The temperature has dipped for the first significant time this Autumn in the Shenandoah Valley, and once again I wonder if my heating system will make it through another winter. Many old houses had one central source of heat for the whole home, and mine is no different. This house has a Siegler kerosene stove that is located centrally on the first level, and it distributes heat (sort of) throughout ...

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When This Old House recently featured "Best Old House Neighborhoods" -- spotlighting one great neighborhood from each state -- I first looked to see if where I live made the list (it didn't). But I couldn't stop there. The magazine organized the list in a number of ways, including the best places to buy an old house if you … want to live in a college town, are seeking a fixer-upper, ...

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A few weeks ago I wrote about the possible impact that the Waxman-Market climate and energy bill (the bill would institute a cost for carbon emissions via a cap-and-trade system and provides incentives and mandates for improved efficiency) could have on old house renovation. In that post, I alluded to incentives included in the bill for homeowners who inprove the efficiency of their homes without actually describing what those incentives are. (Full disclosure: I hadn't actually ...

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