[KEVIN & JOSIE]

Originally Posted by John_W

I see you are from Baltimore, we moved from Abingdon near Festival Shopping Center last July. Since BG&E was deregulated about five years ago our electric bill in Abingdon was about $250 in the summer and about $400 in the winter. It's hard to complain when our bill now goes from $92 to $117. We just had plantation shutters installed yesterday so we might even have a lower bill, our house is very bright inside so we wanted to control the brightness little more.

We also had a screen installed on our garage door opening about a month ago and I now open the attic steps about a foot from the ceiling. I now can feel a nice breeze going up into the attic when I stand near the attic entrance. Since we installed the garage screen we have since set our inside temperature on 84 degrees, it's hard to believe because I'm normally a hot person.

Wow, the garage screen sounds like a really good idea. Did you put insulation above your garage? I understand they don't come with it.

Yes, we are originally from Baltimore. Yeah, years (31) ago when we first got married BG&E bills were reasonable. We currently live in Pennsylvania and we are with Met-Ed which is cheaper than BG&E but still no where near as low as you are describing in Florida. I sure do look forward to one day having those low utility bills.

[gerryann]

" We just had plantation shutters installed yesterday so we might even have a lower bill, our house is very bright inside so we wanted to control the brightness little more. "

John, who did you use for the shutters? Are you happy with them? I am hoping to do the same.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by John_W

We purchased a new masonry CYV last July, we just had our one year anniversary. We have a 2BR 2BA 'Woodlawn', it's now called a 'Durham'. The only difference is the front porch overhang is 10' instead of 5', it goes out past the front bedroom window. The interior only difference is they now have tray ceilings in the bedrooms instead of a vaulted ceiling, which I actually like better.

We paid $156,900 and I think we got a pretty good deal. In fact of the 88 villas in our section, ours was the cheapest. The average price of a 2BR was $164,000 to $169,000 and overall the average was between $179,000 to $210,000 and a couple of units hit $225,000.

We started last year by keeping our A/C on 80 degrees then eventually 81. This year we keep it at about 83 degrees, any lower and it gets too cold. We have total electric everything and our bills have averaged about $92 a month until July when it hit $117. Our amenities/sewer/water/irrigation/garbage monthly bill was about $207 but lately they've been about $215.

You home is beautiful. A perfect choice. I wish you every good thing.

[John_W]

Originally Posted by gerryann

John, who did you use for the shutters? Are you happy with them? I am hoping to do the same.

I originally tried 48 Hour Blinds because I read so many good reviews. However, we could only get their voice mail and they never returned our calls so after a week I called another company I heard about, 'Blinds 4 Less'. They have an actual showroom on 441 just south of 466 on the right behind Mon & Dads Italian Restaurant.

They came out and they gave us some choices. We could of had them in 3 weeks from a company called Legacy I believe in Orlando. We had shutters in our Baltimore home by a company called Norman. He said they handled Norman, they would be cheaper but take about 8 weeks. We had been here 10 months already and since we weren't in a big hurry and we knew Norman was very nice, so we went that route. They actually took 9 weeks but they came and installed yesterday and they look great. Get the faux finish and not the real wood, they actually look better and are cheaper.

[John_W]

Originally Posted by KEVIN & JOSIE

Wow, the garage screen sounds like a really good idea. Did you put insulation above your garage? I understand they don't come with it.

I thought about installing insulation in the garage ceiling, but one of the first things we did was put in attic steps and plywood flooring so we could have more storage. With only a 1-1/2 car garage storage is a premium. With the flooring and probably 20 boxes already up there I didn't proceed. I did put the silver bubble wrap (R3) on the inside of the garage door. During the day we usually just keep the garage door up, that way it's the same temp as it is outside and helps with air flowing up through the attic steps. The garage screen is white and it's almost impossible to see in, so you still have some privacy and security.