Consider getting a pro energy rater to look at your house. Is the current heat steam or hot water? I understand that it is getting difficult to find people that can work on steam. If hot water, and you like the radiators, I think you should install an AC-only duct system. It will be most comfortable that way.

Chris,

I would suggest staying with the hot water heating that you have. It's far more comfortable than forced hot air.

Richards Heating is highly regarded. They did a good job, and have continued to give good service, to friends of mine. They're in Falls Church, I believe. Vernon Heating and Cooling also has a good reputation, they've worked on my system and I've been happy with them.

There are a number of options for adding AC to your home that will allow you to keep your existing heating system.

Yes what you need for sure is an energy audit. An auditor would look at your house as an entire system. He/she will likely say that you should address all the insulation issues way before you get a new or additional hvac system. To find one as well as a contractor try looking at http://www.comfortinstitute.org

Capes are notorious for severe insulation problems and I should know cause i live in one. I did solve all my insulation problems though myself and here is a good link that I found really helpful on old capes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beauty&the Beast

Chris,

I had a house built in 1888 and the bathroom was added around 1920. The plumbing chase was actually open to the attic space. When I insulated the attic with 6" batt insulation, I ran the batts continuous over the chase opening and never had a problem with the piping in the wall. However the water piping was run up from the basement and there was a small opening around the rim joist and cold air was shooting in thru. Froze the pipe. Make sure you have good rim joist insulation too.

Dan Martyn

I believe Figure 1 in the link below is exactly what is going on in my house. After skimming the article doobzz provided above (great link BTW), it sounds like i need to seal up my floor/kneewall transition. i have access to that transition on one side of the house, but not on the other. There are other issues that need addressed. I think I'd prefer the entire side attic (unfinished, and the side I can access) to be within the thermal boundary to give me conditioned storage space, but maybe that's a bad idea. I also have severe paint peeling in upstairs and downstairs baths that will probably be fixed if I get the insulation fixed.

thanks for everyone's help so far. If anyone has anything additional to add, please chime in.
-chris

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Its great that you are exploring that site and finding useful info. I cant believe it was written so long ago. Ive got some other links as well if you need them.
I also had kneewall/floor issues that I solved by blocking and sealing with foamboard and cellulose. My house has a long side attic for storage going across the front. I sealed the slope better than it was by removing cheap 1/4 plywood and saw there were only 1 inch batts in there. I followed the instructions in that link and others and put foil faced 1 inch foamboard sheathing on the slope. Caulked and taped all seams and where it met the top plate and bottom plate of the kneewall. Only then did I put the plywood back on. Also I dense packed the entire sloped rafters space leading back up to the main top attic from above using cellulose with a fill tube. Since I have no soffit vents I wasnt worried about venting here but actually if you seal off things correctly and the evelope is tight, in certain areas venting can be eliminated. In the smaller side attics I had no access to I first actually solidified the entire thing by blowing in cellulose at 3.5lbs/sf thru 3 holes. Then because they have subfloors in them, I drilled holes in the ceiling from the living room and dining rooms below. Then I used my fill tube and filled the joist area that way.
I also did my super cold room over the garage, the garage ceiling and all the other walls in my house with dense pack cellulose. Cost me only $900 total for everything but i did a ton of research and it took me a while to do everything. I followed all the info in that link plus some other books and articles I found on airsealing/insulating and attic bypasses. The difference in comfort is unreal and dramatic. I seriously walk around my house amazed.
Here is a link talking about solidifing a small side attic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Attic Bypasses and side attics

When you say "in certain areas" venting can be eliminated, do you mean certain areas of the country? If so, do you recall which areas? When you dense packed the rafters from above, did you cut holes in the drywall and then patch, or do you need to remove drywall? Which books would you recommend?

I too do not have access to the side attic where air infiltration is most noticable. the roof is popped up off on that side. i've linked to a diagram of what it looks like. is 'dense pack' the same as 'blowing in cellulose'? Is that the best bet for that area? (Below the line marked rubber roof?)

Here is a link that might be useful:

