old house electrical... which option?
Erin Luke
3 years ago
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greg_2015
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Which option for a 130 year old brick house.
Comments (6)dual fuel is sweet. but if you are used to gas heat, the heat from the hp is cooler. it may be better that you stay with gas as primary heat. 90+% furnaces are worth every penny in my experience..and I'm in a cooling climate. why waste $$ & put a combustion appliance when you can take advantage of more efficiency. same for a/c side. 13 SEER is minimum produced efficiency equipment. to upgrade to 15-17 SEER makes economic sense. beyond 17 SEER is not as good of use of money. for example Trane has i series..20i is not 20 SEER. so check actual efficiency of equipment and what it is paired with. mismatched equipment delivers lower efficiency. ARI information for matched equipment should be provided by hvac company. or go online yourself & verify...before purchase & install. also in older homes insultion may or may not be present. to first air seal house for leaks, and air seal ducts for leaks is the best investment you can make. blower door testing of house, and testing ducts for leakage may cost you a few bucks, but sealing these areas save you every month. caulks and mastics are cheap, but work very well. you say: The AC unit is sized too large and runs about 60% on the hottest days. On not so hot days, the house is cool but clamy. It costs about $600/mo to heat and $400 to cool. My duct work is not set up for cooling; all air returns on first floor, but it works for me. I have ceiling fans to move air. About a 4 degree difference from 1st to 2nd floor." in cooling climates we want long run times. this allows the equipment to remove humidity..which sounds like your issue. an evaluation of the ductwork as you say it was designed for heating would be recommended. new unit will be more efficient & remove more humidity, but you need to have ductwork that doesn't add to humidity load. same as leakage of house. both can contribute to RH in the house. whole house dehumidifiers work well, or a stand alone dehumidifier. if RH is a problem, invest in stand alone and see how that works for you before investing in whole house system. best of luck....See Morebathroom floor options in old house
Comments (8)I anguished about what to put in our 1916 bungalow after removing the original linoleum. We figured that the floor probably couldn't support ceramic and we do almost everything ourselves so didn't want anything complicated (2nd floor bathroom). And we also had the original clawfoot tub to contend with. We ended up going down to the original pine flooring, finished it with Waterlox and left it at that for now. We don't have small children in the house, don't expect much in the way of drips or floods, and I realized you can only expend so much time and energy on it. It IS a bathroom, after all. When we sell, we might have to finish it differently but we like it nail & hammer marks and all. I think it would be just as OK to put some kind of floating floor in there, like an interlocking laminate wood or even ceramic-looking pattern. You can always pull it up later. Our bathroom is fairly small so changing it later would be no big deal as long as nothing's permanent. I don't know about yours though. I also really wanted to try the Marmoleum click tiles. They say they're not for wet applications, but again, barring major leakage . . . plus I think they have to say that to cover themselves. Just my 2 cents....See MoreElectrical and your old home
Comments (16)Sorry to barge in ... but a light went off in my head (new wiring) in that maybe you could help answer a question for me .... I have a home that was suposedly built 1965. The wiring is atrocious - in that the way it's routed. Anyway, most of my receptacles outlets only support two prong plugs. Some outlets have been replace by prev owner for three, but there is no updated wires - so the job was just to *accommodate* 3 pronged plugs. When I replaced several lighting fixtures, I found that there wiring is coated with black cloth-like insulation - which is in okay condition - not new, not falling apart. I've been told that this type of wiring is not typical for a 1960's house and that the house is probably much older. (This was also mentioned because of some characteristics in the construction.) Would you agree that the wiring would have been used in much earlier home-building? I am slowly updating most of the wiring - espcially for kitchen appliances! TIA for any help....See Moreflooring options for 100 yr old house?
Comments (5)Before you consider removing the tile, go to a reputable source and get facts. I don't think it is ever advisable to do it yourself. It will take10- 20-30-40 years to know if you've caused yourself harm, and many people never get sick. Not worth the risk! I was bothered that there was carpeting over hardwood in my living room when we moved in. Pulled it up, discovered the floor could not be restored. Perhaps you can think of your floor that way, that it cannot be restored. And, also, we had beautiful hardwood installed over asbestos lino in our kitchen and dining room. It is fine to do that. Cover, do not remove asbestos flooring....See MoreRon Natalie
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