Mar 2, 20233 min readOur Barndo Utility Cost BreakdownThis was our first winter living in our post frame house and having a "normal" heating experience. We moved into the garage/shop August 2020 and spent the winter in that space. We used the in floor heat as our ONLY heat source and it performed great. In January 2021 we turned on the in floor heat in the house for drywall, which meant we were heating both spaces and used a lot more gas than a typical year.At the start of our cold season we were still working on finishing our doors and had a paint booth set up in the garage. We set the in floor heat in that space at 65 (higher than normal) and our house we have kept at 68-69 degrees F. Until February we used the in floor heat system and our wood stove to keep us warm. We did NOT have either furnace (main or second level) on at the time. We did end up using our furnaces in February when we had bursts of warmer days that made having a fire in the stove too warm for the house, but they've been turned on and off sporadically as neededOur house and garage are each around 2300 square feet of concrete space. The slab in each is about 5" thick, and the in floor heat tubing sits below the concrete. As a side note, having your tubing secured to insulation board under the slab completely makes it much less risky securing your walls or posts to your finished floor. You know that you have 4-5" to drill into before potentially hitting tubing. The second floor of the home was cooler than the rest of the house by not using the furnace, but it was very comfortable as sleeping quarters for the family. On average it was 3-4 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. The in floor heat and boiler system we have requires a gas hookup, but there are electric options. Depending on where you live you'll have access to LP or natural gas. We're rural enough that LP and having a tank in our yard is what is common. We contract LP in the late summer by pre-paying for the number of gallons we estimate to use for the winter. That way we aren't subject to price jumps in the colder months.We use LP for our in floor heat system, 2 water heaters, 2 furnaces, and 2 stoves. We contracted 1000 gallons at $1.52/gallon and the first tank fill using that was on October 11, 2021. As of March 30, 2022 we have 140 gallons remaining in our contract. Temps are moving into spring type weather, so this remaining amount should be plenty for us until fall. You personally may use more or less than we have, but it averages just over 5 gallons per day. For the electric service, again you may have different pricing/usage. As you can see we are pretty steady except for the hottest summer months when the air conditioning is running more often. If you're looking for how our utility costs break down per month over a year... here ya go! LP $127 per month Electric $157 per month House is 2300 square feet on the main level, 1700 on the second level. Garage is 2300 square feet. Watch the entire install on our YouTube channel!
This was our first winter living in our post frame house and having a "normal" heating experience. We moved into the garage/shop August 2020 and spent the winter in that space. We used the in floor heat as our ONLY heat source and it performed great. In January 2021 we turned on the in floor heat in the house for drywall, which meant we were heating both spaces and used a lot more gas than a typical year.At the start of our cold season we were still working on finishing our doors and had a paint booth set up in the garage. We set the in floor heat in that space at 65 (higher than normal) and our house we have kept at 68-69 degrees F. Until February we used the in floor heat system and our wood stove to keep us warm. We did NOT have either furnace (main or second level) on at the time. We did end up using our furnaces in February when we had bursts of warmer days that made having a fire in the stove too warm for the house, but they've been turned on and off sporadically as neededOur house and garage are each around 2300 square feet of concrete space. The slab in each is about 5" thick, and the in floor heat tubing sits below the concrete. As a side note, having your tubing secured to insulation board under the slab completely makes it much less risky securing your walls or posts to your finished floor. You know that you have 4-5" to drill into before potentially hitting tubing. The second floor of the home was cooler than the rest of the house by not using the furnace, but it was very comfortable as sleeping quarters for the family. On average it was 3-4 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. The in floor heat and boiler system we have requires a gas hookup, but there are electric options. Depending on where you live you'll have access to LP or natural gas. We're rural enough that LP and having a tank in our yard is what is common. We contract LP in the late summer by pre-paying for the number of gallons we estimate to use for the winter. That way we aren't subject to price jumps in the colder months.We use LP for our in floor heat system, 2 water heaters, 2 furnaces, and 2 stoves. We contracted 1000 gallons at $1.52/gallon and the first tank fill using that was on October 11, 2021. As of March 30, 2022 we have 140 gallons remaining in our contract. Temps are moving into spring type weather, so this remaining amount should be plenty for us until fall. You personally may use more or less than we have, but it averages just over 5 gallons per day. For the electric service, again you may have different pricing/usage. As you can see we are pretty steady except for the hottest summer months when the air conditioning is running more often. If you're looking for how our utility costs break down per month over a year... here ya go! LP $127 per month Electric $157 per month House is 2300 square feet on the main level, 1700 on the second level. Garage is 2300 square feet. Watch the entire install on our YouTube channel!