My apartment's back exit has a windowed door (similar to this, although it's only a single door) and no storm door. It's drafty and I'd like to insulate it as much as I can, sans all but the most rudimentary carpentry skills. What's my best temporary solution? [more inside]
posted by Knicke on Nov 10, 2010 - 10 answers

What is an affordable alternative to baseboard heaters? I may be renting a house in the next few months. It's a total fixer-upper (cosmetically), but since the owner is a family member we are trying to work out an agreement to pay for and do the work ourselves in exchange for our deposit/1st/last. Catch is, it only has ancient baseboard heaters through-out... [more inside]
posted by evilcupcakes on Jan 11, 2010 - 8 answers

I have a 20-year-old furnace. [more inside]
posted by Nonce on Oct 20, 2009 - 15 answers

We just boxed in with drywall a round 5" heating duct, running from floor to ceiling in the corner of the living room. Because of some odd features of the room, this took up more space than it should. What I'd really like is to replace the duct (and drywall) with a paintable rectangular duct running up the corner of the room, that would look just as good as drywall. This would have to be rugged enough to withstand small children playing in the room (e.g. not dent like typical metal duct). Does this exist? [more inside]
posted by winston on Oct 5, 2008 - 5 answers

I have a double sliding glass door in my bedroom that leads on to an enclosed porch. These doors are slightly bowed outward away from each other, which leaves a gap about the thickness of my finger in the middle. In Beijing, in December, with prepaid utilities and heating that's barely adequate to begin with, that's not a good thing for my wallet, conscience, or bodily comfort. So how can I McGuyver this gap shut? [more inside]
posted by saysthis on Dec 11, 2006 - 17 answers

What can we do to get more air from the air conditioning (and the heat in the winter) to the back of the house? [more inside]
posted by winston on Jul 29, 2006 - 17 answers

Storm Windows. I need to replace my home storm windows to save on heating costs but want to avoid toxic vinyl windows which seem to be what everyone says is "good". Any recommendations for good storm windows that are not vinyl?
posted by stbalbach on May 26, 2004 - 4 answers

Are there any programmable or automatic thermostats that can keep a house within a certain temperature range, and not just at a certain point? For example, I don't want to set the temperature at 72°F, but have the air conditioner come on at 73°F and the heater come on at 71°F. I'd prefer a range of six degrees or so, so that the air conditioner comes on if the temperature rises above 74°F, and the heater if it falls below 68°F, or something like that. I don't pay enough attention to it now, so the temperature swings too much and it's bad for items in the house. Can't some technology do this for me?
posted by mdeatherage on Apr 1, 2004 - 9 answers