someone needs to get into your attic and look around. the best scenerio would be to hire someone who can advise you as to your best options for your specific home. there are many energy raters in florida, you could make some calls and hire an independent third party. I don't know how it works with BPI, but as a Resnet energy rater we do inspection & testing for air leakage into the house, and duct leakage. there are two seperate testing dates, prior to any upgrade, and once upgrades are completed. the first to establish a baseline for your house, and advise on upgrades. the last is to verify that house leakage, duct leakage and any issues that were addressed accomplished what they were bid to do. as your house has both cinderblock and stick frame construction, and age of house I would suggest that you have considerable leakage. blower door & duct testing would measure and pinpoint the leakage areas, so that they can be addressed. a couple of cases of caulk can do wonders to reducing air leakge into the house. as can mastic sealing of ductwork. trying to heat and cool a leaky house is expensive. if you make the house tighter and reduce the duct leakage it is a good investment. when replacing a unit as old as yours with a more efficient unit could cause problems for ductwork in a vented attic. your existing ductwork's r-value is somewhere between R-2 & R-4. with new variable speed equipment the low speed of the unit will be colder than high speed. ductwork in a vented attic in our hot humid climate condensates. installing open cell foam to fill the roof rafters to full depth, and to cover the faces of the rafters is a good investment. this would make mastic sealing of ductwork viable as compared to upgrading ductwork to R-8. it would also put ductwork in a conditioned space as the attic is now unvented. if you can get a foam company that has worked with hvac contractors..or visaversa..you will be dealing with like minded people. it makes a difference. most of our house leakage is from the living to the attic space. moving the thermal (insulation) barrier to the roofline with foam also moves the air barrier to the roofline. so the recessed lights don't suck air from the attic. cost of foam is higher, and you should keep in mind that you still need to meet code. this is not the 3-4" average fill bid. R-values for La. are R-30 for attics we meet the cathedral attic code with 6-7" get several bids and ask to visit an ongoing or previous install. understand that while the depth is increased that once they are on the job and set up its a matter of spraying more product. it doesn't double the price. as to where it leaks in the walls of the house, the blower door test will pinpoint these areas for you. location of the leaks depend on construction of house. each house is different. best of luck.

Again, thanks for all your help but we already have the thing being installed in our basement so please be kind with your feedback. I do have to live with this thing. If you have anything of value I can watch for or make sure to ask, please add it. I ran downstairs and grabbed the manuals - this is all I know. Furnace - PG96VAT AC - PA16NA Coil - CNPVP/CNPVT Looks like they're all Payne products. I still need to get a hold of the HVAC guy for the AHRI number. Can you tell me what that refers to? Is that for the warranty? Everything is being installed brand new as we previously had hydronic heat in the house, no AC. New everything. I think for the the thermostat we'd like one of those wifi enabled learning ones - like the nest or whatever honeywell sells. Do you have advice on which to pick?

Adding another layer, or two, over the plaster will have the same detail-deadening effect on the inside as extra layers of stucco will on the outside. You'd have to move all your trim, fir out all your opening jambs (window and door) etc., to fix this but then you also must extend or re-wire your outlets and wall switches .... well, it's a big job! Re insulating to the max in the attic. I was not suggesting insulating the undersides of the roof, unless you have heated/conditioned space just under the roof. In that case it should probably be done, but you can't just tack up insulation under the roof sheathing. You must arrange to have some channeled air -baffled barriers between the top-side of the insulating material and the underside of the roof. Look for info about insulating a cathedral ceiling to see what I mean. As for the walls, if they aren't plastered up there, then I would rip out sheet rock or paneling and insulate and, more importantly for rooms at the top of the building, install a vapor barrier before reclosing the wall. I wouldn't insulate between the floor joists on the enclosed space, but of course I would between the floor joists of any unenclosed, unheated space. And I would consider using an insulating product with the highest R-value per inch of depth. When insulating (assuming you're are not doing the whole house) put your money and effort into the upper areas/surfaces first, and then cut the infiltration pathways by caulking and sealing like a demon. I'm not familiar with a stucco-coated house, but in a frame house with wood siding, you could see evidence of moisture being trapped in the walls when paint peels off the outside, or mold grows on the inside walls or your walls get stinky and moldy internally. Not a pleasant thought! Good planned ventilation (kitchen and bath fans, primarily) goes along way to fixing this issue. But you can also but vapor retardant paint on all your walls and ceilings, which reportedly helps a lot. Now for the op-ed on this subject: Plaster by itself, especially old plaster on wooden lath, can be a huge moisture mediator, all by itself. And hollow walls allow a good deal of vapor and air to move harmlessly to the outside. (At least in wood-clad house, I'm not familiar with stucco.) All the steps we take in closing up a house in the name of energy efficiency may, paradoxically, be somewhat interfering with the time-tested engineering of these old building systems. And certainly, I believe the standards that are used for new houses which require intense efforts at moisture/vapor management are successful and necessary in builings built of more complex man-made components. But I'm not so sure that one should blindly transfer the standards of one building system backwards to buildings of another construction system. The good news is that older buildings can be quite tolerant, and apparently unharmed, by tightening up and some insulating (especially of attics) without vapor barriers. Just be aware that you can, even in the laudable effort to improve energy costs and loss, create another problem. For myself, beyond the above steps, I try to achieve overall building energy efficiency in different ways, on other systems (heating, laundry, appliances, lighting) and "forgive" the energy inefficency I can't cure unless I tear down more of the still-intact wall covering materials. And naturally, whenever I have an occasion to open a wall for any reason, then that portion in insulated and vapor barriered before closing. I find one of the most satisfying things about living in and owning an old building is that it keeps me aware that there are many different solutions for things, and the latest and greatest modern notion may have nothing on what was common a hundred years ago. Have you looked into the useful series of Preservation Briefs from the National Park Service? I'll attach a link; many topics are available for free on-line and I've always found the info very helpful. They cover a wide range of topics including energy efficiency for old buildings, and most importantly in your case, care and repair of stucco (along with window repair, roof, plumbing, building assesment, etc.) HTH Molly Here is a link that might be useful: Series of Preservation Briefs, List of topics

Good morning Stacy. The situation you have is pretty common within our industry. I own a business in western PA that has been distributing and installing windows and doors for residential and commercial projects for 74 years. Based upon your comments I would suggest that you go with Eagle or Marvin windows for this project. They both are very similar. Extruded aluminum exteriors and wood interiors. Eagle offers more options and is typically less costly. That said, eagle would be my first choice. Secondly, I would add masonry to your openings to correct the difference in symmetry, in lieu of wood of any type. Wood trim inside is ok. The installation method we would use is a Tapcon type fastener. We would take the window apart during installation so as to hide all of the fasteners. This is a simple and typical process in this type of installation. Furthermore, I would recommend buying the sealant from a glass company for the exterior. You should also ask for a non gassing backer rod to support the sealant. From the existing masonry to the window frame should be a 1/4' gap. We would fill the gap with fiberglass insulation being careful in the installation not to distort the jamb inward. We shy away from any spray in foam insulation. It's messy and can create problems. Then we would apply the backer rod at a 1/4' depth. You would than have a 1/4' deep and a 1/4' wide void. This is the ideal scenario for sealants. Expect to pay about $7.00 to 10.00 per tube for a good urethane or structural silicone sealant. These types are not available to the public in home centers. I hope this helps you. Here is a link that might be useful: Eagle