Dear Glenn: My husband and I are arguing over how many vents should be closed in our house. We live in a ranch style home that has seven rooms upstairs and a partitioned basement with three "rooms." Our family room is on a crawl space and so we do not want to close either of the vents in that room. We remember Glenn saying to close 20 of the vents, especially unused rooms. Does this number include or exclude the vents in the basement?

Val

Dear Val: I said 20 percent of the area of the house, not 20 vents. Usually the best vents to close are dining rooms, sitting rooms and unused bedrooms.