The heating system’s layout and arrangement should be considered when building a new house or remodeling an existing one. A sloppy plan or layout could adversely impact your comfort, reduce the efficiency of your Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system, and lead to unnecessarily high electricity bills.
Consider these justifications for the significance of good HVAC system design. Below are some commonly done home improvements that significantly impact your HVAC system’s efficacy.
Adding Living Space
One of the most popular home renovation projects today, especially for expanding families, is installing more living space.
Families can undoubtedly get the additional space required by adding an extension with one or two additional bedrooms or finishing a previously unfinished basement, garage, or attic. However, the construction can create more issues than fixes if the concept doesn’t include a plan to increase the HVAC system’s capacity.
If you don’t, your present system might have to operate more frequently to maintain the right temperature in the new living space. Unfortunately, this prolonged runtime leads to higher energy consumption, more costly electricity bills, and premature aging of the system’s equipment and components.
Homeowners may prevent this issue by including the necessary HVAC improvements or modifications in the schematic design. However, it would be best to consider creating a design where your HVAC system will become easily accessible.
The same goes if you only have an air conditioning unit to cool down your home instead of an HVAC. For instance, if you live in Australia, where temperatures can get extreme, you will find that many air conditioning servicing Newcastle advise that houses should have entry points to the air conditioning unit for easy access during repairs.
The same goes for any houses in other countries like Asia, the Middle East, and even the state of Arizona, where hot weather conditions are more prevalent throughout the year.
Changing Your House Layout
Altering your house’s layout can burden your existing HVAC system, just like installing more living space. Here are a few instances:
- Building walls in the home’s formerly open spaces
- Putting doors where there were previously none
- Including a porch or sunroom in the home’s living space
- Opening or closing a stairway in a house
- Changing the heights of ceilings
These home upgrades run the risk of causing HVAC issues since they may significantly impact how conditioned air is distributed throughout the house. When this occurs, the HVAC system’s compressors can no longer properly distribute the conditioned air to every space.
Therefore, before you start changing the layout of your house, you should first consider how the design will affect the efficiency of your HVAC. It’s also highly advised to hire an architect to design the layout of your home.
Before presenting their concepts for a house plan, architects educate themselves on things a homeowner might not realize because they have an extensive understanding of construction systems and the properties of building materials.
With that said, architects know how to create a house layout that won’t jeopardize the effect of your HVAC system.
Adding New Windows and Doors or Seal Existing Ones – Home Improvements
A homeowner can stop drafts and reduce the cost of heating or cooling a dwelling by putting weather stripping or caulking around windows. In addition, property owners might save up to 20% on their HVAC expenses by repairing air leaks, which could be a significant saving!
Why would you want to pay the extra expenses to install new windows or a new front door if completing the simple step of caulking around windows is so effective? Sealing the window frame in older single-pane buildings might not be adequate.
They don’t let significant hot or cold air escape. Modern window designs are significantly better at maintaining a consistent internal temperature. When insulating, windows with timber framing or wood-clad frames are the best option.
Regrettably, they’re a little more pricey than vinyl or aluminum versions, but they can be worth the additional cost, especially if the window replacement is eligible for PACE financing.
Improving Your Home’s Ventilation
Your household can expel moisture, smoke, cooking odors, and other interior contaminants with ventilation. Attic temperature levels are managed by structural vent, basement and crawl space humidity levels are kept in check, and moisture is kept out of poorly insulated walls.
It’s also a great idea to have continuous airflow because anything that restricts airflow can harm your house and your health. One of the many advantages of ventilation is that it helps to regulate how much moisture stays in your house.
With proper ventilation, you can be assured that your HVAC system won’t work too hard in cooling or heating your home as it improves the effects of your HVAC.
Install Additional Layer of Insulation in Your Attic
How much insulation is required for a family’s home? To assist homeowners in determining whether their insulation is adequate for their particular climate, the U.S. Department of Energy has produced an information sheet.
While old houses (especially those several decades old) might sometimes gain from an improvement, newer ones are frequently well-insulated. The attic is one of the primary sources of heat loss because “heated air rises.” Even some modern homes don’t have enough insulation in the space underneath the roof.
An additional layer of insulation can lead to cost savings and enable a homeowner to repay costs in just four or five years in an under-insulated home.
Plan Your Home Improvement Properly
Before you jump into any home improvement projects, you must ensure that you properly planned such improvement. Take note of the mentioned home improvements above and understand whether it’s a good thing to consider.