It is not weird to have baseboard heating and a central AC system. You don't see it often since it significantly more expensive than have a forced hot air and AC.

In most parts of the country buyers expect to have central air in a new home. In my opinion it is worth the extra money for the comfort and the value it adds to the home.

Today's variable speed and multistage furnaces make forced hot system very comfortable. You should consider it as an alternative to the baseboard system and save some money.

"Upstate" really upstate or "upstate" still easy drive to NYC? Really upstate is kind of marginal for cooling need, but I understand why you don't want to be sticking units into your windows on a new house.

Tight homes don't have as much or any need for a humidifier. Air leaks is what draws out the moisture generated by normal living.

You could consider going ductless with heat pump mini-splits. Some of them can incorporate ventilation. If going with ducts, I hope that they are going inside of the house envelope and not in the attic.

Thanks ionized and mike_home.

The house is in the Finger Lakes area. So it gets pretty cold and snowy up there.

ionized, what do you mean when you say that ductwork going in the attic instead of the house envelope? I have always thought of ductwork as something that goes inside walls. Is this something I should with the builder?

Thanks.

I am familiar with the weather. I spent three years in Tompkins, 4 in Monroe, and grew up further East where it is colder. The microclimates are all over the place in the lakes district. Lots of snow in some places and in others, not so much. Is your boiler fired by nat gas or oil?

In HVAC retrofits, the ducts often go in the attic or crawl space or basement. They leak so It is better to put them in fur-downs/fur-outs if you can. In this day and age, I would hope that no one would consider putting a duct system in a vented attic, in a new build, but you better check. I don't know if there is much point in working with an energy-rater in a modular home. If you were not doing modular, I would advise it.

You know, you might not be far from site of one of the pioneering manufactured homes operations, Ford Homes in McDonough. Sadly, it closed in 1979. I watched one or two of them being assembled when I was a kid.

Duplicate post

This post was edited by ionized on Thu, Jun 6, 13 at 13:02

Thanks ionized.

The boiler is supposed to be natural gas fired.

This house is going to be in Tompkins - Ithaca to be precise. When I look at the climate graphs, it looks like there is really 1 months needing cooling and dehumidification. As for humidification, it looks like the dew point is very low for almost 7 months from Oct-Apr.

I guess I could try to live without air conditioning, but am worried about future remorse if I don't get the ductwork while I can get it done easily.

Thanks again for your insight!

PS: I have not heard of Ford Homes before.

Certainly as mike_home indicated, it is only weird to have forced air and baseboard in the same areas because it is costly. In a retrofit in that area, keeping the nice baseboard and adding mini splits for cooling is worth considering. I talk with my dad about it sometimes. He would probably install a couple of units, one in a bedroom and another in the dining room or LR would take care of most of the common living areas pretty easily. The equipment is more expensive than, more conventional, ducted split systems.

The summertime temps in that area seem to be getting warmer so I don't think that you will regret having some kind of cooling. If I were building a new house, I don't think I would install a humidifier right from the get-go. I don't think that you will need one. That is especially true if you bathe regularly and cook your own food. You could make sure that the system is designed you can add that system easily if it turns out that you want it. Dry winter homes in that area are largely due to the fact that those dry homes are very leaky homes.

I bet there are more than a hand-full of Ford factory-built homes in Tompkins county. It seems like the history of the company was largely swallowed up by the earth after it closed. There is very little reference to it today.