Do you have a home that you're considering adding on to at some point? Maybe you're going to do a an addition renovation at a bonus room and maybe it's not soon. Maybe it's in the future. or maybe you're ready to pull the trigger. Now there is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to the heating and air side of things.

Not only do a lot of homeowners not know some of the things we're going to go over, but I've found that a lot of contractors are a little misinformed on a few of these things as well. So I want to go through maybe a snapshot several things for you to consider, things that you need to know if you're going to be adding onto your home when it pertains to the heating and air system. And so the first thing I want to start out before we dive into this is I Was just talking to a gentleman this morning on our website new HVAC guide where we help homeowners through the process of buying a heating and air system and we were going back and forth and he was basically saying yeah, I'm getting these quotes on getting a new heating and air system but I'm telling these contractors I'm getting multiple quotes and I'm talking to the contractors I'm telling them that to include in their price and their quote in addition and then I'm going to get done in the future and my question to him was how big is that addition going to be and his response was well, I don't really know it's kind of up to the architect. we might do another 300 square feet or we we might do as many as 600 square feet and I said to him look if you were my customer I would need to know the answer to that, especially if you're wanting to have this system replaced and to account for that Edition So the first rule if we're going to put rules in all this is to say if you are going to add on to your home, if you're going to add a room or do an addition to the home, you need to know how big that is going to be.

So that way your contractor can if nothing else know what the extra square footage is going to be for their heat low calculation. Now in reality they would want to know more than the square footage, but they at least at bare minimum need to know how big the addition is going to be. And another thing to consider is if you're not quite sure or you want to go ahead and get the system replaced but you don't know how far in the future you're going to do the addition is, it's probably best for you to go with an inverter system. Even if you have to pay a little bit more, you want to have a system that can ramp down to your existing capacity your existing homes space heat load but also have the capacity the extra oomph that once you do build onto your home that it can account for that.

A lot of people will go ahead and size a single stage or even a multi-stage system for what the home is going to be at some point and then have that system star for air. The ductwork is not large enough, it's size for the existing home space. You're basically choking that system for air and so again. I Would highly recommend to go with an inverter system A system that has the ability to ramp up and down and run at a lower capacity for your existing space.

That said, we just touched on it. but my second rule in all of this is only work with companies that are doing a proper heat load calculation And that's one thing we were running into when I was helping this gentleman on our website because a lot of these companies were all over the place. Some of them were saying well, you need a three and a half ton Some of them were saying you need as much as a five ton in the space and that's a huge swing and there are problems when obviously if the system is too small for the space, it will have trouble keeping up. It'll be running constantly, drawing more energy, but if it's too large for the space, it's going to be short cycling running inefficient, running your electric bill up, but also not removing enough humidity creating other issues such as moisture, mold, all that sort of stuff.

And so if you're going to oversize it for this possible Edition Someday again, you're going to want an inverter system and possibly even a dehumidifier installed to that home. So that way you don't have issues as you move forward. Another thing to consider is your climate. Where do you live? A lot of folks don't realize there are certain parts of the country certain types of homes.

When you're sizing that system, it may call for a larger heating load than cooling. meaning the type of system you and installed that heating needs to be able to heat that home on a cold day, but maybe not quite so much. Air conditioning. Oomph, Not so much capacity what comes to the air conditioning side of things.

But then there are other parts of the country that are the exact opposite that they're going to need a lot more cooling than they are heating it doesn't get, but so cold there Anyway, some states in the U.S A lot of folks don't even have Central Heating in their home. They just plug in a space heater to get by if they happen to have some weird cold night. but usually it's just going to be running on. AC Most times of the year we have folks in our area I live in Virginia near the coast that they will build on a what they call a sun room.

they might be on the River or the bay. they have this room that is encased in Windows and they really only care about air conditioning that room when they're there in the summer. In the off season, if they're not there so much during the winter, they're either closing that part of the house off or the heating is already enough large enough to be able to heat that space. Anyway, So really, when they're building onto this home and they're putting one of these sun rooms out there, they're really only caring about the air conditioning and having enough capacity to keep the area comfortable.

Now before we go any further: I Just want to touch on one thing, and that is: A lot of folks are dealing with contractors. They're getting quotes, sometimes they're not quite sure what they're looking at, and they're having trouble dealing with the contractors. Most of the contractors are just trying to sell them something, get their business, and not necessarily explain everything thoroughly, and it's the homeowner that ends up paying for that in the long run. right? Well, there is a company out there that are helping homeowners avoid some of the issues that they have when they're dealing with some of these contractors.

They help navigate through the renovation process from start to finish, helping them save time and money along the way. The company is called Realm and I'm going to put a link to their website down in our show notes it's an affiliate link that if you click on it, you're going to help us out a little bit, but you're going to get connected with Realm. They're going to help you navigate through the tough decisions because it's challenging to pull together the right information and find a quality contractor who can deliver great results on time and on budget. They do this by pairing you with dedicated project advisor who is an expert in home renovations.

The advisor is going to tap into their invite only local network of Architects contractors, subcontractors, and financial lenders. Now I will say they're not available in all states yet, so if you click on that link see if they're available in your state, they'll be able to walk you through the entire process. They only require a small deposit to get started and once you decide to hire one of the contractors, you actually get refunded that deposit. They're going to get you three to four comparable bids for this project.

