BristolUK

I'm not Canadian.

Seriously though, Room sizes are more of an interest to me when considering a new home. Overall size gives no indication of that.

Steve_P

House size is one of "the" primary figures used when purchasing homes.

I would hazard a guess that most Canadians who own their own home know the square footage of that home.

fledermaus

Doesn't it? 2 beds in a 2000 sq foot vs 3 beds in a 1000 sq ft? Which one is likely to have the roomier rooms?

Alan2005

Of course, but the two are very much related. The thing is most people know how big their house is because it's listed on the MLS details when they buy it and would typically be one of the requirements when looking.

BristolUK

The assessed value of our house has increased 4 out of our 5 years here. I know this from the annual property tax bill. But there has never been a separate notice of the assessed value and overall size doesn't get a mention on the bill.

Overall size and room size may well be related but there's no guarantee.

The 'bigger' house may actually be bigger because of one or two rooms that have less importance to a potential buyer, no?. Taking note of room sizes is surely a better guide for someone whose priority might not be the large family room for example.

The house we bought didn't get listed. We viewed a property over the road and we saw a for sale sign for this house which we'd not seen listed.

Our Realtor arranged a viewing and it went from there. A nice stroke of luck.

Joe_Sleepy

I have no knowledge as to the size of engine in my car...

Spot the bullshit & win a lollipop..

BristolUK

The 2000 sq foot one. But the roomier rooms might not be the ones you want roomy.

Without seeing the individual room sizes, which one has the biggest living room, the biggest kitchen?

Alan2005

Sure. Still, the MLS details have all this information on - though many (but not all) realtors hide the room sizes as telling you this is part of the 'value' they add. I've just bought a house, and the overal size / room ratio was important to me - but you don't really know if it meets your needs till you go and have a look.

None of this really matters - people look for different things in houses and obviously individual room size rather than overall size is more important to you. The point being that everyone I know here has asked 'how many sq foot' when I've told them I've bought somewhere and it's not just something that is unique to this forum.

BristolUK

So Canadians are obsessed with size then.

johngrimes

Remember the winter is longer and colder. Bigger house should mean more money. That said depends on insulation and type of heating used. I'm liking radiant heating. Seen a house that is 1900sqft and electric for the year was $1800. I thought that was very good. They have no gas, wood or oil.

Cookie

We live in a 2700 sq/ft high efficiency 10 year old home costs us $190 a month on a budget plan. Our main floor is mostly open-plan with cathedral ceilings.

We have two teens (19 and 16) and run the usual household appliances (but hang out laundry during the summer), hot water, air exchanger and have an ETS heating system. This is a storage heating system that uses cheap rate overnight power. This also enable us to be on a special NS Power 'Time of Day' tarriff that gives us cheap rate between 11pm-7am Mon-Fri, 24 hrs all weekend and on stat holidays

In the coldest winter days we also use a log burning stove in the basement (1 cord of wood has lasted us 2 winters and we still have some left). We have a propane fire in the livingroom to use when needed. We also have electric baseboard heaters in all rooms.

During the summer we also run a swimming pool, a dehumidifier, fans and an air conditioner during the hottest days.

Tangram

If you stop being deliberately obtuse or just an awkward tw@t for two seconds, the size of your house and/or room sizes ( if you want to go around and add all these together and come up with a figure ), either of these would give the OP an idea of cost of heating a particular size of house or the size of "12 rooms added together ).

At least Cookie gave some useful info.

Greenhill

There's a lot of debate about house size being an important variable [in this thread] but also think about number of occupants, their heat/energy consumption habits and the amount of time they spend indoors, practicing their habits.

Quick search of the web came up with the following sites, which might be of use (or at least give you an idea of the systems available and some of the variables/costs involved):-

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/p...s/heatingcalc/

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/p...sts.cfm?attr=4

Many people burn wood, which sounds cheap and/or romantic and you can cook with it too. You have to buy it and store it though, and sometimes even cut it up. And clean up the ashes, dispose of them etc. And probably all the above on a cold day.

Pellet stoves seemed to be popular for a while recently. But they don`t work when the power goes out and the pellets supply/demand can cause a rise in price just when you need them. They also require storage and someone to fill the stove every day or so...

Aviator

You must live in seclusion then, it is the only way I have heard or seen a home described any other way, by realtors, home owners, the MLS and Real Estate papers.

Alan2005

We've just had a new boiler put in. We got one of those "new fangled" thermostats that you can set different temperatures for different times of the day. Is there some reason that houses in Canada don't normally have these things - do Canadians just set the thermostat and leave the heat on all the time?