There are pros and cons to owning an older home.
Our house was built sometime in the mid 1800s and features gorgeous hardwood floors, doors and moldings.
We have a beautiful staircase with a hand-carved banister and several stained-glass windows. There is a very large and wonderfully charming porch built across the front of the house. However, when we moved in, there was no ductwork or centralized heating or cooling system installed. The exceptionally high ceilings and big windows make the house difficult to temperature control. In our local area, both heating and cooling are necessary. We deal with sub zero conditions in the winter and excessive heat and humidity in the summer. The former owners of the home got by with window air conditioners and electric baseboard heaters. My husband and I weren’t satisfied with this solution. The portable heating and cooling units looked horrible, cost a fortune to operate and weren’t effective. Our house was overheated and muggy all summer and chilly throughout the winter. Installing conventional ductwork would have required tearing down walls and ceilings, creating a huge mess, costing a fortune and damaging the architectural history of the home. We struggled with comfort for several years before finally coming across high-velocity heating and cooling. This type of system is specifically designed to accommodate the challenges of older homes. It works by way of mini-ducts that are only two-inches in diameter. These narrow tubes are also flexible, allowing them to be retrofitted into existing walls. They bend around plumbing pipes, studs and electrical boxes and connect to round, six-inch diameter vents. The high-velocity system provides us with whole-home temperature control.