They're going to help you negotiate the best price and when construction starts, they will oversee the entire project from start to finish and ensure that the timelines are met and budgets are adhered to. A lot of these advisors spend anywhere from 25 up to 40 hours on any given project, creating a relationship that is extremely high Touch. You have somebody that you can call you can count on and trust is going to be there all along the way. So click that link down below and get started with Realm.

Now back to our list. Another thing that you should consider if you are adding one to your home is not just the fact that you're going to be adding on and need to consider the size of the system, but another thing that a lot of folks need to consider is zoning and the type of system you select plays a big role on the zoning as well. A lot of folks think that all systems are just created equal. You can slap dampers in there and they'll open and close.

Not realizing some systems, you're just recreating that issue. I was saying before for oversized systems. If only one zone is calling and you have a single stage system and you've got all these zones and only one out of all of them is calling, you are starving that system for air again. So just realize as you're adding zones, that is something you need to keep in mind.

not just the type of system that you select, but also having the ability to add more zones or ADD that zoning in the future. So that way it's seamless when you do add the addition onto your home. Another thing is folks will add Mini Splits to these types of areas. And of course, if it's a totally separate system, no big deal.

You size the system for the existing size of the home, replacing that system Heating and Cooling the home, and then as soon as you do the addition, you add your mini split. But if you're installing a system that you're hoping to add, that mini split and still have the same outdoor unit just adding another head, another indoor evaporator unit on that outdoor unit, you need to realize that some systems have limitations. Maybe they have limitations on how many indoor units that outdoor unit can handle. Maybe they have limitations on the amount of BTUs that it can cover, and maybe you may just realize that it just simply doesn't make sense to go down that road at all.

Anyway, if the addition is a separate rumor area, it might be necessary to install a separate thermostat and ductwork to ensure that it can be heated and cooled separately from the rest of the home. Next, let's talk talk about the duct work we were talking about. It's starving for air and you're adding on this larger system. Just realize, if you up the size of the system that's there and the ductwork that's currently there is sized for the old system, you've got to figure that out as well.

You've got to get your pro in there to figure out. Well, we need to enlarge the trunk line. We need to maybe run the ductwork in a different manner so that way we don't have too much static pressure. And also keep in mind you may have to add another return to that new area.

So that way you get proper airflow, it's something I see missed all the time. Some folks think well, I'm adding onto the house I'll just run another duct over there. No harm, no foul. Only realizing later when they start to have issues that they've got to come up with a better solution because they didn't think ahead on this.

Energy Efficiency should play a role in some of your decision making. There might be two ways to skin a cat, but one of them is going to make more sense and save you more energy in the long run. We see folks all the time, that'll just say well again, you know, I'll just add one here and I'll just just you know, slap a new system in here or I'll just run another duct over there not realizing that if they were thinking long term ahead of time, they could have installed a system that could have accounted for the addition and also saved them energy on their utility bills. Next, let's talk about the location of the Edition We looked at a job about a year ago where the homeowner was wanting the outdoor unit.

this mini split for this. Edition they were putting on their home all the way on the other side of the house not realizing that the manufacturer actually has specs saying that the line sets can only be but so long before you have to take other steps or not install it at all. So line set links should play a role in this, especially if you have a particular location that you want everything to be installed. And another thing to keep in mind is the electrical.

So if you're going to have this new system installed in the Edition realizing the electrician has to somehow get power over there now these days with drywall being able to be repaired and things like that, it's not as big of a deal, but it's something you should keep in mind. It might play a role in the price you get from that electrician to get that power to that new system. Finally, what should you do before you pull the trigger on all this. in my opinion, depending on where you are in the country, you should ask your local Pro In a couple opinions, talk to your Pros about what you're thinking, get some of their input.

I Have talked to folks on our website before that said hey, we're considering maybe a mini split here only to find a pro in their local market. Say look, that doesn't really necessarily make sense because the better way to do it is this way over here and giving the homeowner some ideas that maybe they had never even thought of because different areas have different ways of doing things because their climate is different. Or maybe they have challenges that other markets don't I've realized helping folks on the west coast things are a little different than things are on the east coast and you might say, well, Josh That's kind of obvious and it is kind of obvious, but just realizing that there are products available to them because their challenges are different sometimes the brands. Some times there are certain things that are just simply not available in certain markets because it simply doesn't make sense.

I Remember years ago as a kid we went into a Walmart and it was down on the coast where there's a lot of salt water fishing and going through the Outdoor Sports area and seeing all these things that I had never seen in our local Walmart where I grew up Walmart was smart enough to say hey, this area needs these products versus this area over here And so I was seeing some things that I'd never seen before I Just thought that was interesting. Same goes for heating and air. As you go down this road, ask your local Pro They're going to have solutions that maybe you hadn't even thought of just because they do this every day and so are you adding one to your home? Or maybe you've added on your home in the past. Please comment down below.

Love to hear your thoughts on this. Maybe you can help somebody else avoid some of the issues that you had. or maybe you just simply have a question on an upcoming project. Love to hear about that.

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