About this site

Heating Older Houses is a publication. It is not a heating contractor, and it has no connection to any local heating company with a similar name. It takes no calls, books no work, gives no quotes and sends no one to your house. If you came here looking for a local heating company, this site isn't one, and your best next step is Mass Save's Heat Pump Installer Network, or asking your building department.

What it is for

Older houses in Worcester, Marlborough and the towns around them weren't built for the systems people now want to put in them. Most writing about heat pumps assumes a tidy house with ducts. These stories start from the house that is actually there: a three-decker, a Cape, a colonial with radiators. Each one takes a single decision and tries to answer it.

Where the facts come from

Each story lists its sources at the end and links them where they're used: state agencies, Mass Save and utility documents, federal energy and environmental agencies, and regional efficiency groups. Figures carry their dates, and rebates can change without notice.

Some Massachusetts state, Mass Save and utility pages couldn't be opened directly when these stories were checked in November 2026. Those figures come from search-engine extracts of the official pages or from official forms and copies of them. Read the current official page before you sign anything.

Nobody here has inspected your house. Where a story gives an example it says so, and where it is reasoning rather than a sourced fact it says that too. No reader stories, reviews or testimonials appear here, and no named writer is credited.

Safety

This site doesn't tell you to work on refrigerant, gas valves, burners, flues, oil tanks or fuel lines, or to do electrical work beyond checking a breaker or switch. If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, get everyone out first and call 911 from outside. If you smell gas, leave first, use no switches or phones inside, and call 911 and the gas utility from outside using the emergency number on its website or bill.

Who owns it

The team behind this site also owns the businesses named on the same-owners page. Links to them are marked where they appear.