My wife wanted a canopy made for aesthetics. So I made one that hangs from the ceiling and bought some fabric for it. Turns out it doesn't just look nice but it keeps our body heat in and consequently means we don't need to run the heat at night. Without heat at night, our house will keep itself in the low 60s when the temps are down into the 30s at night. When we get 10s outside the house will keep itself in the 50s. We usually don't have any need for heat at night when it's in the 30s outside, but below that the heater will usually be on in order to maintain an inside temp range of 65 to 69 (set to 67 with a 2 degree swing).
This past weekend has been extremely cold and we have been able to go without the heater on at night (just have it kicking in around 6am to take the chill off and get the house up to 69 where it stays during the day). Thought I'd pass on the tip about the canopy since it's saving us, in our old house, some money.
EDIT - My canopy was made with 1/2" PVC and muslin from the fabric store. All in, it cost me $40, including the $10 string of lights.
November 13, 2017 at 01:41PM
