How should I heat my home?

There are many daunting decisions that homeowners have to ask themselves once they decide to build a new home. At the top of that list, you can usually find questions such as “What heating system is is best for me?”. Heating system choices often have the biggest impact on your home’s comfort level and affordability, more so than any other component or major design choice you have to make for your new home.

The home-heating debate has evolved greatly over the past several decades, advancing from one new technology to the next, making it difficult to keep up with the best modern options for your home. Take for example, electric baseboard heating in the 1970’s. Government incentivization programs and low installation costs made baseboard heating systems a very attractive option to a lot of home owners. Unfortunately, while initial costs were low, operating costs were through the roof, wiping out any cost benefits felt by customers early on. This led to quick development of a negative reputation, and it wasn’t long before baseboard heaters were a thing of the past. This highlights the importance of looking at your new heating system not simply for its initial installation and startup costs, but for the opportunity it can offer with rebates on cost of installation and discounts from efficient, ongoing operating costs.

Another key consideration to make when weighing your home-heating options is the efficiency level of the building of your home. With today’s strict building standards and energy codes, new homes are very well insulated and air tight in comparison to houses built even 5 years ago. The real questions then become “how efficiently does the building use heat it produces?”, “Is there more value in investing better efficiency in the home, or better performance from the heating system?”. Those are questions that we can help answer through deeper analysis of your budget, design plans, and personal preferences.