we moved into a split level rental house this July.
During the summer and fall the temperature inside was fine. Now that it's winter and we have the heat on, it's like zero degrees downstairs and a million degrees upstairs.
when I'm downstairs playing with lo we both freeze!
I've attached a pic to show what I mean by split lvel.
how can I even things out? there's a gas fire downstairs but in afraid to use it for safety reasons.
suggestions?
pomegranate / 3521 posts
Why are you afraid of the gas fireplace? I would use it.
If not, close the vents upstairs to push more of the heat on the lower level.. Although it will eventually rise..
pomegranate / 3858 posts
That's our situation too - except we don't have it open to the downstairs. The seals on our windows are gone, and the condo is dragging its feet fixing that. Some days it's just too cold to be downstairs, so we have to play upstairs. And, if I turn up the heat to make it liveable downstairs, it's so hot upstairs, that it's hard to sleep at night. Sigh.
I would use the fireplace downstairs.
GOLD / watermelon / 14076 posts
Our house is the exact same way. We use our fireplace to heat the living room/downstairs.
ETA: If we close the vents upstairs it actually makes the problem worse.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
I probably wont' use the fireplace until you have the chimney looked at .
What about a space heater for downstairs? Plastic wrap for the windows?
pomegranate / 3809 posts
Ugh, we have the same problem but lucky it's not open to the top floor like that, so it helps a little. Can you put a ceiling fan in? That should help a little to push the warm air back down or at least circulate the air so that it's warmer. We have a fan, and without it on, it's 3 deg warmer at the very top, not much, but its something.
This is one of those lessons learned for me if I were to every buy a new house... giant open space and tall ceilings, GREAT in theory and pictures, AWFUL for the utility bills!
pomelo / 5789 posts
@PurplePumps: we do have a ceiling fan but when I turn it on, it doesn't seem to make a difference.
@lawbee11: is M mobile? How do you keep her out of the fireplace?
@Reese: I'm afraid LO will touch it.....the downstairs is 150% babyproofed....I can leave him there while I shower. Not if the fire is on.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
@wheres_c: can you change the blade direction on your fan? Most are preset to draw heat UP not down.
pomegranate / 3521 posts
@wheres_c: our fireplace heats up the main floor very quickly with the fan on - so I doubt you would have to leave it on for a long time. Although I dont know how long it takes to cool down. Will you be staying in this house for a while? If this is long term I think it would be worth it to get the chimney/fireplace checked and buy a baby barrier. If it is only temporary - I guess you could go with a good space heater .. but those things are pigs on hydro from what I hear.
GOLD / watermelon / 14076 posts
@wheres_c: She's not mobile yet. We have a mesh screen thing that we can close, though. So you still get the heat from the fire but it's not completely open. That being said, I still wouldn't leave her unattended around the fireplace, so we'll probably only ever have it on while one of us can supervise her in the living room.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
When we bought our house it only cost about ~$100 to get the fireplace checked out. Def worth the money.
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