The solution is kindergarten simple. Here's some facts though to ease your mind. Every square foot of sunlight carries almost 100 watts of heat. It's really about 88 watts but say 100. We'll subtract 12% (100-88) later. So imagine you have windows 24" x 36" . That's about 6 sq feet. And they can let in 100 watts per sq foot. how many watts of power = 600 watts. Here's where that makes sense: An electric floor heater is about 1500 watts. So imagine in the Summer turning on a floor heater and leaving it on for 1/2 hour then turn it off for 1/2 hour all during the day. That's about how much heat can come through that one window. Will putting something to keep heat out help. --- Next on the roof. Insulation doesn't keep heat in or out. Is slows down how long it takes to come. So it's going to come in no matter what unless. You block it. Imagine your roof is 20 feet x 40 feet and you have a 2 story house. That's a 1600 sq foot house. 800 on the top floor = 20 x 40 and 800 on the bottom. that's no matter. So 100 watts x 800 = 80,000 watts of heat It's going to get through. So will it help to shade it? Let's be real. If only 1/10th of that heat gets into the house that's still the same as 5 x 1500 watts of heat on all day in Summer. Would you turn on a heater in those examples above. Then don't let the heat come in How to do it cheap. Anything on the windows help. Foil is ok. it will last for years if you fit it to the window first and then glue it down on cardboard. Then you can place it into the window. Maybe even make it so it flips down , etc , for the view. Roof. Painting the roof white helps a lot compared to black roofs. Is the cost worth it? It's probably not compared to other choices like planting tress but a. Tress can ruin a roof. Chinese elm puts tiny leaves which keep water on a roof no matter what. That rots and so some tress avoid. b. Trees take time to grow but you can buy them 'fully' grown. And install them fully grown. b2) Palm ? They're not going to shade much but you just calculate what they'll shade , the cost, the cost per sq ft of shading and pick the tree with the lowest cost per sq foot of shading. c. Other roofing choices. Foam roofing is not hard to do yourself. You must read up on it. Practice. Then you can do it yourself. Pull a permit from the city. The equipment used is $15,000. You can sell it again for probably the same price if you clean it. That cleaning IS a part of reading how to maintain it. Cost for 2000 sq foot roof in materials is about $3000 for everything. Foam and the white latex coating that's reapplied every 10-15 years. As long as it's reapplied the foam should last a 'lifetime' (50 to 200 years) Without reading any of the posts there's are other ideas probably. Have a flat roof? here's an idea. Put up trees on the roof. Be sure to have a registered architect or structural engineer. But you could have a garden on the roof shading within a few weeks. put a lot of trees in containers and you could make some money selling them as they got too big. And birds lvoe it if there's grass and wild plants. it's a real viable 'way to do business' now a days in old and new construction. KEYWORDS To search Coolroofs Green roofs Attic insulation. It's easy and cheap. If you can put it under the actual roof rather than on top of the attic 'floor' it will do more for the amount. In fact that under the actual roof is an ideal place to practice when you buy the foam machine. Again you must read and study before you do it. But it really is 'stupid simple' You can foam the under roof for $2000 and put an r-8 or r-12 where it will do a lot of good. Cost is about $1500 for 2000 sq feet. You can't rent the foam equipment from my research but buying it is not a bad choice. It's simple well designed equipment nearly identical to airless spray paint sprayer. do both. under actual roof and top of attic floor. THere's no reason not to. Here's an FYI. Making your own insulation is 'easy' . 5 layers (about) of paper, foil, paper, foil, etc is exactly what was used in the commercial building trade for under the roof insulation. The paper can be from newspaper end rolls. Fireproofing it can be done with a couple of cheap, safe to use, easy to buy chemicals. Read up by reading about fireproofing for theaters and stage productions. If you have a community theater ask the director or stage production manager where they buy fireproofing liquids. Or make your own as was done for hundreds of years. To save money always. Go to a Chinese bulk product site. Look up the price they sell a TON of something for. Then look at what you pay. You'll soon figure out a decent multiple, say 10x , their price and then never pay more than that. in the case of fireproofing sodium silicate also called 'water glass' is $250 / ton or 10c / lb. Buy 50 lbs for $10 and you've got yourself a deal. Mix it with water, spray it on , let it dry and try to burn the paper or cloth. It won't burn. Ok that's my dump. Enjoy and keep it cool. Putting up a few solar panels to heat water will keep heat off that part of the roof. Just a thought.

