[clayward]

I live with 8 other people in a coop in Cambridge, MA. We've been asking our landlady to insulate the house we live in for years now. We were able to have her schedule an energy audit because she asked us for a rent increase a couple of months ago.

So last week she and her son and her handiman and a professional from Nstar (our energy company) came and did an audit. It turned out that insulation was the cheapest thing tha they could do. AND 3/4 of he cost is free through government and company grants. The rest is budgeted through a zero interest loan program. Amazing, right? I think that the loan program is available only because she keeps a room in the house.

So now I only wish I had though of suggesting an audit earlier. I can't wait to not have to wear a sweater AND a scarf inside all winter. We'll happily keep using space heaters if we can get insulation up.

Do you have any stories about helping landlords go green?

[horselover]

We face a similar situation, we have space heaters on all winter, but they complain about the electricity use.

But the basement is a chilly 15c, sometimes colder in the winter, and we suffer.

But the landlord refuses to do anything about it, he doesn't care. Going green and saving money isn't something he wants to do I guess. He'd rather complain.

[angel82]

We are renting a really small house and it can get really cold in the winter.

It is a fairly old house and we are planning on moving out some time, hopefully soon, so we are just trying to get by until then.

When it gets really cold we have to turn on the space heater to keep the pipes from freezing in the bath room. Our main heat source is wood heat. My bedroom is the coldest part of the house, but we have made sure that our daughter's bedroom is warm.

We have insulated the skirting we have used sawdust, which works awesome. It is what had originally been used many, many years ago, we just have to redo it every few years or so.

[clayward]

What is the "skirting" that you insulated? I've heard of piped in wood pulp insulation, but are you physically pouring in sawdust?

[horselover]

I'm wondering if our pipes are semi frozen as the toilet doesn't work properly anymore. Again, the landlord doesn't care, he'll only do something when it's too late.

That was the case with the pressure issue with the kitchen sink, he only looked at it after the pipes backflowed and flooded our kitchen.

[clayward]

Uggh. That sucks.

[horselover]

It sure did, but at least it's never happened again.

[BethT]

I am currently in a basement, and when i open the door to my room. i get breeze of frigid air... sometimes in the coldest nights Id go to bed with a glass of water, and wake up with one of icy goodness, bittersweet i guess.

[clayward]

Wow! You should sell slushies.

[GreenDude]

Originally Posted by BethT

I am currently in a basement, and when i open the door to my room. i get breeze of frigid air... sometimes in the coldest nights Id go to bed with a glass of water, and wake up with one of icy goodness, bittersweet i guess.

Brrrr! You shouldn't have to live like that!