Heat

My house is large, open plan without many doors originally.  We added a glass paned door between what used to be the dining room and kitchen.  We watch television in the "dining room" now because the great room off the kitchen (cathedral ceiling) is freezing cold at night.  The only way to warm it is to add to the oil heat with the woodstove. And the smoke from the woodstove (opening to add wood) gives me breathing problems ( like having a constant chest cold). This large room and the  attached kitchen have large skylights and southern exposure so they are usually very warm while the sun is shining. This is the room I warm with additional oil heat most often as it is where the dog and I spend our days.  This is zone one. This is where G wants me to add heat this winter.  And I probably will but there is no door to close the opening to the ice cold foyer.  I have insulated drapes over the doorway which keeps out drafts but is not retaining heat.  We have never figured out what zone heats the foyer, if any.

We added another glass paned door to the bedroom hallway to close that off so it could be kept cooler for better sleeping and because we are hardly down there during the day and the southern exposure keeps the rooms warm without heat on most days.  This is zone two.

The living room, dining room (L shaped room and we bundle up and watch televison in the dining room corner) and foyer to the hallways is difficult to heat.  North facing and without doors. I also have the doorway from the living room to foyer draped to keep out drafts. Zone three. I painted the walls a warm Tuscan yellow and this seems to give the room faux warmth.  The lights and television warm up the room which is very weird.  I turn up the heat in this room only when we are watching television and turn it back to 60 when we go to bed.

The upstairs bedroom suite has it's own zone now and is kept at 55 all the time as no one goes up there. I will eventually move my studio upstairs and then heat that space (south facing) when I'm up there and the sun isn't shining.

I have access to oil heat or propane.  The oil heat just for household water (those hot showers) and heating Zone one (kitchen) to 62 costs us $250 to $350 a month.  If I actually heated the other three zones above 60 degrees, I can't imagine what the monthly bill would be.

The two large (double) doorways to the foyer from the great room (south) and living room (north east) are the major cold spots without doors and with only insulted drapes keeping cold out and warmth in.  I had a builder here 20 years ago to see if we could install double French doors in both openings.  We could but the result would be expensive as the ceilings and moldings are barrel style and the doors would have to be custom designed to match the curve at the top.  We may have to add doors and not worry about the design elements.  Trim will have to removed in any event.  This could be the winter project.

So there you have the whole story on the cold temps in my house and the reasons why it isn't warmer here after dark.  it is plenty warm in here in the winter when the sun is shining.