Crazy - first you say $12k for traditional and then $27k - one seems too low and one too high... Stealing the outside unit - now that is crazy.... Knoxville helps - what elevation are you at? I tend to think you are a little warmer than Asheville. I see these things as 4 options 1 - conventional construction, NG heat. Big variable here is NG pipe cost 2 - conventional construction, geothermal. Big variable is local geo costs. Lots of land means it could be relatively inexpensive and the way to go 3 - Superinsulated construction with air source heat pump. You get the need for heat so low that it just doesn't matter. You are probably looking at $8k or so but you can't have huge walls of windows. Designing for solar gain is free but may not work with view - important in all designs but particularly when not using NG or geo. 4- Conventional construction and air source heat pump - least expensive upfront and most expensive long term. Financially - this still maybe the best. I hate to say it but it might but depends on your length of outlook. If we say the other 3 are equal in running costs, this might be $500 a year more. I live in Raleigh (a little warmer) and have 5000 sqft of conventional construction but energy star and it would be about $500 in my house (I have dual fuel and I used $200 in NG in my worst winter, just $100 last year). Electric resistance as backup would be 3.5 times the cost of NG. Of course if you want gas fireplaces and cooking, you have to price out the propane tank option. A lot of companies give you the tank for free but not if you aren't going to use much - ie not heating the house with it. You also have to either bury it, hide it with vegetation or live with looking at it. You shouldn't forget hot water as a cost differential and plan on how you use it. If you have energy saving appliances and take short showers with the flow regulators intact and you have a small family - the electric cost is around $200 a year but NG would be $100. If you take hot baths nightly and your 4 kids do also, that number could be $1000 with NG being half. Geo can help here but increases upfront costs. The gov says electric resistance for hot water is $500 a year with your rates. But that is on an average house with average appliances. And includes people living further north with uninsulated copper pipes. Locally a Progress Energy study found it to be $300 a year - but it was on people who were interested in solar so it was a skewed population. You have to look at your own lifestyle as the hot water can be a big variable. Propane is a little more expensive than electric resistance for you.

ou do have to bring the system up to code with a evap coil replacement. As far as the cost, that is up to the company doing the work. With AHS you cannot get a second oppion due to the cost of non-covered items. That company goes off of the state code not city code due to state gives the lic. You can get another estimate from a non home shield customer and probally come out ahead. Lets say the non AHS company will replace it for 1400 and you get 600 from the cash out then you will only have to pay 800. The "if needed" will become "needed" during the install just to let you know. The hanging kit is the (4) straps that hold the coil - it has to be solid straps 1.5" wide. Dampers - that one is questionable due to most vents have dampers on them Drain pan - has to be 3" clearance past the coil on all sides. I really am suprized how many people never question non covered items through AHS. The only way you can get a second oppion through AHS is tell them you dont think the coil is leaking. You take your chances cause the next company might be higher. Hope this helps.

"One of the model homes" In my area, model homes are for tract builders. Tract builders have different economies than single lot builders. There are exceptions to this model but generally it is true. It isn't that teardown, permits etc cost that much (in my area), it is just that you are building on a single lot. There is also the reality that the single lot may have rules that developers don't have that add to cost. As someone who has done both, I will share some costs. We bought a $400k tear down that was 1800 sqft brick 2 story with carport. It cost $12k to teardown and haul away. We had to spend about $5k for some tree removal. The utility hook ups are inexpensive since they are already there - an empty lot is significantly more. Permitting is $3k which is inexpensive - what isn't is that it has taken 6 months and we still don't have permits. Surveys can be $5k - we have to modify lots when we tear down because the rules have changed so much since they were platted. There is water mitigation that can cost $15k for engineering and execution. Developments don't cost much more for the entire development. And then lastly, we expect $180 a sqft for the actual build. Spec houses in our neighborhood are about $1.2M for similar lots, 4500 sqft. We will build a little smaller but that doesn't help on costs that much. This is in Raleigh, an area with (usually) significantly lower costs than NoVa. No one in my area builds a "model home" on a single lot for $300-$400k at 3000 sqft. That being said, there are ways of getting cheaper homes built - ie modular - but that may not be an option depending on the jurisdiction.