I meant certain areas of the house. Everyone always assumes that you need to have an airspace above insulation usually fiberglass batts. I agree with that for the most part. Venting is useful to dissipate moisture laden air build up from conditioned air leaking thru the air/thermal barrier. Since fiberglass is not an air barrier the venting is a good backup to avoid mold/rot etc. But thru my researching it sometimes the venting can be eliminated. The main top attic should have good ventilation and shouldnt be changed, but side attics and their sloped ceilings can have it stopped IF you do really good airsealing. Using dense pack cellulose is one way to achieve this in the sloped areas. Dense packed means cellulose blown in a cavity at a density of 3.5 pounds per cubic foot. At that density the cellulose will stop air and serve as an effective air barrier. With no air movement you eliminate the possibility of moisture build up with all the problems that come with it. Therefore where you dense pack you dont really need venting. Additionally its R value is 3.7/inch so its way better than fiberglass when you factor in the airsealing part. Its usually done in walls and sloped ceilings as well as cathedral ceilings. For the top attic what you want is regular blown cellulose and here you are looking to just blow in it loosely to achieve a certain height or R value. The way dense packing is done is with the normal cellulose and blower, but you attach a long 10 foot 1 11/2 inch diameter flexible plastic "fill tube" to the nozzle. That additional tube allows you to snake it into a 2 inch hole all the way down the rafter bay in the slope or up the wall. As you start the machine the cellulose flows thru the tube into the cavity. As it fills up the flow will stop cause theres no more room for it to go and you pull the tube back out of the cavity in 1 foot increments. It finds the space and the flow starts again. You do this for the whole cavity pulling it back a little till you reach the end and then you have a totally filled cavity that will allow no air infiltration from inside or outside. All you have to do is be sure that you are blowing in the right amount.What I did for my walls and slopes and garage ceiling was calculate the volume of the entire cavity. Multiply that by 3.5 pounds. The answer is how many pounds of cellulose you need to blow in and then if you divide the pounds you need by the weight of 1 bag of cellulose you will know exactly how many bags you have to use for each cavity. Then all I did was watch how many bags I was using to fill up the cavities. Easy in theory and not too difficult in practice--it just took time. By counting all the bags I know exactly how much i blew in where.
Ok sorry this is so long but one more thing about venting. IF you have soffit vents in the sloped areas and can access it easily dont eliminate it; just put the vents in and you can still dense pack underneath it in slopes. Its good backup after all. For the areas you have no access; if its a small side attic--i would just fill it like I have done. I have 2 of them and I put 15 bags of cellulose in each. There was no insulation behind the kneewall and the builders so many years ago put batts only on the sidewalls and slope of the side attic. This meant that my air barrier and thermal barriers were not aligned and didnt work at all. I had huge amounts of air leaking into this space all the time str8 to the outside and it served as a heat sink for the room. I never had snow on these areas either. Now the rooms are warm (i dont need portable radiators anymore either) and I see that snow is covering the areas for the first time meaning no heatloss. If you want I can post some photos of my progress as i took them after doing each one. I just finished all this work a couple of weeks ago so Im still gung ho.
Also here is a good book from taunton books that served as my bible. Buy it and read it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Insulate and Weatherize

Thank you so much for all the good information (long is good), especially the recommendation on the book. I would love to see any and all pictures you have. I'm more of a visual type person especially since i'm not familiar with all the terminology.
Thanks again.
chris

"But the boiler is on it's last legs."...

How do you determine that?
-br

"But the boiler is on it's last legs."...
How do you determine that?
-br

We bought our house in 2004. We've had the boiler checked every fall since then. Every time, the technician mentions that given the age of the boiler, we should expect that it could fail at any time. The boiler is nearly 20 years old now.

Less than 20 years old?
That's not old for a boiler.
Fail How exactly?
Leak? Burner igniter failure?
If he's servicing it properly it should not fail at any time.
-br

P.S. If you take out your hydronic heat system, can I have it?

Is the boiler cast iron or steel tubed?

What's the make and model?

Who has been looking at it for you?

What are they telling you to replace it with?

Natural gas or oil?

Boiler on the front says:
AO Smith
Hydronic Boiler
Copper

Can't read the model.

Arlington Heating and Air has been servicing it.

I haven't asked that they recommend a replacement and they haven't offered a suggestion. He has said that this particular style/technology is no longer produced since there are more efficient and reliable styles.

Natural gas.

thanks
chris

Hum...

Sounds like a copper fin-tube boiler.

As long as the exteriors of the tubes look OK (not corroded), a copper tube boiler should easily last 20 years or more.

There are quite a few companies that still make and offer copper fin-tube boilers.

Virtually all boiler types are more efficient that those of 20 years ago.

The one you have is probably an 80 to 85% efficient model. Does it vent through a chimney, or through a PVC pipe through the side wall of the house?

chimney.
-chris

One way to deal with it is to say: "If a new boiler is 10 to 12 percent more efficient than your present one; and the cost of a new one is oh, say $6000.00; then how many years of 10 percent fuel savings will it take until the unit pays for itself and you break even?"
If your annual fuel bill is $3000.00 then at a savings of $300 a year it will be paid for and you'll break even in 20 years give or take.
-br

Thats a "burkay"

Model HW

Is it steel blue, medium blue or tan/brown colored?

What a workhorse!

tan/brown.

-Built after mid 1981
could have been a BC boiler (domestic hot water model) and converted