DH and I were discussing what it would cost and whether we should put in a/c in our place. We moved in 2017 and didn't do it when we did a major remodel of our house. We had a furnace and I had a few HVAC guys come and talk to us. They said our furnance was old and would have to be replaced within 5 years. It was 20+ years at that time. They said if it were them they would wait and do it later because we were spending a lot and why not just wait until it started to give problems then do everything at once. Made sense right?
I mean we had just poured in $50k in our place in cash, then we had $10k for the driveway coming up after we finished the renovations, and we ended around $60k for the renovations then we waited a year for the stuff to settle and poured the driveway. During this time we totally forgot about the A/C. Then last year covid happened and we built the shed that was around $20k. So we've now sunk like $90k into our house.
I will say every penny of the renovations I have enjoyed. I am so glad we did it as soon as we moved in and lived upstairs while we did downstairs and garage. Even if we don't see a return on investment we enjoyed it that the $ for $ value of the renovations are worth it.
The question now is whether the new furnance with A/C is worth it? I mean I don't know how long we'll be here so we probably won't get as much pleasure out of it as if we had done it back in 2017. But at the same time we did save the $10-15k it'll cost us then for now. On the con side we have less money now than we did then due to our circumstances. The pro side is our house has appreciated a ridiculous amount in 4 years and we made back our renovations and more by a lot.
So will this renovation pay off? I have a call into costco to get pricing on what it will actually cost us to do this replacement.
July 13th, 2021 at 07:24 pm 1626204275
July 13th, 2021 at 09:04 pm 1626210249
The norm is no A/C where I live but new houses it is the norm and older homes who replace the furnace do it.
July 13th, 2021 at 10:36 pm 1626215810
If the furnace goes out Christmas Eve or on the coldest night in January, the effort to get it fixed before pipes freeze would be daunting to me. You might need to leave the house for a few days just to stay warm, and that would be costly. Your choices of the contractor to use and to evaluate options might be very li limited, and you could end up paying emergency weekend or holiday rates.
If you have the money, I say do it when you can control the most. A house with a new furnace will sell better.
And a new furnace will be more energy efficient and might save you some money (which of course might be offset if you frequently use the A/C) 🙂
July 14th, 2021 at 02:34 am 1626230094
July 18th, 2021 at 12:15 am 1626567326
I got central air probably 4 years ago and could not imagine living without it again during our humid Northeast summers. I never have it freezing in here, just low enough to dry out the air is the main thing. However, my upstairs is quite a bit warmer than the downstairs and the cool air is not evenly distributed.
July 25th, 2021 at 05:41 pm 1627234909