Need a Home for 80k Puzzles? Try an Italian Castle
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
That's a 60° F HDD. Unfortunately, the HDD for the US tend to be based on 65° F. San Francisco has a mean of close enough to 3000 over 1948 - 2013 (it's probably lower now).
As these are temperature degrees, to convert from HDD 16 to HDD 65 (and ignoring that its 60 vs 65), that's 1310 * 9/5 that's 2358.
Ballpark, it needs less heating than San Francisco... though there's the "it's a castle and not well insulated" and "that's a large volume". However, it's not as big of an undertaking as one would imagine (to heat a castle) in a mediterranean climate.
I'd compare it to heating a church in San Francisco. Again, ballpark estimates put this in $1.00 - $1.50 per square foot.
Though, the "heating a room with a fireplace" wasn't the way it was done then.
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/02/restoring-the-old-...
Also https://youtu.be/inzamhtroO0
> Kettle Moraine Heating & Air Conditioning installed solar panels designed to work with the brand-new Lennox systems and appliances used throughout the house. Now the owner—who bought the 10,000-square-foot historic home and updated the property with a 5,000-square-foot addition with help from Kettle Moraine—is saving a whopping $3,000 in electricity costs per year thanks to solar energy. And they’re pleased with the whole HVAC overhaul and new installation.
https://www.buildingmycastle.com/an-energy-efficient-castle/
Consider the equivalent question of "how do you heat Filoli Mansion?" When it was built, it was fireplaces and a diesel boiler.
> I made a few jokes in my blog post on May 2nd about wanting to buy a castle. Well, we did it! Now here is the real story of how this happened:
... and then looking for the cost...
https://www.jamesedition.com/real_estate/perugia-italy/a-rea...
It's less expensive than many California properties.
6 Beds; 4 Baths; 10,172 sqft; $107/sqft
(California *averages* at $425/sqft)
I mean, I'm living in the more expensive part of Hong Kong, but still.
Exploring the eerie beauty of Japan's abandoned villages --- https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/08/18/japan/society/e... -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37270007 171 points | 4 months ago | 126 comments
The top comment by nataz:
> If you are interested in buying an abandoned home in the Japan countryside highly recommend the YouTube channel Tokyo Llama. He's spent the last four years renovating a beautiful traditional style Japanese house and property about an hour outside of Tokyo. He talks about the renovation aspects, taxes, paperwork process, and the pros and cons of doing this with a family. Lots of videos the watch.
and the website of the documentary: https://www.notablefeatures.com/the-puzzle-palace
https://www.cabinetlenail.com/en/annonces/ref-na4-1277/15th-...
Of course, it's the upkeep that will kill ya.
Or, you can not do that and be a social pariah and have the local government thumb their nose at you when you need something like permits.