Winter Heat?

Before we closed on the house, we had an inspection that revealed several issues including gas valve leaks, a disconnected cold air return on an ancient 'Cleveland' furnace, no heat vent in the bathroom, a damp basement, and pockets of mildew. Because of the gas valve leaks and disconnected cold air return, the gas company wouldn't turn on the gas until those issues were fixed. This was back in early December and the entire house was freezing. 

The first problem we tackled after closing was to replace the older 'Cleveland' furnace (60% efficiency) with a Rheem furnace (95% efficiency), replace the old water boiler, connect the cold air return, and repair the gas pipes and valves. Spent around $3K, took about a week, but we had heat by Christmas. At this point, we called up the water company to turn on our water, but soon discovered we had another problem - no running water.

One of the pipes was clogged and after several unsuccessful attempts to use a snake to unclog the pipes, we decided to replace the pipes and valves altogether. Took about six hours with help from my father-in-law, but once we were finished, we slowly turned on the water to insure none of the winterized pipes would bust and it worked like a dream. No clogs, no leaks, and no need to re-solder any of the copper piping. This was good news because now we could use the bathroom inside the house and move on to the next step - cleaning.