rights if Laurie's father would pay for college for both their daughters. Laurie talked to her dad at least once a week, & he knew she was paying for her college with loans & grants, & he never offered to help. There were weeks when she ate ramen noodles, & he never offered to help. Laurie's younger sister was living with their mother, Fran, in their home country, where Fran had returned to take care of her mother & to get a job with a relative. At that time, international phone bills were prohibitively expensive, so Laurie hardly ever got to talk to her mother. When the younger sister graduated from high school, she came to Texas & got in touch with Laurie, & Laurie helped her get a scholarship. About 6 months later, Fran came to Texas to visit her daughters; when she found out that the girls had had *no* help whatsoever, she blew a gasket & called their father. made no difference; The father claimed that he would have helped the girls if they had *needed* it, but that they were doing fine on thier own. so Fran got no settlement, her daughters got no help, & her ex kept all the money.

Or, she will continue to tell lies into adulthood, her daddy will continue to "rescue" her from you her evil stepmother & then she'll take over the household and run you out of your own home. Daddy might not ever believe that his little girl would do such things. I mistakenly thought the magic age of 18 would be the start of growing up, maturing, and beginning the process of adulthood-but it doesn't always work that way. Yea, kind of a reverse cinderella. The best advice I got from so many here was to get all my ducks in a row financially and start socking away some money. So I'll advise you the same. I went to a lot of counseling, alone. It was a good thing to do and in retrospect I am glad DH didn't go, though I was hurt at the time. It really helped me to get back to focusing on me and what I wanted out of life and to focus on my goals instead of all the drama that had completely overtaken my life. I agree with Sylvia, you ARE fighting a losing battle-but you can win the war. Sock your money away in your own account (money=power baby!), get your own house and then you decide who lives there. Extreme, yes but some situations call for extreme. My marriage is intact now but on completely different terms. I had completely subjugated myself and allowed my stepchildren & husband to completely disrespect me for so long I lost myself-I wanted so badly for them all to just like me for the person I am and to appreciate at least some of what I did to help, just respect me as a human being and as their fathers wife and but it never happened, because I meant nothing to them and never did. Just what could I give them-and do for them. It wasn't that long ago I was where you are and I can tell you now I will never love any man enough to live like that again. Ever. Cause as Samantha in SITC so aptly put it "I love ME more" You'll find a wealth of support and good advise here..It will get better because eventually you'll have enough. It took me forever, and I don't think anyone thought I'd ever get there, but if I can-you can. ~Cat