That means we could leave the house upstairs cold whenever we’re downstairs occupying that space primarily
Now that our family is growing, I’m starting to wonder if we need to make additions for this house. There is space on the east-facing side of the house where we could expand the ground floor, and perhaps the second floor above if we secured enough funding in a second mortgage. I don’t want to force all of our kids to share bedrooms into their high school years. However, they’re all under eight years old and we’re not in a hurry to make massive modifications to the size of the house just yet. There are other expenses that need to be covered before we get to that point. I want to upgrade the washing machine and dryer so our clothing is easier to clean with less water and less electricity. This might involve making changes to the dryer venting system, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. The most important thing right now is replacing the central HVAC system. We have a traditional split style heating and cooling system with ductwork that extends throughout the house. INstead of getting a similar system this time around, my wife and I are considering a zoned HVAC system where we can control the temperature in specific areas of the house. That means we could leave the house upstairs cold whenever we’re downstairs occupying that space primarily. We don’t want to waste electricity if we don’t have to, so having a zone HVAC system might come in handy for us. However, it’s going to cost a lot more money and we’re not sure if we can budget enough for the huge expense.