I have found that with an 1880's house... Assuming that no one has messed with it, it keeps it's temperature really well.
The parts that have not been updated or messed with are wonderful. The house has been cooler the the outside almost every single time I come home. If I had forced air this would be perfect. In the unaltered parts.
If you ever get an unaltered 1880's house, do not gut the inside walls. I say do everything you can to not mess them up. want to add additional insulation? Reside the house and insulate that way.
Now the updated parts? Horrible.
The bathroom addition doesn't keep a steady temperature. It's insulated but it freezing all winter. to the point that I have to keep a bunch of doors open to make sure the pipes don't freeze. It gets pretty warm in the summer but nothing like the florida room.
The florida room has no insulation or heating. The radiator pipes were cut long ago and the insulation was put on the ceiling of the crawlspace and not the walls. The access point is about a foot and a half square and I'm not dealing with it.
So... Just when I think I know what I'm doing, things suddenly happen faster then expected.
Expected: parents moving in while they house hunt to save money and to help me out with little things I can never seem to get to. Get AC hooked up in my room for the evil heat.
Reality: They are moving in THIS Saturday and I am working (taking a break to write this) to make room for the free furniture from them and oh yeah, their bed so they can do that thing called sleeping. Also the AC? only can be hooked up to three windows in my whole house. One in the computer room that is its final resting place but it has no door. The other two windows? in my art room that is packed to the gills.
My mom hasn't lived in a house without AC in a very long time. Possibly since before I was born. I am pretty sure that she is going to find a way to get a screen on one of the down stairs windows. The down stairs windows are all sash windows and look to be originals. (Accept the addition for the bathroom from twenty years ago.)
All the storm windows are screwed into the frames.
All but two windows have had the sashes cut. The sashes are connected to the weights that let you open the window.
My mom is a stubborn New Yorker, if she can't figure it out or get it to a point that my dad or I can? Then it can't be done and it sure as hell can't be done cheap.
The original screens for all the original windows are in my barn. That's the really easy bit.
The also technically easy bit, but part that takes a lot of labor, is replacing the vinyl trim around the windows to black (because it will look awesome!) but to also see how the frame is underneath. Then put new hangers on both the screens and the storm window. Both will need that storm door insulation trim. For the screens to help keep the bugs from entering the edges. For the storm windows to help insulate. Some of them have huge gaps, but they still work better then the newer windows upstairs.
Now, if there was a super cheap, efficient and non-destructive way to magically put an HVAC system into my house?
The parts that have not been updated or messed with are wonderful. The house has been cooler the the outside almost every single time I come home. If I had forced air this would be perfect. In the unaltered parts.
If you ever get an unaltered 1880's house, do not gut the inside walls. I say do everything you can to not mess them up. want to add additional insulation? Reside the house and insulate that way.
Now the updated parts? Horrible.
The bathroom addition doesn't keep a steady temperature. It's insulated but it freezing all winter. to the point that I have to keep a bunch of doors open to make sure the pipes don't freeze. It gets pretty warm in the summer but nothing like the florida room.
The florida room has no insulation or heating. The radiator pipes were cut long ago and the insulation was put on the ceiling of the crawlspace and not the walls. The access point is about a foot and a half square and I'm not dealing with it.
So... Just when I think I know what I'm doing, things suddenly happen faster then expected.
Expected: parents moving in while they house hunt to save money and to help me out with little things I can never seem to get to. Get AC hooked up in my room for the evil heat.
Reality: They are moving in THIS Saturday and I am working (taking a break to write this) to make room for the free furniture from them and oh yeah, their bed so they can do that thing called sleeping. Also the AC? only can be hooked up to three windows in my whole house. One in the computer room that is its final resting place but it has no door. The other two windows? in my art room that is packed to the gills.
My mom hasn't lived in a house without AC in a very long time. Possibly since before I was born. I am pretty sure that she is going to find a way to get a screen on one of the down stairs windows. The down stairs windows are all sash windows and look to be originals. (Accept the addition for the bathroom from twenty years ago.)
All the storm windows are screwed into the frames.
All but two windows have had the sashes cut. The sashes are connected to the weights that let you open the window.
My mom is a stubborn New Yorker, if she can't figure it out or get it to a point that my dad or I can? Then it can't be done and it sure as hell can't be done cheap.
The original screens for all the original windows are in my barn. That's the really easy bit.
The also technically easy bit, but part that takes a lot of labor, is replacing the vinyl trim around the windows to black (because it will look awesome!) but to also see how the frame is underneath. Then put new hangers on both the screens and the storm window. Both will need that storm door insulation trim. For the screens to help keep the bugs from entering the edges. For the storm windows to help insulate. Some of them have huge gaps, but they still work better then the newer windows upstairs.
Now, if there was a super cheap, efficient and non-destructive way to magically put an HVAC system into my house?
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